A series of inventions

    Monty Python?s Flying Circus was a British comedy series of the early 1970s that is one of my favorite shows of all time. The series was clearly an influence on sketch comedy shows that came decades later such as HBO?s Mr. Show with Bob and David of the mid-1990s, another one of my favorites. Until recently, I hadn?t given much thought to the Pythons? influences. The absurdity of their skits was wholly a product of their vivid and wild imaginations, or so it seemed.

    One of the Pythons? most famous sketches was the ?Dead Parrot sketch.? In the bit, John Cleese has just bought a Norwegian Blue parrot from a pet shop, only to find out later that the parrot is dead. He returns to the pet shop to complain, but the owner, Michael Palin, will hear none of it. Palin puts forward all manner of silly explanations for the bird?s behavior, claiming that it is ?resting,? or ?stunned? or even that it is ?pining for the fjords.? 

    Cleese is taken aback by the shop owner?s patently false characterizations, and launches into a tirade about the bird?s true state of health.

    ?It?s not pining, it?s passed on. It?s rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot,? exclaims Cleese.

    After doing some investigation on the Internet, I learned that the Dead Parrot sketch was inspired by a sketch the Python gang performed a year earlier for a different program, called ?How to Irritate People.? In the earlier incarnation, future Python cast member Graham Chapman takes his brand new car back to the dealership after discovering numerous problems with it. The salesman, played by Palin, refuses to admit there is anything wrong with the car, even as it comes apart before his eyes. This sketch was it-self inspired by an experience Palin had with a car salesman in real life.

For the full column, see the Sept. 30 edition of The Washington Evening Journal