Palin, Cleese and the dead parrot, from And Now For Something Completely Different.

The Dead Parrot sketch, alternatively and originally known as Pet Shop sketch or Parrot Sketch, is a popular sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus, one of the most famous in the history of television comedy. Image File history File links And_the_parrot. ... Image File history File links And_the_parrot. ... Michael Palin (1999) Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born May 5, 1943 in Broomhill, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England) is an English comedian, actor and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. ... John Marwood Cleese (born October 27, 1939 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England) is an English comedian and actor best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for co-writing the TV series Fawlty Towers in which he played Basil Fawlty. ... And Now For Something Completely Different is a film spinoff from the television comedy series Monty Pythons Flying Circus featuring favourite sketches from the first two seasons. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Monty Pythons Flying Circus (also known as Flying Circus, MPFC or just Monty Python during the fourth season) was a highly popular, surreal BBC sketch comedy show from Monty Python, and the groups initial claim to fame. ...

It portrays a conflict between disgruntled customer Mr. Eric Praline (played by John Cleese), and a shopkeeper (Michael Palin), who hold contradictory positions on the vital state of a Norwegian Blue parrot (an apparent absurdity in itself since parrots are popularly presumed to be tropical and not indigenous to Scandinavia). Mr. ... John Marwood Cleese (born October 27, 1939 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England) is an English comedian and actor best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for co-writing the TV series Fawlty Towers in which he played Basil Fawlty. ... Michael Palin (1999) Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born May 5, 1943 in Broomhill, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England) is an English comedian, actor and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. ... Families Cacatuidae Psittacidae Parrots or Psittacines (order Psittaciformes) includes about 353 species of bird which are generally grouped into two families: the Cacatuidae or cockatoos, and the Psittacidae or true parrots. ... In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ... Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe. ...

The skit pokes fun at the many euphemisms for death used in English culture. The sketch aired in the eighth episode of the television series. Sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes, or sketches, commonly between one and ten minutes long. ... A euphemism is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces, or in the case of doublespeak to make it less troublesome for the speaker. ... The Culture of England is sometimes difficult to separate clearly from the culture of the United Kingdom, so influential has English culture been on the cultures of the British Isles and, on the other hand, given the extent to which other cultures have influenced life in England. ...

The "Dead Parrot" sketch was inspired by a "Car Salesman" sketch that Palin and Graham Chapman had done in How to Irritate People. In it, Palin played a car salesman who refused to admit that there was anything wrong with his customer's (Chapman) car, even as it fell apart in front of him. That sketch was based on an actual incident between Palin and a car salesman. Graham Chapman (8 January 1941–4 October 1989) was an English comedian and writer. ... Cover of the DVD version. ...

Over the years, Cleese and Palin have done many versions of the "Dead Parrot" sketch for various television shows, records albums, and live performances.

Plot

Mr Praline with the dead parrot

Mr Praline enters a pet shop, complaining that the parrot he has recently purchased at the location is, in fact, dead. The shopkeeper denies this and points out the beauty of its plumage, further suggesting that the bird is merely asleep. Praline is unconvinced, especially when shouting and the offer of a lovely fresh cuttlefish fails to evoke a response from the bird. Image File history File links Pining. ... Image File history File links Pining. ... Mr. ... A pet store or pet shop is a store at which one can purchase supplies for pets and, often, the pets themselves. ... Closeup on a single white feather A feather is one of the epidermal growths that forms the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on a bird. ... Families Sepiadariidae Sepiidae Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida belonging to the Cephalopoda class (which also include squids, octopuses and nautilus). ...

Praline takes the parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter ("Hellooo, Polly!"), then tosses it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor without reacting in any way. The shopkeeper remains unconvinced, claiming that it is now stunned, and that it is "pining for the fjords." Fjord in Sunnmøre, Norway A fjord (or fiord) is a narrow inlet of the sea between cliffs or steep slopes, which results from marine inundation of a glaciated valley. ...

Praline points out that the only reason that the parrot had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been nailed there. The shopkeeper counters that it was simply to stop it escaping. Praline disagrees in these words:

Mr Praline: It's not pinin', it's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace, if you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies! It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This is an ex-parrot!

The shopkeeper admits defeat, claims that he is right out of parrots, and offers a slug as replacement. The dialogue continues: Anatomy of a slug A slug from North Bend, WA Slugs are gastropod molluscs without shells or with very small internal shells, in contrast to snails, which have a prominent coiled shell. ...

Mr Praline: Does it talk?

(pause)

Shopkeeper: Not really, no.

Mr Praline: Well, it's scarcely a replacement then, is it?

The action then moves to Bolton, or possibly Ipswich, or maybe even Notlob (Bolton spelled backwards). Much play is made of the location, including the suggestion that the confusion between the towns is due to a pun, or possibly a palindrome. Just as the dialogue is getting "too silly," Graham Chapman's no-nonsense Colonel bursts in and stops the sketch. Statistics Population: 139,403 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SD715095 Administration Metropolitan borough: Bolton Metropolitan county: Greater Manchester Region: North West England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Greater Manchester Historic county: Lancashire Services Police force: Greater Manchester Ambulance service: North West Post office and telephone... For other places and usages with this name, see Ipswich (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that dajare be merged into this article or section. ... A palindrome is a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units (such as a strand of DNA) that has the property of reading the same in either direction (the adjustment of punctuation and spaces between words is generally permitted). ...

In And Now For Something Completely Different, the skit ended by going into The Lumberjack Song. And Now For Something Completely Different is a film spinoff from the television comedy series Monty Pythons Flying Circus featuring favourite sketches from the first two seasons. ... Michael Palin performs The Lumberjack Song, with Connie Booth as his best Girl. ...

The double album Monty Python's The Final Rip Off features a live version of the sketch, which is slightly different from the TV version. Praline's rant about the deceased parrot includes "He fucking snuffed it!" Also, the sketch ends with the shopkeeper saying that the slug does talk. Praline, after a brief pause, says, "Right, I'll have that one then!" Album cover. ...

In The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball, a benefit for Amnesty International, the sketch opens similarly, but ends very differently. Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is an non-governmental membership organization with the stated purpose of campaigning for internationally recognized human rights. ...

Mr Praline: It's dead, that's what's wrong with it.

(audience goes wild)

Shopkeeper: So it is. 'Ere's your money back and a couple of holiday vouchers.

Mr Praline: (spends a few seconds acting and looking flabbergasted) Well, you can't say Thatcher hasn't changed some things.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ...

The "Dead Parrot" in popular culture

Palin and Chapman in the "Car Salesman" sketch from How to Irritate People.

At Graham Chapman's memorial service, Cleese began his eulogy by stating that Graham Chapman was no more, that he had ceased to be, that he had expired and gone on to meet his maker, and so on. Cleese went on to justify his eulogy by claiming that Chapman would never have forgiven him if he had not delivered it exactly as he did. Michael Palin and Graham Chapman in How To Irritate People. ... Michael Palin and Graham Chapman in How To Irritate People. ... Cover of the DVD version. ... Graham Chapman (8 January 1941–4 October 1989) was an English comedian and writer. ... Look up eulogy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The same lines from the skit are frequently used to describe anything which the speaker wishes to describe as defunct or no longer viable. The name "Dead Parrot" is also sometimes used, and specifically applies to a controversial joint policy document which the Liberal Party and Social Democrats issued in 1988 in the process of their merger into the Social and Liberal Democratic Party. Shortly before her downfall as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher described this party in her deadpan 'comedy' voice, saying "this is a dead parrot, it has ceased to be." The loss of the Eastbourne parliamentary seat at a by-election to the Liberal Democrats shortly afterward was cause for David Steel, its leader at the time to say "it looks like this dead parrot gave her a good pecking!". The emblem of the Liberal democrats is a flying yellow bird. This article is about the historic Liberal Party. ... The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was a political party of the United Kingdom that existed nationwide between 1981 and 1988. ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party based in the United Kingdom. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ... David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood KT PC KBE (born March 31, 1938) is a British and Scottish politician and a Liberal Democrat member of the UK House of Lords. ... Liberal Democrats Logo This is the logo and colophon of the Liberal Democrats (UK) political party. ...

Thatcher's comment was not wholly original, as three years previously Spitting Image had run a take-off of the Dead Parrot Sketch with David Owen, then leader of the SDP, in the role of Mr. Praline, Owen's predecessor Roy Jenkins as the shopkeeper, and the SDP ("lovely policies") standing in for the parrot itself. Spitting Image was a satirical puppet show that ran on the United Kingdoms ITV television network from 1984 to 1996. ... The Right Honourable David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, CH, PC (born July 2, 1938) is a British politician and one of the founders of the British Social Democratic Party (SDP). ... Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, OM, PC (November 11, 1920 – January 5, 2003) was a British politician and a prominent Labour Member of Parliament in the 1960s and 1970s, and founding member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). ...

In John Cleese's duet act with his daughter in Six Ways to Skin an Ocelot, he did a Californian version of the Dead Parrot sketch, replacing the parrot with a trophy wife.

Another British television comedy Not The Nine O'Clock News referred to the Parrot Sketch in their sketch about "Python Worshippers": Not the Nine OClock News (DVD) Not the Nine OClock News was a comedy television programme shown on the BBC, broadcast from 1979 to 1982. ...

Bishop: In the words of John Cleese, whenever two or three are gathered together in one place, then they shall perform the Parrot Sketch.

Interviewer: It is an ex-parrot.

Alexander Walker & Bishop (in unison): It has ceased to be.

They also performed another sketch called "Not the Parrot Sketch".

Quest for Glory II features a "Dead Parrot Inn" in Raseir.

When Michael Palin and John Cleese made surprise appearances on Saturday Night Live, they recreated the Parrot Sketch. Michael Palin (1999) Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born May 5, 1943 in Broomhill, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England) is an English comedian, actor and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. ... John Marwood Cleese (born October 27, 1939 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England) is an English comedian and actor best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for co-writing the TV series Fawlty Towers in which he played Basil Fawlty. ... Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City which has been broadcast by NBC nearly every Saturday night since its debut on October 11, 1975. ...

A short South Park skit, created specially for the BBC's Python Night, paid homage to the Parrot Sketch. Cartman tries to explain to Kyle, the shopkeeper, that Kenny is dead, borrowing nearly all of the dialogue from the Parrot sketch. An inside joke comes from the fact that the character Kenny dies nearly every episode and strangely is alive the next episode. Directly after the sketch, Trey Parker and Matt Stone discuss the opportunity of creating more Monty Python homages while letting Terry Gilliam do South Park. The two then blackmail Terry by showing his kidnapped mother. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of £4 billion. ... Eric Cartman on his tricycle Eric Theodore Cartman, voiced by Trey Parker, is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. ... Kyle Broflovski, a. ... Kenneth Kenny McCormick, voiced by Matt Stone (and, on one occasion, Mike Judge), is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. ... An in joke is a joke whose humour is clear only to those people who are in a group that has some prior knowledge (not known by the whole population) that makes the joke humorous. ... Trey Parker Randolph Severn Trey Parker III (born October 19, 1969 in Conifer, Colorado) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning American animator, screenwriter, film director, voice actor, actor and musician. ... Matt Stone Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an Emmy-winning American animator, film director, screenwriter, actor and voice actor. ... Terry Gilliam at Karlovy Vary 2006. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

A Stargate SG-1 episode, "Into the Fire" includes a short scene where Col. O'Neill, after killing Hathor, tries to convince her followers that she's an "ex-goddess," saying, "She's gone. She is no more. She's… well, let's face it, she's a former queen." Stargate SG-1 (often abbreviated as SG-1) is a science fiction television series based upon the 1994 science fiction film Stargate. ... Into the Fire (Part 2 of 2) is the season premiere episode of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. ...

The sketch was also parodied in an episode of EastEnders, where Jim Branning took his dead bird back to the pet shop. Wherein the two shop assistants go about recreating the sketch, much to Jim Branning's bemusement. EastEnders is a popular BBC television soap opera, first broadcast on BBC1 on 19 February 1985[2] and continuing today. ...

Also in 2001, the Australian sketch show The Micallef Pogram [sic] included a brief parody at the beginning of its last episode. The reversal here was that the bird was alive, with the Mr Praline-type character soon realising his error. Later the host complained that the anorak and type of bird were wrong as well. The Micallef Program (also known as The Micallef Programme in its second season, and The Micallef Pogram in its third season) was an Australian sketch comedy TV series hosted by Shaun Micallef that ran from 1998 to 2001 on ABC TV. // Format and Cast The show took the loose guise...

Jerry Fodor, a philosopher known for his extensive use of jokes in his writings, describes a theory on concepts in his brief essay Having Concepts: a Brief Refutation of the Twentieth Century rhetorically saying "But this parrot too is pretty certainly dead". Jerry Alan Fodor (born 1935) is a philosopher at Rutgers University, New Jersey. ...

On his 2005 tour of New Zealand, John Cleese recreated the Parrot Sketch, substituting a dead sheep for the parrot. Species See text. ...

The British comedy programme The Office, written by and starring Ricky Gervais, also contains a brief reference to the dead parrot sketch. David Brent's (played by Ricky Gervais) and Chris Finch's quiz team are named the Dead Parrots and they repeat the line: "it rests in peace, if you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!" when introduced, to which the quiz-master, Gareth, laughs and simply says "Monty Python" while being the only one apart from Brent and Finch who looks amused. The Office is a British television comedy series, created, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and first aired in the UK on BBC Two on July 9, 2001. ...

On Jasper Carrot's 24 Carrot Gold Tour (where the audience voted for the material in the show) he opened with the joke: "Someone from Newark wanted the dead parrot sketch. Newark, the only city in England that's an anagram of Wanker." Jasper Carrott OBE (born Robert Davies, March 14, 1945) is an English comedian. ... Newark (also Newark-on-Trent) is a town in Nottinghamshire, located on the River Trent. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... An anagram (Greek ana- = back or again, and graphein = to write) is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce other words, using all the original letters exactly once. ...

The Neko Desktop Accessory for Macintosh System 7 allowed the mouse to be configured as a blue bird, which was claimed to be a "Norwegian Blue Parrot." Neko is a cross-platform open-source animated cursor-chasing cat screenmate application. ... System 7 (codenamed Big Bang) was a version of Mac OS, the operating system of the Apple Macintosh computer. ...

There's a brief mention of the Norwegian Blue on page 245 of Jasper Fforde's book The Big Over Easy.

In the classic computer game Colossal Cave Adventure, a small bird is in evidence at one point in the game. When the player attempts to FEED BIRD, the program responds with "The bird is not hungry (it's just pining for the fjords)" -- an obvious early reference to the Dead Parrot Sketch. Colossal Cave Adventure (also known as ADVENT, Colossal Cave, or Adventure) (Crowther & Woods, 1976) was the first computer adventure game. ...

In the MUD Walraven, if one attempts a combat action on a corpse, the system reply is "This is an ex-parrot!" Some mud. ...

In John Cleese's appearance on The Muppet Show, he plays a traditional pirate in a Pigs in Space segment. When the parrot on his shoulder nags him, he threatens it: "Do you want to become an ex-parrot?" The Muppet Show was a television program featuring a cast of Muppets (diverse hand-operated puppets, typically with oversized eyes and large moving mouths) produced by Jim Henson and his team from 1976 to 1981. ...

A list of different breeds of swamp dragon in Terry Pratchett's The Last Hero includes "The Nothingfjord Blue. Wonderful scales, but a tendency to homesickness". Swamp dragons (draco vulgaris) are fictitious creatures from Terry Pratchetts Discworld novels. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Last Hero is a short novel, the twenty-seventh of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. ...

The "Asian Bride Shop" sketch in Goodness Gracious Me, although starting off as a parody of the Cheese Shop sketch, ends with a customer complaining his bride is dead. Goodness Gracious Me was a BBC English language sketch show originally on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC TWO, based on four Indian-British actors: Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. ... The Cheese Shop sketch is a famous sketch from Monty Pythons Flying Circus. ...

The Christmas 1998 issue of David Langford's science fiction newsletter Ansible includes a lengthy parody of the sketch by Simon Bradshaw, based on Ken Macleod's suggestion that the upcoming technological singularity might get hit by the (then also upcoming) Millennium Bug.[1] David Langford David Langford (born April 10, 1953, in Newport, Monmouthshire) is a British science fiction author and critic. ... The term ansible is used in science fiction literature to describe a hypothetical faster-than-light communication device. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... When plotted on a logarithmic graph, 15 separate lists of paradigm shifts for key events in human history show an exponential trend. ... The year 2000 problem (also known as the Y2K problem and the millennium bug) was a flaw in computer program design that caused some date-related processing to operate incorrectly for dates and times on and after January 1, 2000. ...

External links

• Watch the Parrot Sketch