Best Monty Python episodes?

[dawg]

Lately, in the midst of the misery and sorrow that is my unfortunate life, I have been distracting myself and my two teenage sons by watching old episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

I've already seen the episodes with the parrot sketch, the lumberjack song, and the Spanish Inquisition - so let's not go for the obvious here. What other episodes are "essential".

[Rambis]

1. "Owl Stretching Time"

Self-defence against fresh fruit :hi:

[dawg]

6. Thanks ..

that one is going on the list.

[Rosie1223]

2. The "Twit Olympics" makes me laugh every time.

:hi:

[flvegan]

4. This. "Upper Class Twit" competition.

VERY funny.

[Richard Steele]

3. My all-time favorite is Episode 14, "Face the Press (or: Dinsdale)":

Face the Press
New Cooker Sketch *
Tobacconist's (Prostitute Advert)
The Ministry of Silly Walks *
La March Futile
Piranha Brothers *

*My three favorite sketches, all in one episode.

[dawg]

5. Then he nailed my head to the floor ....

I've seen that one, but you're so right - it's awesome.

Btw, the Piranha brothers didn't make me laugh that much at first, but it gets funnier and funnier every time I see it.

[Richard Steele]

29. And Gilliam expanded "Gas Cooker Sketch" into a planetary paradigm in the film "Brazil"

"No, they're still on standard pressure..."

[driver8]

10. I love the Piranha brothers. I have a friend who always gives his name as "Dinsdale"

when ordering food or waiting for a table in a restaurant. I crack up every time I think about it.

[Walk away]

7. You never expect the Spanish Inquisition....nt

[Richard Steele]

27. I always expect the Spanish Inquisition, thanks to Monty Python.

They made me the paranoid,suspicious,
never-convicted,walking-about-freely-in-the-light-of-day
MAN I am today, may G*D rest their souls.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. "Cycling Tour" Sketch. From Episode 34

When Eric Idle...as Michael Palin's "mother"...wakes him up, and he says "IT WAS ALL A DREAM" and Idle says "No, THIS is the dream, you're still in the cell"...

...that's a prime example of Monty Python magic. My single favorite episode, topped only by Episode 33:

Biggles dictates a letter
Climbing the north face of the Uxbridge Road
Lifeboat
Old lady snoopers
'Storage jars'
The show so far
Cheese shop
Philip Jenkinson on Cheese Westerns
Sam Peckinpah's 'Salad Days'
Apology
The news with Richard Baker
Seashore interlude film

:toast:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. You've really got to consider individual sketches rather than episodes.

Since many great sketchs are often packed together with rather dull sketches or forgettable cartoons. Plus they've often been re-edited into different releases.

My personal favorite sketch is the restaurant sketch. The one with the bit of dirt on the fork.

[Burma Jones]

11. Archaeology Today, Spam, All the ones previously mentioned

As far as bits go, three not often mentioned favorites that I find brilliant are: Llamas, The Mary Recruitment Office and Close Order Swanning About

[HopeHoops]

12. Tough call. "The Cheese Shop"? "SPAM"? "Looking for an Argument"?

Really tough to decide.

[bikebloke]

13. The Scottish Tennis Player

And the bloke late for his own funeral.

[lazarus]

14. fish slapping dance

funniest thirty seconds ever recorded.

[Pendrench]

15. "Dennis Moore" was a very funny sketch.

I also like "Death of Mary, Queen of Scots/Exploding Penguin on TV Set"

Tim

[lazarus]

16. Hand over your florins!

they extracted that theme on one of their early albums. Hilarious.

[mikeSchmuckabee]

28. He robs from the poor, and gives to the rich,

stupid b*tch.

[Patsy Stone]

17. The Flying Sheep

One thing is for sure; a sheep is not a creature of the air. They have enormous difficulty in the comparatively simple act of perchin'. (crash) As you see. As for flight, its body is totally unadapted to the problems of aviation. Trouble is, sheep are very dim. Once they get an idea in their heads, there's no shifting it.

But where did they get the idea from?

From Harold. He's that sheep there over under the elm. He's that most dangerous of animals, a clever sheep. He's the ring-leader. He has realized that a sheep's life consists of standing around for a few months and then being eaten. And that's a depressing prospect for an ambitious sheep. He's patently hit on the idea of escape.

[edbermac]

18. All the ones with John Cleese in them.

He left during the last six episodes. The only one of those I liked was the one with the man going to a department store to buy an ant.

[gmoney]

19. "Full Frontal Nudity"

"Scott of the Antarctic"
"Michael Ellis"
"The War Against Pornography"

[pokerfan]

20. Argument Clinic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y">Youtube

http://www.mindspring.com/~mfpatton/sketch.htm">Transcript

M: I came here for a good argument.
A: No you didn't; no, you came here for an argument.
M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.

[Ishoutandscream2]

21. LOL! Absolutely brilliant.

Doesn't matter how many times I see it, I laugh my ass off.

[pokerfan]

22. Another favorite: The Hungarian Phrasebook

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6D1YI-41ao

Transcript: http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/hungry.htm

My hovercraft is full of eels....

[Maine-ah]

23. The Ministry of Silly Walks.

[Dr Morbius]

24. There's a sketch, I don't know the name for it, about a building...

...which is sustained solely by the belief of the residents in its soundness. Some kind of swami in a black robe hypnotizing folks.

[Bucky]

25. The one where one guy walks into an office & acts odd and the other guy goes "You're a loony"

[dsn]

26. You've got to look at individual sketches, but...

Four Yorkshiremen
Whizzo Chocolates (the Crunchy Frog sketch)
The Dead Parrot Sketch
Argument Clinic
Spam
The Spanish Inquisition sketch
The Cheese Shop sketch
Ministry of Silly Walks
The Fish Licence sketch

[Silver Swan]

30. My favorite little sketch

is "Confuse-A-Cat." (Or however they spelled it.)

[mikeSchmuckabee]

31. Episode 24: How Not To Be Seen

It also has "Conquistador Coffee". Hilarious from end to end.

Episode 18: Live From The Grill-o-Mat Snack Bar, "Blackmail", "Ken Clean-air Systems (boxer)".

Episode 9: The Money Programme


Great sketches
Lemming of the BDA (ep.4)
Vocational Guidance Counselor (ep.10)
Death of Mary Queen of Scots (ep.22) ("It's just gone 8 o'clock and time for the penguin on your television set to explode." "Intercourse the penguin." "Burma!")
Funniest joke in the world (ep.1)

And my favorite
Piston Engine (a bargain) (ep.43) ("Been shopping?" "No, I've been shopping.")

I hope you and your sons have a good laugh.

[peekaloo]

32. Cheese Shop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3KBuQHHKx0

[NoPasaran]

33. North Minehead By-Election

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlmGknvr_Pg

"You won't have much fun in Stalingrad."

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. Flying Lessons; Biggles Dictates a Letter; and the dead fish upon the landing sketch