4. Lumberjack Song

Palin’s the hairdresser who’s afraid of hair with a secret longing to be... a lumberjack!

Leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia! With his best girly by his side!

But as the hearty ode to log-felling turns into a cross-dressing confessional, the accompanying manly Mounties grumble and wander off, followed by disillusioned girly Connie Booth (Cleese's future wife).

Quote: “I wish I’d been a girly, just like my dear papa!”

3. Dead Parrot

According to Palin, the mother of all sketches was inspired by a mechanic he hired who explained away every fault on his car with increasingly ridiculous justifications (“The doors have fallen off!”... “Well, they do that...”)

After a brief dalliance with car salesmen, the sketch was revamped by Chapman and Cleese to feature a demised Norwegian blue as the central, undeniably broken item. Beautiful plumage...

Quote: “Now that’s what I call a dead parrot.”

2. The Cheese Shop

Enthusiastic epicure Cleese attempts to buy some cheese from a cheese shop that doesn't seem to actually have any cheese for sale.

Cue the Python's finest two-hander as Cleese and vendor Palin spar over an increasingly bizarre list of world cheeses before Cleese finally cracks under the strain of the in-store bouzouki player.

Recently homaged by Stewart Lee in the almost equally joyous Apple Shop sketch.

Quote: “Venezuelan beaver cheese?”
“Not today, sir, no.”

1. The Piranha Brothers

Showcasing everything you could wish to find in a single Python sketch, this is a merciless send-up of the (then recent) real-life reign of terror inflicted on London’s East End by the Kray twins.

Taking the form of a current-affairs show catchily entitled ‘Ethel The Frog’, it’s the sorry story of gangsters Doug (who used sarcasm as a bitter weapon) and Dinsdale (who lived in fear of a giant hedgehog named Spiny Norman) Piranha.

The extended tale follows their lives from the brothers' birth – on probation – to their fall at the hands of a frustrated thespian Scotland Yard chief (Inspector Harry 'Snapper' Organs).

It's a show-off showcase of the team at their absolute peak, from Cleese glamming up as the haughty lady Dinsdale used to step out with, to Chapman’s sleazy schoolteacher miming somebody’s guts falling out.

Watch out for a guest appearance from Spiny Norman at the end, too...

Quote: “Dinsdale was a gentleman. And what’s more, he knew how to treat a female impersonator.”

 

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