Funniest Monty Python Sketches

Published on March 27, 2005 By Jamie Burnside In Entertainment

Entertainment Weekly magazine recently compiled a list of the top-20 funniest Monty Python sketches. You can read the article by clicking this link. As usual, there are certain items included in any "top x" list that can be the source of argument, but in general I found this top twenty list to be pretty fair.

Here are the sketches that Entertainment Weekly chose as the top ten:

1. The Spanish Inquisition (Good choice for number one!)

2. Ministry of Silly Walks (The one that I thought they'd choose.)

3. Guy de Lombiard's Castle (The taunting scene from the Holy Grail.)

4. Dead Parrot (strong one.)

5. Funniest Joke in the World (I think this one is overrated.)

6. Fish Slapping Dance (another overrated one.)

7. The Lumberjack Song (very well-known. I like the barber with the scissors sound on tape.)

8. Nudge Nudge (Eric Idle's most famous sketch.)

9. Eric the Half Bee (I don't recognize this one, and I have watched all of the Python stuff numerous times! Apparently, it is from a comedy record.)

10. The Stoning (from the Life of Brian. I liked that scene, and the one where the Romans were helping to correct verb declensions on graffiti.)

Now here's where the argument part comes in: There were a few of my favorites that didn't make it into the top twenty.

Confuse a Cat Ltd. If your cat is depressed, just call this company. They will put on a performance to confuse your cat back into his or her normal life pattern.

Scott of the Antarctic This one makes me laugh out loud! I love the 50-foot electric parrot. The lion using a table leg as a weapon was hilarious too.

The one where Hitler was travelling incognito, staying in an English B&B to plan the invasion of Stalingrad. I still say "Hilter" for fun when I refer to Hitler. Funny stuff.

Comments

Ionolast

on Mar 27, 2005

I need a license for me pet fish, Eric.
And me pet cat, Eric.
And me pet bee, Eric. Actually half a bee. He had an accident.

Half a bee, philosophically, must ipso facto half not be.

And how about "The Undertaker"?

Jamie Burnside

on Mar 27, 2005

Are you referring to "The Undertaker" from The Holy Grail? "Bring out your dead!"; "I'm not dead yet!" ??

I know Eric the half-bee. They did that one on the TV show, with the pantomime Queen Elizabeth showing up at the post office!

ParaTed2k

on Mar 27, 2005

I agree Jamie, most of these are great, some are overrated, but all are pretty funny!!

My favorite sketch is "The Four Yorkshiremen".... "We used to DREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMM of a paper sack!"

Favorite Movie: Holy Grail
Favorite Python Movie Scene: Either the "Restaurant" scene in "Meaning of Life" or the "stoning" in Life of Brian.

Favorite Python Song: Bravely Bold Sir Robin. (Although "Every Sperm is Sacred" and "The Galaxy Song" are much more fun to play on the guitar).

Favorite Album: Matching Tie and Hankerchief

Favorite Flying Circus Episode: "The Parts of the Body" (Gotta love those "Naughty Bits"!!!) ;~D

Favorite Quote: "As far as we know there is not and never has been a person named 'Monty Python', It isn't about flying and it isn't a circus. ~ John Cleese on The Tonight Show, when asked why the show was called "Monty Python's Flying Circus". (or at least that's how I remember it).

LONG LIVE PYTHON!!!

philomedy

on Mar 27, 2005

:::sings:::

Emmanuel Kant was a real piss and who was very rarely stable
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar who could think you under the table
David Hume could outconsume Wilhelm Friedrich Hagel
And Wichtenstein was a beery swine who was just as sloshed as Schlaegel

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates himself was permanently pissed

John Stuart Mill of his own free will had half a cup of shanty was particularly ill
Plato, they say, could stick it away, half a pint of whiskey every day
Aristotle Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle, often fond of his dram
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart, I drink therefore I am!

And Socrates himself is particularly missed
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he's pissed!

:::bows:::

Who can forget the Philosopher's Song? Or the Australian University thing? No Poofters!!! Genius.

philomedy

on Mar 27, 2005

Are you referring to "The Undertaker" from The Holy Grail? "Bring out your dead!"; "I'm not dead yet!"

I think he meant the one where the guy brings his dead mother to the undertaker, who subsequently suggests eating her.

Ionolast

on Mar 27, 2005

Correct, Philomedy.

Tell you what. We'll eat you mom. Then if you still feel guilty about it afterwards, we'll dig a grave and you can throw up into it.

Gene Nash

on Mar 27, 2005

5. Funniest Joke in the World (I think this one is overrated.)

Not only my favorite, but I think it might actually be the funniest joke in the world.

"Lumberjack Song" and "Nudge Nudge" are also at the top of my list.

I also loved a sketch they did in "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" called "Humour Lectures." It's the only time I ever laughed at the pie in the face or thought it was funny.

historyishere

on Mar 27, 2005

I want to see the two episodes they did in German again.... that's taking a risk for comedy.

Gene Nash

on Mar 27, 2005

I want to see the two episodes they did in German again.... that's taking a risk for comedy.

At least one of them is available on DVD. I borrowed it from the library a couple years ago.

Rightwinger

on Mar 29, 2005

"Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore..dumdumdum The night! Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore..Dumdumdum..."
"Stand and deliver! Hand over all your lupins!"

"I've brought you something!"
"Is it clothing?"
"No."
"Is it medicine?"
"No."
"Wood! Wood for the fire!"
"Uh-uh."
"Well then, what is it?"
"Lupins."
"OH, CHRIST!"

The Soccer match between Philosophers.

The one with all the Olympic events...the 100M Dash for the Deaf, and none of them can hear the gun go off, The Relay for people with no sense of direction...so when the gun fires, they all run off in different directions, the 25K Run for the Incontinent, where they all keep running into and out of the bushes.
The one where the RAF pilots can't understand the one's banter.
I love Python.

I also loved Benny Hill. Much more lowbrow stuff, but hilarious anyway.

"We gots aigs an' Spam, sausage aigs, toast an' Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam n' Spam..."
"Oi Don' loik Spam! "Aven' ye got the aigs, toast, sausage n' Spam wi'out th' Spam?"
"Aigs, toast sausage n' Spam wi'out th' Spam?" Eeewl!

Ionolast

on Apr 08, 2005

Sit on my face and tell me that you love me.
I'll sit on your face and tell you I love you, too.
I love to hear you oralize.
When I'm between your thighs
You blow me away!
Sit on my face and let my lips embrace you.
I'll sit on your face and then I'll love you truly.
Life can be fine if we're both 69
If we sit on our faces at losses of places and play
'til we're blown away.

I like traffic lights
I like traffic lights
I like traffic lights
But not when they are red
I like traffic lights
I like traffic lights
I like traffic lights
But only when they're green.
I like traffic lights
I like traffic lights
I like
Oh God

"Bells", "Monytdom of St. Victor"

thatoneguyinslc

on Apr 08, 2005

My fave is the "Organ Donor" sketch from "The Meaning of Life". Funny s**t!

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