Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.
(The owner does not respond.)
Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss?
Owner: What do you mean “miss”?
Mr. Praline: (pause) I’m sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
In that opening exchange from the “Dead Parrot” sketch, the audience laughs after “cold”.
“My name is Equator, Brian Equator. Like round the middle of the Earth, only with an L.”
again -
To head folks off at the pass: every single other thing that Python did made complete, logical sense to me - it’s just these two things I never “got”. At least I know they’re not absurdist lines, so I can suss that there’s some kinda punch-line meaning to them.
And if there are any other Python headscratchers anyone has, I’m sure I’ll field those queries with venerable, adroit expertise.
The audience laughed after “cold” because it was an entirely inappropriate excuse for his alleged offense. Like the other example, it was indeed a non sequitur.
huh - just now listened on youtube, repeatedly, and you really have to prick your ears to hear the “l” in “Equatol”. Yeah, too bad montypython.net didn’t catch that - they do the odd mistake, but on the whole my go-to site for them.
Thanks.
If the first example is intended as straight up absurdist, then it fell completely flat for me.
FWIW, in “Dead Parrot,” Palin has his back to Cleese and his hair is sorta long. Cleese saying I have a cold is a lame excuse for mistaking MP for a chick.
It’s not so much absurdist as an obviously ridiculous explanation. In real life, the listener might Damian’s further explanation—what do you mean by that? Having a cold doesn’t make Sir sound like Miss—but the characters just let it go.
No, it’s Brian Equatlor. pronounced ee-quate-ler (though with the accent the last syllable sounds like “luh”) Please listen carefully. I believe it can be verified in the Monty Python “All the Words” books.
According to All the Words Vol. 1 (pg 118), it’s “Equator, Brian Equator”. The character is also listed as Mr Equator. I’m going with outright absurdist comedy.
One common attribute of way too much British humor is the “embarrassment” style of joke. Someone says or does something embarrassing and then they do stupid stuff to cover it up. (This constantly being afraid of being embarrassed is a major feature in British society). I find it incredibly trite, myself.
The “Hello, Miss.” bit is based on this. Cleese is embarrassed and makes matters worse by saying he has a cold. Funny, right? Well, to a Brit it is.
If you don’t find this kind of embarrassment joke funny, stay away from Fawlty Towers. That’s all it is.
The humour of embarrassment is a real thing in British humour but not in this case. “I have a cold” is a simple non-sequitur, it is nonsense it has nothing to do with embarrassment.
In a nice bit of synchronicity, I noticed this thread today and the wife just scored us tickets to see John Cleese and Eric Idle at the Pasadena Convention Center in a few weeks. It will make a nice bookend for election night.
