I caught a bit of an old SNL the other night and they were doing this routien, which I’ve heard is a classic.
The guy was returnign the parrot; the owner was saying, he’s not dead, just pining for the fiords.
I don’t get it.
Is this really funny and I missed the funny part?
That’s a Monty Python sketch. I’ve never quite understood what’s so funny about it that makes it so famous. Can anyone explain its appeal?
It must have been an SNL that one of the Pythons was on. It’s an old Monty Python skit.
No, it’s not funny at all.
People who make jokes about Deceased Parrots simply do not take into account the feelings of those who, in real life, may be suffering the sad loss of their own dear Bird.
Do you have the name of the programme you were watching? If not, telephone the TV station and find out immediately. Then you must register a Complaint.
If enough viewers follow your fine example then programmes like this will hopefully be banned from the airwaves, and we can go back to watching shows which do not make fun of Ex-Parrots.
Yes it is really funny.
Sadly, there are some people in this world who have suffered a humour bypass, and these poor unfortunates are typically those who will never be able to appreciate the likes of The Goons or Monty Python…
Hey!
I DO have a sense of humor (I like BennyHill, YoungOnes,etc.) I just didn’t find it funny. Maybe it was too much of a legend and it couldn’t live up to it, for me.
It’s a joke about how some shop owners find every sort of excuse to keep you from returning a defective purchase, which means they have to give you a refund. The customer tries to return a parrot that died 30 minutes after he bought it, and the pet shop owner says, “He’s not dead, he’s just resting…”
Link to script.
http://www.montypython.net/scripts/petshop.php
And it’s also funny the way John Cleese bangs it on the counter to show how dead it is…I’m sitting here smiling, just thinking about it.
Deservedly one of their most famous skits.
The Parrot Sketch is about as typical Monty Python as you’re ever likely to see (except maybe the Cheese Shop); Monty Python arguably brought about the the dawn of ‘alternative comedy’ - you either love it or you hate it.
Hey, before we start criticizing Vanilla’s sense of humor (or lack thereof), let’s pause and consider the possibility that what she was watching was not the real skit, but a dorky SNL take-off on it.
Was it SNL, or Monty Python’s Flying Circus?
It WAS SNL, but that guy was in it (Cleese?)
Maybe it was too much of a legend and it couldn’t live up to it, for me.
I don’t think it is just you. It was a screamingly funny sketch when Python first started doing it 20+ years ago. It’s still funny when they have their heart in it, but I think I saw that SNL and Cleese and Palin were just going through the motions with it. I think they became heartily sick of that sketch long ago.
For those of you who saw and liked “Holy Grail,” check out http://www.lego.com/studios . It has the complete “Camelot” song scene done entirely with Legos. They even have the guy clapping down in the dungeon.
RR
We’re knights of the round table.
We dance whene’er we’re able.
We do routines and chorus scenes
with footwork impeccable . . . "
I’m a fairly non-demonstrative guy and usually just crack a smile at silly comedy, but John Cleese manages to leave me rolling. Even his relatively straight roles (Silverado: “Today, my jurisdiction ends here. Pick up my hat.”) are great and some of his stuff like “Fawlty Towers” justifies the very existence of television as a medium.
The parrot sketch is seriously funny if it’s taken in context. In my case, it’s one of those shared jokes among friends where one line, properly applied, can crack up a whole room and take you back to your salad days. You probably have similar in-jokes with your friends that I wouldn’t find funny.
If you’ve ever been in a position where you’re trying to convince some obstinate person of something completely obvious and a bystander interjects “but this parrot is dead”, it will crack you up every time you hear it forever. Now that I think about it, maybe it would make a good SDMB sig line…
Vanilla, I’ve seen the SNL redux of the classic parrot sketch you’re talking about a couple times. It originally aired about five years ago, hosted I think by Kevin Spacey (??), and does indeed have Michael Palin and John Cleese in it. It’s almost identical to the original, from what I can tell – though gauging from the live audience’s reaction to the re-make, it doesn’t go over so well with us Yanks.
FYI, the parrot bit first aired eons ago on an episode of Python titled “Full Frontal Nudity.” They’ve been re-doing it ever since (including, I believe, a variation of it at Graham Chapman’s funeral!)
I just like how they say the word “Pare-OTT” for parrot.
That particular joke is because earlier in the skit they identify the bird as a “Norwegian Blue” (which of course does not exist). Fiords are a notable feature of the Norwegian landscape, and the petshop owner is claiming the bird is just homesick.
Actually, I found the skit as perfomed on SNL to be much less funny than the Monty Python original. Although the words are essentially identical, Palin and Cleese seem to just be going through the motions and rush through it as if they’re on autopilot. The original is hilarious if you like deadpan humor.
No no no, the parrot was already dead when the customer purchased it. The only reason it was still sitting on the perch was because the shop owner had nailed the corpse there.
Now if that’s not funny, I don’t know what it. 
Off to Cafe Society.
By the way, as mentioned by peepthis, Cleese actually did the rant from the Parrot Sketch as part of the eulogy during Graham Chapman’s funeral. Many thought it was in poor taste, but people agreed that Graham would have loved it.
“…He has shuffled off his mortal coil and joined the choir invisible. He is an ex-Chapman!”
And for a more animated version of the skit with Palin and Cleese, see if you can find “The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball” (a charity live performance for Amnesty International) or “Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl” bothe are available on VHS. In both live versions you can tell Cleese and Palin are having fun with the skit and Cleese is really going over the top in his anger at being sold a dead parrot. I forget which version it is, but Cleese shouts out in disbelief “Pining for the fiOOORDDSS?!” and Palin starts laughing.
Cleese, still looking angry, waits a beat and says to Palin, “This is no laughing matter, mate!” This just prompts more giggles from Palin.
I have a book, titled “The First 27 Years of Monty Python” and in it, the consensus is that Chapman loved to shock people and break down their barriers. The entire eulogy is in the book. If I remember, I’ll post it here when I get home tonight.
The original Dead Parrot sketch was from a story Michael Palin told Cleese about a car he bought and when he tried to take it in, the person who sold it refused to admit anything was wrong with the car. This evolved into a pre-Python sketch for a show Cleese and Chapman did (and Palin appears in) called “How to Irritate People” (also available on video).
In Python’s first season, they admittedly re-hashed a lot of their old material. They were going to use the mechanic who refused to admit anything was wrong with the car, but they were trying to think of something to return that wouldn’t resemble the old sketch too closely. According to Cleese, after they thought for a while, Chapman took the pipe out of his mouth and exclaimed, “Make it a dead parrot!”
And that’s how one of Python’s most famous skits was born. Here endeth the lesson.
Not only does it not exist, to the best of my knowledge, parrots are all from tropic or semi-tropic regions…the thought of a pet store owner claiming a parrot was a native breed of a country as cold as Norway is pretty darn funny in and of itself. Of course, this could just seem funny to me because there’s a pet shop in our neighborhood where they would actually try to sell you something like this (although it’s more likely to be a very large rat that they call a special breed of chihuahua.)
Pythonesque humor isn’t something readily explained, though – it either hits your sense of the ridiculous and makes you howl with laughter, or it doesn’t. Also, for some reason, Python routines are the only comedy skits I know of that get funnier and funnier with repetition – I keep picking up on tiny nuances that I missed with previous viewings.
We don’t use lines from the DP sketch, per se, but one of my friends had a great parody on the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” that she made up based on that sketch. Of course, the alcohol was always flowing pretty heavily whenever we were in Pythonesque moods, so my judgment on how funny it actually was could well be impaired. 