# I need to laugh, help me find a certain Dave Allen sketch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2015, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-laugh-help-me-find-a-certain-dave-allen-sketch/728695 "2015-08-24T05:48:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-laugh-help-me-find-a-certain-dave-allen-sketch/728695/1 "2015-08-24T05:48:05Z")
Many of you will remember the Irish comedian Dave Allen who was so popular on television. He’s all over YouTube but there is one sketch I can remember but can’t find, so I turn to the SDMB. It was about a fictional meeting between the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Somehow they get into an argument and challenge each other to a duel. It’s a joust actually, they are carried towards each other on those elevated chairs, using their bishop’s crooks as lances. I don’t remember how it ends. Can a fan help me out? I loved this guy’s show _Dave Allen at Large_. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-laugh-help-me-find-a-certain-dave-allen-sketch/728695/2 "2015-08-24T13:24:30Z")
Can’t help you, but heartily agree that Dave Allen was fantastic. I remember another scene where he’s playing a bishop or some other church higher-up and he’s walking with the incense burner. He then starts rotating until it’s apparent he’s going to toss it like a hammer-throw in a decathlon. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-laugh-help-me-find-a-certain-dave-allen-sketch/728695/3 "2015-08-24T15:08:29Z")
I can’t help with your sketch either but I loved Dave Allen when I was little and it’s refreshing to see him mentioned again. I used to watch him along with Benny Hill and Monty Python when I was like 10 years old, so around 1983, probably reruns by then. Sometimes I had to ask my dad to explain the jokes. I just remember Dave Allen sitting in that chair with a glass of rye or whatever beside him saying “It seems there was a man who… (insert joke here)” Did anybody else notice the tip of his one finger was missing? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-laugh-help-me-find-a-certain-dave-allen-sketch/728695/4 "2015-08-24T15:18:46Z")
Was this the guy who had a spaceman character with a female assistant who was a platinum blond, green-skinned cutie? And he usually honked one of her boobs? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-laugh-help-me-find-a-certain-dave-allen-sketch/728695/5 "2015-08-24T17:19:20Z")
I beg your pardon, wrong Brit, I was thinking of Kenny Everett. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-laugh-help-me-find-a-certain-dave-allen-sketch/728695/6 "2015-08-24T18:00:11Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I beg your pardon, wrong Brit, I was thinking of Kenny Everett. Wrong nationality, even – Dave Allen was Irish. > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Did anybody else notice the tip of his one finger was missing? Did anybody not? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-laugh-help-me-find-a-certain-dave-allen-sketch/728695/7 "2015-08-25T00:28:01Z")
I remember what he said about his index finger once. He was speaking about _“Things to do when you are stuck in traffic, to amuse yourself and those around you…”_ He stuck his index finger up to his nose and made digging motions. One of the guys I was watching this with said _“Hey, I can do that!”_ because he was missing most of one of his thumbs. I loved the short sketch he did where, dressed as a clergyman, he entered a church and the baptismal font began to pursue him, shrieking\* “Exterminate! Exterminate! Destroy!”\* His character leaped into the pulpit which bacan making whooshing noises and promptly disappeared.