# Monty Python quiz sketch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142 "2003-06-20T13:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/1 "2003-06-20T13:12:27Z")
Monty Python performed a quiz sketch. It went something like this: “What is the difference between a mon_soon_ and a mon_goose_?” “A monsoon is a long white pole for scaring the birds away with, and a mongoose is a medieval Hungarian stomach pump.” "No, I can only give you _half_ credit for that. A mon_soon_ is a very large wind, and a mon_goose_ **isn’t**. Unless I’m conflating two different sketches, there is also a team from a girl’s school who find out quickly that the expected answer to evrything is “Pork!” I seem to remember _seeing_ the girl’s team on a video, but I don’t remember seeing the guy with the “mongoose” question. So… 1. Are these bits in the same sketch? 2. What video is it on? I also remember Colin Atkinson being in the show, and I remember a sketch with cultists sitting on a mountain waiting for the end of the world. (“Will this wind be so mighty as to lay low the mountains of the Earth?” “No, of course not. That’s why we’re up _here_. So we’ll be safe.” “Will we be safe?” “Oh, yes! Safe as houses!” “Then will the houses be safe?” “Oh, no; they’ll be blown to bits!”) The actors were wearing black T-shirts with the necks pulled up over their heads like cowls. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/2 "2003-06-20T13:26:03Z")
I doubt it was Python. It wasn’t in the TV series or the movies. And the quote certainly doesn’t sound like their type of comedy. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/3 "2003-06-20T13:30:47Z")
You are actually remembering a sketch from the very funny **Secret Policeman’s Ball(s)**. A couple of benefits for Amnesty International. It starred, among others, John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Graham Chapman, Peter Cooke, Sting, Peter Frampton and many others. They performed a couple of classic Python sketches. Purchase a tape [here](http://musica.co.uk/musica/screen __PRODUCT/shop__ MUS/category__DV74549.htm) I love that show. ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/4 "2003-06-20T13:32:01Z")
I concur, though the first sketch mentioned sounds very much like Python the secone doesn’t seem to be Python at all, especially the bit about the black t-shirts, and if it is, it’s not from any of the episodes in the original MPFC series. You did make me curious though. A search on IMDB has turned up a sketch series (Possibly only consisting of a single episode, no details are given.) from 1980 featuring John Cleese and _Rowan_ Atkinson, called _Peter Cook & Co._ Perhaps these sketches are from that? Perhaps . . . ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/5 "2003-06-20T13:35:35Z")
Must type faster… > [@](#): > > (Another fight breaks out. A management man arrives carried in sedan chair by two black flunkies. He wears a colonial governor’s helmet and a large sign reading ‘frightfully important’. All the miners prostrate themselves on the floor.) > > Foreman: Oh, most magnificent and merciful majesty, master of the universe, protector of the meek, whose nose we are not worthy to pick and whose very feces are an untrammelled delight, and whose peacocks keep us awake all hours of the night with their noisy lovemaking, we beseech thee, tell thy humble servants the name of the section between the triglyphs in the frieze section of a classical Doric entablature. > > Management Man: No idea. Sorry. > > Foreman: Right. Everybody out. > > (They all walk off throwing down took. Cut to a newsreader’s desk.) > > Newsreader: Still no settlement in the coal mine dispute at Llanddarog. Miners refused to return to work until the management define a metope. Meanwhile, at Dagenham the unofficial strike committee at Fords have increased their demands to thirteen reasons why Henry III was a bad king. And finally, in the disgusting objects international at Wembley tonight, England beat Spain by a plate of braised pus to a putrid heron. And now, the Toad Elevating Moment. Now that’s Pythonian. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/6 "2003-06-20T13:36:15Z")
> [@](#): > > I concur, though the first sketch mentioned sounds very much like Python the secone doesn’t seem to be Python at all, especially the bit about the black t-shirts I forgot to mention that it was a stage show that was performed live. > [@](#): > > _Rowan_ Atkinson :smack: I knew that. Processor/linkage disconnect with the keyboard. > [@](#): > > You are actually remembering a sketch from the very funny **Secret Policeman’s Ball(s)**. Aha! I thought it might have been _The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball_. I don’t think I’ve seen _The Secret Policeman’s Ball_. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/7 "2003-06-20T16:05:53Z")
I have an audio tape called “Dead Parrot Society” featuring Python sketches and other british humor. This sketch appears on it, and it’s called Top of the Form. Cleese is the quizmaster, I can’t tell who the kids are by voice. This page shows it listed under _The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball_ [www.nbdtv.com/frames\_main/product.asp?ProductID=271](http://www.nbdtv.com/frames_main/product.asp?ProductID=271) ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/8 "2003-06-20T16:44:42Z")
It might help you to enjoy the sketch more if you know that it’s a parody of a 1960s-'70s TV show _Top of the Form_ for which the word “geek” could have been invented. Apparently [this site](http://www.staugs.org/television.htm) (beware, it’s got music) was created by someone who appeared on it in 1972, and it needs no further explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/9 "2003-06-20T20:09:13Z")
The Secret Policeman’s Balls is a classic! One of my dearest favorites. That tape has, among other things: - The old gentlemen comparing their difficult childhoods (which is a much better version of the sketch than on Hollywood Bowl) - The cast systematically insulting every constituent group in the audience. - Chris Langham telling the “deaf and dumb” accountant joke. - Sylvester McCoy (of Doctor Who fame) doing his truly outrageous stage act. - Rowan Atkinson making lots of silly faces, voices, and noises. I treasure this tape, and hope it never wears out. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-quiz-sketch/183142/10 "2003-06-20T22:28:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > I also remember Colin Atkinson being in the show, and I remember a sketch with cultists sitting on a mountain waiting for the end of the world. (“Will this wind be so mighty as to lay low the mountains of the Earth?” “No, of course not. That’s why we’re up _here_. So we’ll be safe.” “Will we be safe?” “Oh, yes! Safe as houses!” “Then will the houses be safe?” “Oh, no; they’ll be blown to bits!”) The actors were wearing black T-shirts with the necks pulled up over their heads like cowls. That sketch is “The End of the World”, originally done in “Beyond the Fringe” with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Alan Bennet. That first question is an exact quote. I see Cook and Bennet are in the cast of TSPOB.