# The Four Yorkshiremen Sketch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [January 27, 2023, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867 "2023-01-27T04:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/21 "2023-01-27T17:37:09Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > At least you only had to _sleep_ on radium! That was _breakfast_ for us! 'Alf a lump of radium washed down with heavy water before dad shoved us out door to work at mill fifteen hours a day for thruppence a week. > > You got _water_ to drink? We had to wash down our radium breakfast with our own tears. And we never knew our dad, or mum for that matter. The orphanage sold us to a farm where we had to pull the plough for no wages, just meals. And the meals weren’t even pure radium. We had to go through the tailings from the uranium mine and extract our own radium. - I’ll bet you had proper tools. We had to use our bare hands as crucibles to extract the radium. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/22 "2023-01-27T17:39:53Z")
Hands? Oh, I remember hands! That’s the stuff I had to sell to buy some air to breathe… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/23 "2023-01-27T17:40:34Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Hands? Oh, I remember hands! That’s the stuff I had to sell to buy some air to breathe… - At least you have lungs… ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/24 "2023-01-27T19:26:26Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Per John Cleese, the sketch was inspired by a 1910 short story: > > [Self-Made Men](https://americanliterature.com/author/stephen-leacock/short-story/self-made-men) I came to post about that story - let’s just say that the sketch and the story have… remarkable similarities; but if I understand your post, Cleese had admitted that the story was the source? Can you expand on that? j ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/25 "2023-01-27T19:30:51Z")
“British comedian John Cleese credits Leacock for the Monty Python ‘Four Yorkshiremen’ sketch, in which several old geezers try to outdo one another with stories about their childhood poverty.” > **[Stephen Leacock: Most popular humorist in America since Mark Twain](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/stephen-leacock-most-popular-humorist-in-america-since-mark-twain-1.4686606)** > > The comedic writer inspired the Monty Python ‘Four Yorkshiremen’ sketch ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/26 "2023-01-27T19:36:06Z")
Thanks for that! j ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/27 "2023-01-27T19:39:36Z")
Leacock’s story only had two men, and their conversation started out pretty over-the-top. Cleese expanded it to four characters, and gave it a slower build-up. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/28 "2023-01-27T20:03:57Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Cleese expanded it to four characters, and gave it a slower build-up. Cleese, among the others others of his troupes, always had an amazing sense for comic timing and pace. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/29 "2023-01-27T20:12:45Z")
Happy to oblige! I’ll also throw in a plug for Leacock’s [“The Life of John Smith”](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6340/6340-h/6340-h.htm#link2H_4_0025) - sort of a proto-“The Adventures of Ralph Mellish.” ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/30 "2023-01-27T20:22:57Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > No one has linked to the original sketch yet: A link to the original sketch? Luxury! In my day when we wanted to share a sketch on a message board we had to type out the dialogue from memory! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/31 "2023-01-27T20:27:12Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > n my day when we wanted to share a sketch on a message board we had to type out the dialogue from memory! You had writing! We had to use pictograms scrawled on cave wall with ochre! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/32 "2023-01-27T20:36:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@WildaBeast](#): > > > > n my day when we wanted to share a sketch on a message board we had to type out the dialogue from memory! > > You had writing! We had to use pictograms scrawled on cave wall with ochre! - Wall pictures? Luxury! We had to make up our own dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/33 "2023-01-27T20:44:04Z")
Y’all should’ve sold the radium and eaten caviar. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/34 "2023-01-27T21:12:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > > [@WildaBeast](#): > > > > > > n my day when we wanted to share a sketch on a message board we had to type out the dialogue from memory! > > > > You had writing! We had to use pictograms scrawled on cave wall with ochre! - > > Wall pictures? Luxury! We had to make up our own dialogue. Hell, I never had a cave, let alone a wall! ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/35 "2023-01-27T21:59:48Z")
Four characters and a slower build-up? What luxury! We were happy to have half a 3x5 card for a script written with the lead broken off a pencil. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/36 "2023-01-27T22:58:14Z")
Most people heard this first on the ‘_Monty Python Live At Drury Lane_’ album. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/37 "2023-01-27T23:01:37Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Four characters and a slower build-up? What luxury! We were happy to have half a 3x5 card for a script written with the lead broken off a pencil. We used to DREAM of having a broken off pencil! Best we could manage was to smear our own phlegm on a scrap of tin. Couldn’t even use our blood because mum sold it to pay the rent. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/38 "2023-01-28T00:35:19Z")
Count your blessings that she only sold your blood! Every time rent came due, mum would make us draw straws. Whoever got the short one got marched right down to the butcher shop and turned into meat pies, which we had to sell on street corner two for a ha’penny, just so we could afford a single-room cottage with leaky roof that we shared with six other families! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/39 "2023-01-28T01:43:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Count your blessings that she only sold your blood! Every time rent came due, mum would make us draw straws. Whoever got the short one got marched right down to the butcher shop and turned into meat pies, which we had to sell on street corner two for a ha’penny, just so we could afford a single-room cottage with leaky roof that we shared with six other families! - At least you were made into meat pies. I was only good for chitlins. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867/40 "2023-01-28T02:34:14Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Most people heard this first on the ‘_Monty Python Live At Drury Lane_’ album I first heard it on an American television program called _Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers in London_. From 1965 to 1974 there was a variety program called _The Dean Martin Show_. It was very popular. During the summer it were no episodes of it. Instead, there were replacement shows. The summers of 1968 and 1969 the replacement show was called _Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers_. The Golddiggers were a group of women on _The Dean Martin Show_ who sang, danced, and did comedy sketches (I think, although I don’t remember them well). In 1970, the people who ran the show decided it would be nice to do something a little different, so that summer the show was filmed in London. Apparently the idea was that some British performers would appear on the show. Among them was Marty Feldman, who was one of the four stars of _At Last the 1948 Show_ who was in the original version of the sketch in 1967. Another star of the show in the summer of 1970 was the American actor Charles Nelson Reilly, who I don’t think did anything else half as good as the sketches I’m about to describe. Feldman and Reilly did some comedy sketches on the 1970 summer show. There were four sketches which I found screamingly funny when I saw them that summer. I could for years afterwards describe them very well, but unfortunately I forgotten a lot about all of them except for one. That one was a variant of The Four Yorkshiremen sketch which had to be adapted so it could be done by two people (Feldman and Reilly). Remember, at that point _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_ hadn’t shown in the U.S. Nothing on American television was as bizarre a comedy program as that. In comparison, _Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in_ wasn’t nearly as strange. It was only years later that I learned that the sketch wasn’t original but a version of a sketch from a British television show. For some reason, not many people remember _Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers in London_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-four-yorkshiremen-sketch/978867.md?page=3)