Giant dead parrot unveiled in London to pay tribute to Monty Python

[n2doc]

A 50 foot fibreglass bird was hung upside down by a crane this morning at London's Potters Fields to mark the forthcoming TV screening of Monty Python's live show.

The world famous dead parrot sketch, in which John Cleese attempts to return a deceased 'Norwegian Blue' parrot to a pet shop, features in the current Monty Python Live (mostly) farewell show and will appear when UKTV channel Gold screens the final performance on Sunday.

"We are all Monty Python fans so we were delighted to receive the brief from Gold to recreate the mythical Norwegian Blue on a giant scale," explained lead sculptor Iain Prendergast, who helped build the enormous model bird, which took more than two months to make.

Steve North, general manager of Gold, explained that the massive parrot near London's Tower Bridge is "a fitting tribute" to the Python's famous sketch. Yet Prendergast said building the thing wasn't easy

more

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-07-14/giant-dead-parrot-unveiled-in-london-to-pay-tribute-to-monty-python

Fabulous!

[scarletwoman]

1. He's not dead, he's just pining for the fjords.

[JeffHead]

4. He's just tired and shagged out after a long squawk.

[Zorra]

8. It's not pining, it's passed on. This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone

to meet it's maker. This...is a late parrot.

It's a stiff!

[A HERETIC I AM]

15. It is an....

EX-PARROT!

[suffragette]

16. Spot on, scarletwoman! Next up...

A lumberjack interlude.

[Chellee]

2. Beautiful plumage.

[malaise]

3. Fabulous indeed

Rec

[longship]

5. If they hadn't nailed his feet to the crane he'd be pushing up daisies.

That sketch is golden. Michael Palin and John Cleese.

Here, the original:

&feature=kp

[NewJeffCT]

12. They have a ton of fantastic sketches

but, this one seems to be the one that most people remember, and even non Python fans know it and like it.

[longship]

20. One of my favorites.

Cheese Shop Sketch. With the same Palin and Cleese.

Sorry! I am going to have to shoot you. (Not to get the NRA into this... After all, this was the 1960's.)

[awoke_in_2003]

23. My favorite Cleese sketch. nt

[brewens]

26. Classics. Pet and Cheese Shop! I like this Flying Lesson one a lot too.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

37. One of my favorites too.

Apparently Cleese didn't think it was funny when he was writing "The Cheese Shop". He only changed his mind when he read it to the group and Palin couldn't stop laughing...


Another one of my favorites: "Buying A Bed"

[OriginalGeek]

31. My friend and I won the 11the grade talent show at school

by doing this one:

And by "won" I mean we were most popular with the student body and were lucky not to get detention. The faculty adviser was not amused.

[tblue37]

33. My favorite was the one about the Ministry of Silly Walks. nt

[A HERETIC I AM]

18. Would you be surprised to know that ...

that version is not necessarily the original?

There were several version recorded. One in which the part where Palin says "I've got a slug" (as a replacement) was replaced with "I've got a cat. Lop off the legs, jam on a few feathers and a beak - instant parrot!"

[longship]

19. Yup! I remember that.

The question is whether the BBC TV show pre-dated the audio albums. I am not so steeped into Monty Python lore to say. I always thought that the TV pre-dated the albums.

And certainly, The Goon Show pre-dated, and was the inspiration for, Monty Python.

Here is British humor at it's nearly best (not the best episode):

And yup! That's Peter Sellers doing all those voices, and Spike Milligan doing all but one of the rest of them. Harry Seacomb does only Neddy Seagoon.

And, of course, the BBC grams department (the radio version of Industrial Lights and Magic).

[A HERETIC I AM]

32. I first saw an episode of MP's FC in 1973 in Australia.

And it was there that I saw the cat version. Whether or not that was done for the Australian market specifically I don't know, but when we returned to the states in 74 and started seeing the series on PBS, it was always "I've got a slug". There were other variations as well that were recorded for albums or done live (Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl, for example).

If I am not mistaken, the TV shows predated any album recordings.

When the show first started being shown on TV here in the states, nobody had ever heard of them. My brother and I knew about them quite well, having been previously exposed on Aussie TV. We went to see "The Holy Grail" when it was first released and I remember the audience taking a while to get that the subtitles in the beginning were a gag. Then when the film started with the first scene being the misty hilltop and the sound of horses hooves, we both started cracking up. People were looking at us like we were
Nuts because what was funny about that? We just KNEW something silly was about to happen and it did.

We had to go back and see the movie 2 more times to catch all the dialogue because people were laughing so much it drowned it out!

[NewJeffCT]

22. and, before it was a dead parrot

it was a dead car

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/monty_python_the_true_story_behind_the_dead_parrot_sketch

[A HERETIC I AM]

30. I remember reading that quite a while ago

Thanks for the link!

[SwankyXomb]

6. I've got a slug. n/t

[bvf]

17. Does it talk?

Gawd, these people made (still make) me laugh out loud. That includes Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes. Chapman, not so much anymore, since he's dead now.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. The Python version of Pink Floyd's flying pig....

Only it doesn't fly.

It just lays there.

[Half-Century Man]

9. Bird song.

Arguable the best

And now for something completely different.

[NewJeffCT]

14. It's certainly uncontaminated by cheese...

Cleese was great.

This is David Coperfield with one p by Edmund Wells.

[Stryder]

10. That is

One big honkin Ex Parrot.

[Martin Eden]

11. I want to see the perch he was nailed to.

Then I want to see John Cleese bang it on the counter.

[dembotoz]

13. republican presidental hopeful tours London

[flamingdem]

21. It's pining!

It's NOT dead

[Scootaloo]

24. And now for something completely different

[A HERETIC I AM]

36. That looks NOTHING like a Scotsman on a horse. n/t

[MisterP]

25. unless it's a Jorge Zalamea joke nt

[spanone]

27. 'e's not dead'....k&r....

[treestar]

29. 'e's only stunned

[bluesbassman]

28. The Norwegian Blue prefers kipin' on it's back! Remarkable bird, id'nit, squire? Lovely plumage!

Funny stuff.

[IcyPeas]

34. The Larch

[edbermac]

35. That's what happens when you feed spam to a parrot.

[Nevernose]

38. My favorite bits are actually the DVD extras from "Holy Grail"

One is the audio for the hard of hearing: it's just some guy screaming the whole movie as loudly as he can.

The other is the subtitles for people who don't like the movie: it's the complete text of Henry II, Part Two (coincidentally one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. Why are the second parts of trilogies usually so good?)