This is definitely a Marmite thing (you either love it or you hate it, for those unfamiliar). I adore Monty Python but I know for some others it’s a real fingernails-down-the-blackboard experience. This is one of my favourite sketches, which I thought I’d share today after noticing a python theme going on with two of my fellow bloggers, namely; The Other Watson at http://wantoncreation.wordpress.com/ and The Stressed Out Student at http://stressingoutcollege.wordpress.com/about-stressed-out-student/ so my thanks, and your appreciation (or ire) is due to them 😉

For me this clip is one of the best examples of Pythonesque humour; Palin and Cleese’s timing is impeccable, they don’t miss a beat, despite the fact that the script must have been a nightmare to memorize and is far more complex than a cursory glance might suggest. The sketch is just over 6 minutes long, and the dialogue runs at the speed of the average game of ‘yes/no’ which most of us can’t keep up for more than a few seconds, making it the verbal equivalent of a championship tennis rally.

Cleese: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position!

Palin : Yes, but it isn’t just saying ‘no it isn’t’.

Cleese: Yes it is!

Palin: No it isn’t! ( pauses for double-take)

Also, because you’ve been very good and because I’m in a good mood, I’m including a link to ’20 of the best Monty Python sketches’ which is featured in Paste Magazine http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/07/the-20-best-monty-pythons-flying-circus-sketches.html

Bon appétit!