Dead Parrot
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Image:And the parrot.PNG The Dead Parrot sketch, alternatively and originally known as Pet Shop sketch or Parrot Sketch, is a popular sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
It portrays a confrontation between disgruntled customer Mr. Eric Praline (played by John Cleese), and a shopkeeper (Michael Palin), who hold contradictory positions on the vital state of a Norwegian Blue parrot (an absurdity in itself since parrots are tropical and not indigenous to Scandinavia).
The skit pokes fun at the many euphemisms for death used in English culture. The sketch aired in the eighth episode of the television series.
The "Dead Parrot" sketch was inspired by a "Car Salesman" sketch that Palin and Graham Chapman had done in How to Irritate People. In it, Palin played a car salesman who refused to admit that there was anything wrong with his customer's (Chapman) car, even as it fell apart in front of him. That sketch was based on an actual incident between Palin and a car salesman.
Over the years, Cleese and Palin have done many versions of the "Dead Parrot" sketch for various television shows, record albums, and live performances.
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Plot
Image:Pining.PNG Mr Praline enters a pet shop, complaining that the parrot he has recently purchased at the location is, in fact, dead. The shopkeeper denies this and points out the beauty of its plumage, further suggesting that the bird is merely asleep. Praline is unconvinced, especially when shouting and the offer of a lovely fresh cuttlefish fails to evoke a response from the bird.
Praline takes the parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter, then tosses it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor without reacting in any way. The shopkeeper remains unconvinced, claiming that it is now stunned, and that it is pining for the fjords.
Praline points out that the only reason that the parrot had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been nailed there. The shopkeeper counters that it was simply to stop it escaping. Praline disagrees in these words:
- Mr Praline: It's not pinin', it's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace, if you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies! It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This is an ex-parrot!
The shopkeeper admits defeat, claims that he is right out of parrots, and offers a slug as replacement. The dialogue continues:
- Mr Praline: Does it talk?
- (pause)
- Shopkeeper: Not really, no.
- Mr Praline: Well, it's scarcely a replacement then, is it?
The action then moves to Bolton, or possibly Ipswich, or maybe even Notlob (Bolton spelled backwards). Much play is made of the location, including the suggestion that the confusion between the towns is due to a pun, or possibly a palindrome. Just as the dialogue is getting "too silly," Graham Chapman's no-nonsense Colonel bursts in and stops the sketch.
In And Now For Something Completely Different, the skit ended by going into The Lumberjack Song.
In The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball, a benefit for Amnesty International, the sketch opens similarly, but ends very differently.
- Mr Praline: It's dead, that's what's wrong with it.
- (audience goes wild)
- Mr Praline: (spends a few seconds acting and looking flabbergasted) Well, you can't say Thatcher hasn't changed some things.
The "Dead Parrot" in popular culture
Image:PalinChapmanCarSalesman.jpg At Graham Chapman's memorial service, Cleese began his eulogy by stating that Graham Chapman was no more, that he had ceased to be, that he had expired and gone on to meet his maker, and so on. Cleese went on to justify his eulogy by claiming that Chapman would never have forgiven him if he had not delivered it exactly as he did.
The same lines from the skit are frequently used to describe anything which the speaker wishes to describe as defunct or no longer viable. The name "Dead Parrot" is also sometimes used, and specifically applies to a controversial joint policy document which the Liberal Party and Social Democrats issued in 1988 in the process of their merger into the Liberal Democratic Party. Shortly before her downfall as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher described this party in her deadpan 'comedy' voice, saying "this is a dead parrot, it has ceased to be." The loss of the Eastbourne parliamentary seat at a by-election to the Liberal Democrats shortly afterward was cause for David Steel, its leader at the time to say "it looks like this dead parrot gave her a good pecking!". The emblem of the Liberal democrats is a flying yellow bird.
Another British television comedy Not The Nine O'Clock News referred to the Parrot Sketch in one of their sketches about "Python Worshippers". It went as so:
- Bishop: In the words of John Cleese, whenever two or three are gathered together in one place, then they shall perform the Parrot Sketch.
- Interviewer: It is an ex-parrot.
- Alexander Walker & Bishop (in unison): It has ceased to be.
When Michael Palin and John Cleese made surprise appearances on Saturday Night Live, they recreated the Parrot Sketch.
The Parrot sketch was parodied in a short South Park skit created specially for the BBC's Python Night. Cartman tries to explain to Kyle that Kenny is dead, borrowing nearly all of the dialogue from the Parrot sketch.
In addition, in the 2000s a toy, Norwegian Blue, complete with nails, was released on the market.
Also in 2001, the Australian sketch show The Micallef Pogram [sic] included a brief parody at the beginning of its last episode. The reversal here was that the bird was alive, with the Mr Praline-type character soon realising his error. Later the host complained that the anorak and type of bird were wrong as well.
On his 2005 tour of New Zealand, John Cleese recreated the Parrot Sketch, substituting a dead sheep for the parrot.
Life imitates art
In February of 2005, Itzik Simkowitz of Beersheba sued a pet shop in Tel Aviv for selling him a dying cockatoo. The shop owner had assured him that the 11,000 shekel ($2,500 USD) bird only needed time to adjust to his new surroundings.