John Cleese's Favourite Sketch: The Bookshop | At Last The 1948 Show

[@RobMacKendrick]

Nobody does outraged frustration like John Cleese. Not even close.

[@hertzair1186]

English Contained rage

[@someguy2135]

My favorite is... Spoiler follows below... ... the Fawlty Towers episode when he thrashes his car with a branch.

[@hertzair1186]

@@someguy2135 : yes...”I’m going to give you a damn good thrashing!”.....or the Python “Architects sketch” where he realizes the client didn’t want an abitoire to slaughter the tenants, but actually a block of flats...

[@someguy2135]

@@hertzair1186 Both classic in their own way. The Architects sketch was more of a slow burn, if I recall.

[@hertzair1186]

@@someguy2135 correct...you can re-see it here on YT

[@KhaoticPhoenix]

As a bookseller myself, I can attest that this is very true to real life...

[@ChilliCheezdog]

Have you got a copy of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens?

[@ChilliCheezdog]

I don't want to buy it. I'm browsing.

[@nigel900]

Do you have a book that lists all the public school graduates that buy, or read books?...

Do you have that book by that famous author. It has a red cover.

[@skiddaddleonOkC]

@ Do you mean the one about the man who did that thing?

[@korbell1089]

I never knew John Cleese and Marty Feldman worked together. To see two comic genius' feeding off one another, oh what a treat!

[@HiVizCamo]

Look for them as two of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, this same period. I've just recently seen this stuff too, and yes genius.

[@glennnottingham857]

Watch Yellowbeard

[@Pynaegan]

@@glennnottingham857 Pew glaring blindly: "It must have been more of a *tiff* then, Mr. *Moon* !"

[@clasicradiolover]

Neither did I

[@orangelion03]

Feldman had a summer show in the US sometime in the early 70s. We watched it as kids and loved it. First time I heard Monty Python was the parrot sketch on the radio, around 1973 or 74...no idea who they were...our first thought was it was a Feldman sketch. Somehow, I never learned that Felman and Cleese had worked together prior. Terrific.

[@HEDGE1011]

Have you got “Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying”? One of the best lines ever. What comedic perfection on display here!

[@briancox3050]

I was crying with laughter at this hilarious sketch, absolutely brilliant !!!

[@vectorequilibrium4493]

I thought it was Eric the Aardvark myself!? 🤔 Mandela effect...

[@anncryer1834]

@@briancox3050 i87u

[@Palerider610]

It's nearly as good as cockney stinking eel pie!

[@Vinterbukser]

Each to their own, I guess : s

[@jasonterrell847]

At least we have John Cleese for a long time to enjoy. The wonderful Marty Feldman left us way too soon. Pure brilliance.

[@bertrandcroft6644]

Time to clone John Cleese before it's too late...

[@bigverybadtom]

@@bertrandcroft6644 It's too late. Cleese is still alive, but I saw him on television recently and he clearly doesn't have it anymore.

[@vestibulate]

Jason Terrell Marty didn't leave. He was pushed.

[@ledeyabaklykova]

Mexico City wanted MF for herself.

[@brokenrecord3523]

Did you know that Graham Chapman was with MF when he died (Marty, not Graham).

[@acrobaticcripple8176]

Marty Feldman was a genius comic . Both gave this sketch it's brilliance.

[@TheKlokan44]

It's pronouced Frankensteen....

[@diogeneskoolaid8437]

@@TheKlokan44 no I'm sorry, the word we were looking for is Fronkensteen...Fronkensteen. all right Melissa you now have control of the board, pick a category.

[@bobtepedino5661]

@@diogeneskoolaid8437 "I'll take 'Seeking out an honest man' for 100, Alex"

[@marie-theresedubusderougem8180]

@Gary But then all actors were in YF. That film is probably the most elaborate that Mel Brooks directed: not only the casting but story, rythm, editing were outstanding while most of his films, funny as they are, are also a tad messy.

[@franklinbarrett4630]

I was struggling to remember his name, thank you. I remember a skit Marty did with Sandy Duncan and Howard Cosell on the Flip Wilson Show about a pet bird from the book of Revelations. He was brilliant. It was “A Visit to the Vet Sketch”.

[@freelyfarmexploits8854]

John Cleese was channelling an early Basil Fawlty there. Superb piece of comedy history. Marty Feldman was superb in this sketch.

[@DenkyManner]

It's very Fawlty, maybe he worked in a bookshop before running a hotel

[@loupasternak]

He stole Basil from himself

[@annabrewer8054]

Yes! I expected him to smash open the cash register with his head.

[@r.brooks5287]

I worked in a book shop for seven years, this is so familiar.

[@GetRidOfCivilAssetForfeiture]

I also worked at a bookstore for a few years and also can relate.

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@Tracchofyre Proof or percent?

[@TheBlindRaven]

I'm so sry. It now makes sense why Bernard Black was so callous. People can be a pain lol

[@thechumpsbeendumped.7797]

@@TheBlindRaven Black books was brilliant, I wish they’d made more.

[@TheBlindRaven]

@@thechumpsbeendumped.7797 I agree it was a fantastic show. 2 seasons was not enough. I've watched it tons of times still makes me laugh everytime.

[@jonofthehill]

I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER SEE THIS AGAIN!!!!! i was an extreme bookworm when i was young and in my early teens, as i was getting into more obscure fiction (in the ancient times, before DSL, before streaming...), i had these conversations weekly at the bookstores in my town. A random british tv compliation VHS tape that my mother borrowed from the library had this sketch. the first time i saw it i was in literal hysterics. curled into the fetal position, crying, pointing at the tv, unable to breathe with laughter. and when someone asks whats wrong? all you can do is say stuff like "HE DID THE- AND THE- THEN-" before losing it ten times worse. that level of amusement i rewound the tape and rewatched it for almost an hour. i stopped cuz laughter wore me down. it never stopped killing me. then mother returned it before i got home from school then next day and i had never even seen what the cover looked like or wrote down the name of the sketch. my heart broke. thank you britbox for mending it

[@DUCKDUCKGOISMUCHBETTER]

Wow! What a good story. I'm glad you found it again.

[@joanhoffman3702]

I worked in a bookstore for 26 years. I did meet John Cleese there. Yes, there are the people who have no idea what book they are looking for. For example, a woman came up to me at the information desk, and, referring to the paper in her hand, asked if we had A Streetcar Named Desire by Theresa Williams. I said we didn't have it by Theresa Williams but we did have it by Tennessee Williams. She said, "Fine, I'll look at that one". This was a parent picking up a required book for school for her child, and neither was familiar with the writer. I have many stories like this.

[@raymondsix4694]

In a "Frazz" comic strip by cartoonist Jeff Mallett, Frazz speaks to a school teacher who had never heard of "Catcher in the Rye". She thought it was a story about a baseball player.

[@irish66]

" Streetcar Named Desire by Theresa Williams" lol. Could have been in this sketch. "No, not by the one Tenessee Williams, The one by his sister, Theresa."

[@captain-poppleton]

@@irish66 The version by Terry Williams is much better.

[@MrMenefrego1]

This old Yank has been loving British humor since I was a boy and first heard 'Tommy Handley's It's That Man Again Radio Show;' I was hooked! I thank God for our British cousins and their unique sense of humor!

[@Bryt25]

Although once we'd heard Spike Jones there was no going back!

[@apagoogoo]

there's a story in keith moon's biography where moon goes in to marks & spencer to buy trousers. but he wants them to be very high quality. the stitching must be very strong, especially in the crotch. as he's inspecting the trousers, he starts tugging until he rips them in two. he then refuses to pay for them because their strength is inadequate, after which a row ensues of course because he's destroyed them. at the height of the shop agent's pique, in walks cleese and remarks, "is that a single trouser? i've been searching all over! i'll take it!"

[@krashd]

It wasn't like Moonie to destroy things.

[@mashiniwami]

That is a pantaloon, pant for short, invariably worn in pairs, hence a pair of pants. In the USA I have seen a pant advertised, but on closer inspection it is invariably sold as a pair. Very curious.

[@peterlarson233]

​@@mashiniwami I can only assume that when I see clothing referred to as a pant, it's just one leg

[@SearchIndex]

Marks & Sparks ❤

[@lawrencelewis2592]

@@krashd never heard of him breaking things.

[@reneejoseph5990]

I wasn't expecting it, but that was HILARIOUS. I forget how funny John Cleese is

[@shawnporter5109]

Try How to speak English from this show

[@hififlipper]

I was sent to inform you, that John Cleese is still funny.

[@reneejoseph5990]

@@hififlipper Thank you for the update/info/setting me straight😅

[@179cpv]

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition. Oh sorry, that’s a different sketch.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

"with four M's and a silent Q". John Cleese never fails to make me roar with laughter. A genius.

[@tenrec]

And of course, many years later, John Cleese would play the character known as "Q" in the James Bond films.

[@chrisbuesnell3428]

Funnily enough he's not a genius

[@AURON2401]

@@tenrec Was the Q in the James Bond Films... Silent?

[@tenrec]

@@AURON2401 Good heavens, no! Now pay attention, 007...

[@kevinmac2200]

I first saw this sketch when I was ten, and I still remember that line. It sparkled.

[@jJustPlayingNZ]

I ran a second hand book store for 8 years and this sketch is actually quite true to life. Every so often a customer like this would come in 😀

[@jonnyq680]

what did you do with the body

[@markwright3161]

@@jonnyq680 Probably filed under the 500 range of the Dewey Decimal system, or the 700 range depending on how creatively their life was, shelved. :)

[@dorothycastaneda8760]

John Cleese and Marty Feldman,two very funny men,love it!

[@olwens1368]

Memories of someone coming up to the counter with a book- thrilled to find it, been looking for it for 30 years. But 'I'm not going to buy it because it's too expensive-have you got it in paperback?' (It didn't exist in paperback and cost about a tenner.)

[@Dr_Wrong]

lolol

[@tonybarfridge4369]

They were trying to beat you down

[@MetFanMac]

Probably subconsciously didn't want their search to be over and so they looked for an excuse to extend it.

[@brookeking8559]

John Cleese and Eric Idle recreated and updated this skit for their Together Again At Last For The Very First Time tour. It’s understatement to say it was brilliant. RIP Marty Feldman.

[@BrettWMcCoy]

It also appeared on one of the Monty Python albums as well, with Terry Jones

[@CaptainSokrates]

@@BrettWMcCoy I used the Cleese/Palin version as unofficial training for new recruits when I worked at the shop they mention in it ( and yes we did send a lot of "unique" customers to the independent book shop down the road).

[@klandersen42]

@@BrettWMcCoy Pretty sure it was on "Contractual Obligation" album.. That is the version of the sketch I first heard.

[@BrettWMcCoy]

@@klandersen42 Yep!

[@DarkenSeyreth]

@@BrettWMcCoy This was actually the only version I was aware of until now. It's always made me laugh.

[@aaronTNGDS9]

Outstanding. Cleese and Feldman performances are so hilarious. What genius comedians.

[@stvp68]

The phrase “his intrepid spaniel” has stuck with me for decades

[@pennygreening9210]

Stig

[@DieFlabbergast]

"The Amazing Adventures of Captain Gladys Stoat-Pamphlet and her Intrepid Spaniel Stig among the Giant Pygmies of Corsica, Volume Two." I can't wait for the movie!

[@chanfonseka8051]

@@DieFlabbergast I thought it was the Giant Pygmies of Beckles, Volume Eight?

[@davidgalinat4257]

@@chanfonseka8051 Pythons version.

[@clancon]

"Have you tried the chemist" is a great underhanded insult

[@anonUK]

Boots used to stock a basic range of books.

[@johno4521]

On the Monty Python album version, he says 'Have you tried WH Smiths'.

[@mwmingram]

I missed that! Thank you for pointing it out.

[@notanothershrubbery]

@@johno4521 We used to have WH Smiths in Canada, so it was relevant to those of us across the pond as well.

[@thegangsallhere3568]

@@johno4521 And Cleese absolutely perfected the "DID they?" on that album too. :)

[@CleopatraWon]

John Cleese: An irreplaceable treasure! 😂

[@nikkinunud3850]

Absolutely agreed!

[@geebee3256]

Well put.

[@stephenridley1153]

He's still alive???

[@spaztekwarrior]

It was surreal seeing him live in Vancouver doing one of his tours. Being so close to a comedic legend. Could’ve listened to him for days. :)

[@adolfhiller3146]

@@stephenridley1153 Most certainly! :-)

[@bologna3048]

Wow, John Cleese and Marty Feldman in the same sketch, if you wanted to catch lightning in a bottle multiple times in a row this would be how you do it, this is awesome. My father wasn't good for much but i can be glad that as an American Child i was raised to appreciate this type of comedy, these men were/are some of the greatest comics on the planet and they still send me into gut busting laughter.

[@sorbabaric1]

It’s been a long time since I saw this. It’s brilliant. One of my favorites. Thanks.

[@infoscholar5221]

Those guys were one of a kind funny, at just the right moment in history.

[@pyrmontbridge4737]

You are very right. Just like a great song, a comedy sketch is best appreciated in the historical context of its creation.

[@moptopbaku6022]

Absolutely brilliant. Cleese and Feldman together - what an incredible combination.

[@carennorthcutt7724]

I swear this is how I feel at work some days. Help me to help you. Here, I'll even buy it for you. Just go.

[@archiedavis1079]

Me too...and I'm in medicine.....

[@garpylinski3757]

I love that British sense of humor. ❤️ I spent 2 years over there Oct 80 - Oct 82. While in the USAF.. It's a wonderful country. & They're wonderful people. ❤️

[@heggedaal]

I honestly didn't know that Little Britains "Mr. Man buys a painting of a disappointed horse" had a predecessor. Brilliant!

[@ThePathStrider]

That horse looks more perturbed, than disappointed.

[@samsteve1000]

Little Britain had nothing original.

[@EsotericTherapy]

@@samsteve1000 "Bitty."

[@samsteve1000]

@@EsotericTherapy Or, more cynically, entirely derivative but with some good ideas.

[@CarlDidur]

@@samsteve1000 And then it managed to rip ITSELF off for more seasons

[@MrJamy610]

They were crazy good together! Still love watching "Young Frankenstein." Feldman playing Igor was genius! 🤣 Also, I loved the song, "She's got Marty Feldman Eyes." 😄

[@SynchronizorVideos]

They did another version of this sketch on the Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album in 1980. Little longer than this one with a few more sound-alike author gags, and a little more of a slow burn on John Cleese's aggravation. Super funny track, but then again that whole album's gold.

[@damienm3315]

i prefer the audio version

[@andr3wbr1dg3s]

It's similar to the Cheese shop sketch on the Matching Tie & Handkerchief LP

[@impeccablecaverns]

yeah that's the one I'd heard before. I think Michael Palin is the customer. I remember he doesn't like the gannet because 'they wet their nests'. This version is superb too though of course

[@WindiRedington]

It's SUCH a funny album.

[@hankkingsley9300]

The version I'm familiar with why don't you try wh Smith I did they sent me here

[@philjamieson5572]

My parents used to let me stay up later than usual to watch this show. They laughed as hard as us kids. This humour seems to appeal to all ages.

[@curiouscat3384]

Thanks for the laughs! Being across the pond I never saw Cleese in anything other than Monty Python which I found hilarious! Now I have to binge watch his entire repertoire :)

[@samfunk5192]

Lovely, and with Mart Feldman. Bravo. Thanks!

[@bradwilliams7683]

I have this sketch on Monty Pythons Contractual Obligation album. I was under the impression that it was written just for this album & was totally unaware that the sketch actually performed for TV. Cleese & Feldman - two comic geniuses.

[@klandersen42]

Ditto

[@DUCKDUCKGOISMUCHBETTER]

Double ditto for me as well.

[@Elitist20]

I had actually seen it before it appeared on the Contractual Obligations album, in a Marty Feldman show - either Marty or the Marty Feldman Comedy Machine.

[@campion10]

Same here. I got that album when I was a kid in the late70s early80s and always loved the sketch and then a few years ago discovered that it was from the 1948 show. The 1948 show was from a few years earlier and was like a proto python. It had John Cleese and Graham Chapman as well as Marty Feldman and others that I didn’t recognize.

[@irish66]

@@campion10 Surprised you recognised Chapman, but not Tim Brook Taylor. I can only assume that you don't know of The Goodies, as Chapman and Taylor along with Bill Oddie played the title characters.

[@ABC-yt1nq]

I highly, highly recommend the autobiographies of John Cleese and Eric Idle if you are at all a Python fan. Fascinating insights and perspectives.

[@recoveringsoul755]

Thanks for the advice, huge Python fan.There was a guy in high school I was friends with, but I don't remember his name now because my best friend and I called him Spiny Norman after a Monty Python character. He'll always be Spiny Norman to me

[@andywinslow6631]

I only like the expurgated versions.

[@StamfordBridge]

They sound interesting. Who wrote them?

[@twentyrothmans7308]

@@andywinslow6631 I wasn't expecting that :-)

[@Dowlphin]

I love the cleese shop skit, but I am too lazy to get into that Eric guy.

[@MrWeezer55]

Monty Python and Marty Feldman. A match made in heaven.

[@ethelredhardrede1838]

@Hydin Biden The show, not in that sketch, also had Graham Chapman. Eric Idle had three non speaking roles.

[@ethelredhardrede1838]

@Hydin Biden "so still not python.." Of course not but they did use sketches from that show, including the Four Yorkshiremen. "honestly no Carol Cleveland ( who as acknowledged, after the fact, as the 7th and only female member of Python)" Some call Neil Inness the 7th. I would say 8th. He and Idle fell out over something later. " marty feldman' Marty would have fit in but he was doing other things. You can see him, Graham and Clease doing the Four Yorkshoremen sketch on this channel. It is VERY similar to the version in Live At Drewry Lane. Which was my first exposure to Python.

[@ethelredhardrede1838]

@Hydin Biden "so you spent a lot of time babbling " No. "t WASNT Monty python as i pointed out " I never said it was. Learn how to read. "as i pointed out and THE MEMBERS OF PYTHON refer to Carol Cleveland as the 7th and female member..' And some said the same about Neil Inness. Not just ' johnny come latelies' as he was called that a long time ago. Do you have ANY point? Neil and Idle had stopped getting along by then. He also had a writing credit on the Monty Python series. The only other person was Douglas Adams. "who are they holding up in this picture laddie?" Kiddy, you are preaching to the choir. Stop pretending that I am like you, without a clue. She is not forgotten by me. She was also in the Avengers episode A Touch of Brimstone. What IS your problem?

[@Rampart.X]

Marty would have been a great addition.

[@joydivisionboy1]

this from The 1948 Show from memory, John Cleese, Marty Feldman, Graham Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. also included the original Four Yorkshiremen clip.

[@johnmehaffey9953]

Just loved the 1948 show the prelude to monty python even though I’m a python fan I can honestly say that the 1948 show got me hooked on this archetypal British humour,

[@mikegreenfield5102]

Ahhh, Aimy MacDonald.....

[@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music]

Wow: I never knew about this.

[@Outspoken.Humanist]

Fabulous. According to a TV history of the Secret Policeman's Ball, concerts for Amnesty International, the sketch was co-written by Cleese and Connie Booth, his then wife. Which would explain the number of similarities to 'Flowery Twats'.

I call bollocks. At Last The 1948 Show ran in 1967 (February to November). John and Connie were married in 1968. According to a quick Google search, it was written by Cleese and Chapman.

[@Outspoken.Humanist]

@ Quite right. I have checked too. In watching the later version, there are differences and I suspect this accounts for the BBC's spurious claim. Thanks for your input.

[@regmcg4171]

It's odd that she's never written anything else...

[@janeeggleston9542]

Farty Towels

[@LaurieWilliams-lk8fc]

@@janeeggleston9542 Watery Fowls

[@jessfrankel5212]

Absolutely brilliant. This is one sketch I suspect could never be topped, like the Four Yorkshiremen.

[@becomingsentient1208]

Which also appeared on At Last The 1948 Show

[@phillipsindel2291]

Feldman and Cleese at their finest; a team indeed. (The complete version works even better; it builds slowly.)

[@pmdk1953]

How much longer is the complete version?

[@d.e.p.-j.7106]

I prefer the expurgated version, but see this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hoHSpqh3ZbCAhZY

[@EdLove]

Wonderful. I'd love to see the start again.

[@lonnieporter8566]

These two are genius. Their delivery is epic.

[@mariner0]

My daughter calls my dog Marty because he's half Pomeranian and his eyes stick out, back to the sketch, absolutely brilliant...

[@garrghhh]

I didn't know Mr Feldman was half Pomeranian! 😄 _Not to ruin the joke, such as it is, but AFAICT (from cursory investigation), neither of Feldman's parents had ancestors from the former Duchy of Pomerania (or that area, more generally). If anyone knows otherwise, however, please comment with a correction! Thanks!_

[@thepub245]

I never knew Basil Fawlty worked in a bookshop before becoming a hotelier! This was great, I really enjoyed it.

[@troygaspard6732]

More people should learn about the late Marty Feldman's comic brilliance.

[@owie4070]

I've been a fan since I was a little kid and I heard him say, "Abby Normal". To this day, that scene just cracks me up.

[@BlessingsOfNurgle]

"No. It's pronounced eye-gore"

[@aesbj9228]

There wolf. There castle.

[@loupasternak]

loved Marty , long before Young Frankenstein

[@mattgelfer]

I always thought this was a Python sketch, I first heard it on one of their records with Terry Jones doing Marty’s part. I’m glad the 1948 Show got excavated 😊

[@Stibsyt]

It was Michael Palin but absolutely hilarious nonetheless

[@ChrisMaxfieldActs]

@@Stibsyt It was Graham Chapman, but, whatever. Chapman is actually doing an impersonation of Marty Feldman on the Contractual Obligation LP.

[@adolforodolfo6929]

@@ebbhead20 I am sure you are right.

[@blackmanops3749]

Me as well.

[@footofjuniper8212]

I first heard this when I bought the double cassette of "The final Rip-Off." Terry J played the customer. My parents were pretty conservative, so I couldn't play a lot of Python bits for them. But on a plane trip with my mom, I gave her my headphones and played this sketch. She laughed out loud at one point, and I'm positive it's the moment when Terry mentions the Edmund Wells book "A Sale of Two Titties."

[@tutekohe1361]

‘Ethel the Aardvark goes Quantity Surveying’.

[@gwhite1932]

It's a classic

[@dadoctah7978]

I had forgotten until it was rerun a few years ago on one of the digital channels that Feldman did this sketch on Flip Wilson's show, with Flip taking Cleese's role.

[@docwholunatic]

It can also be found on the record, "Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album."

[@longagoandfaraway7868]

I have that album. I always thought it was Terry Jones on that cut.

[@GarettAuriemma]

@@longagoandfaraway7868 It was Michael Palin.

[@krashd]

Cleese and Eric Idle also did it on their Together Again At Last For The Very First Time tour.

[@julioaranton461]

That's CUSTOMER SERVICE! First time seeing Mr Marty Feldman in his early years & w/Mr John Cleese to boot, what a Great Comedy Combo! Thanks U-TUBE!🤣

[@hilaryepstein6013]

It's incredible to think that David Frost was worried about Marty being part of the 1948 Show team because of his looks. Even he wasn't infallible.

[@tamanegi909]

Comedy gold. Never ages. Nothing compares to this today.

[@notanothershrubbery]

I have volume 1. I've been looking for volume 2 my whole life.

[@nobillismccaw7450]

I want Ethel The Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying! This skit got me interested in Quantity Surveying and I was surprised to find that it’s real , and vital to construction contract management.

[@tloco28]

Basil Fawlty before he opened a hotel. Classic

[@marcokite]

exactly! it IS Basil

[@jessiejames7492]

he used to do customer service videos back in the 80s. when i worked for a communications company my instructor made us watch those. it seems he made quite a lot of money making those. just as funny. not everyone in my class knew who he was or understood his comedy. i found my self chuckling and laughing quite by myself. luckily my instructor was understood. ha ha ..

[@kevinallcock5927]

You can see where The Hotel Inspector episode first hatched 👍😉

[@tloco28]

@@kevinallcock5927 "Would you care for rat?"

[@kevinallcock5927]

@@tloco28 😊👍

[@joshuamorrison8332]

"Have you got Ethel the Aardvark goes quantity surveying?" No wonder this is Cleese's favorite :D

[@donbell8187]

What an amazing sketch. How did they remember all those lines?

[@jsgg7735]

Ni Hao! you've got the traction going Excellent work! i was just thinking about this yesterday and it appear today on my channel. i didn't even browse it. mindblown~~~ Never tired of these. ! Peace out!

[@davidf6326]

What a pleasure to find a comments section on a comedy sketch that doesn't consist of the usual moronic repetitions of quotes from the very same sketch. Obviously John Cleese and Marty Feldman attract a more intelligent audience 😊

[@fewerbeansplease]

"Ethel the aardvark was trotting down the lane...." Ha! Ha!

[@davidf6326]

@@fewerbeansplease LOL - there goes the tone of the neighbourhood 😁

[@geezermann7865]

Yes, thank you. By the way, have you noticed that most Davids are highly intelligent? And we have a great sense of humor.

[@davidf6326]

@@geezermann7865 But of course 😉

[@patrickgamble9014]

I have heard this sketch on a Monty Pythons Record I bought years ago but it wasn’t with Feldman but was word for word identical. A real classic. Thanks.

[@joegee2815]

Wow, this is fantastic. I have been a huge fan of Monty Python and of course Marty Feldman since they started appearing in the states in the 70s. Great stuff. Very clear how MP developed from these types of shows. It's kind of a shame that Feldman went a different direction, he would have fit right in with the troupe.

[@briancox3050]

Yes..Feldman was a very funny and unique man. Remember the brilliant film comedy " Young Frankinstein " hugely popular in it's day....

[@GabePuratekuta]

@@briancox3050 And Silent Movie is a Masterpiece.

[@Jizzlewobbwtfcus]

my GOD What a combo. Marty Feldman and John Cleese's incredible skill of memory, timing and symbiosis.

[@MrGranfield]

"You can't expect them to produce a book for gannet haters".

[@captain-poppleton]

This was on the Contractual Obligation album, i never knew it was an actual TV sketch

[@markoyouralias.wilhelmsen9360]

What you should learn by this is, even after someone really annoys you ,you still have empathy.

[@LardGreystoke]

No one expresses empathy like John Cleese.

[@theblade1959]

One of my favorite skits and with Marty Feldman guesting is a treat!

[@elizabethpeters8515]

I had no idea this is where Marty Feldman started. This is so cool! I only ever knew him as Eyegore.

[@timelordtardis]

Marty Feldman was a script writer. It was Cleese who persuaded David (Hello, Good Evening and Welcome) Frost to have him perform in At Last the 1948 Show. In fact Marty Feldman had been a script writer, along with Barry Took, for Round the Horne (A BBC radio comedy show of the mid to late 60s). Of course, Barry Took later commisioned a little known sketch show for the BBC, Minty Pylons Fledgling Circuits, or something like that, which John Cleese was in for a little while. Marty Feldman used the sketch in one of his own television shows with John Junkin being the bookseller. Worth having a look at since it's the complete sketch.

[@gruberjens4354]

I saw a version of this sketch in the 90s on german television. Now I see were the sketch came from and how well they and with how much care they translated and staged it. It's truly a masterpiece

[@szucsviragnatalia]

Same here with the Hungarian version! Me and my family used to laugh so much at it - the original is just as great!

[@Dennis-xj8nh]

I'm sure the German version was even better

[@anthonysacco4718]

The “Expurgated” version....🤣

[@shoshiwas]

'My grandfather worked for your grandfather' So much comedy gold in YF! LOL!

[@jajeronymo]

Here are (at least) two Fawlty Towers moments: the man who wanted to book the tv and the one who colud never have his drinks order delivered.

[@williamhenry4986]

Watch WC Fields blind man sketch and your see a couple of fawlty towers in just that one sketch your never see the likes of these again

[@jajeronymo]

@@williamhenry4986 I did. Absolutely fabulous! Many thanks!

[@mikepalmer8]

Yes, very reminiscent of Cleese and Bernard Cribbins in "The Hotel Inspectors"

[@jajeronymo]

@@mikepalmer8 , yes, ... I should have taken the trouble to look up Bernard Cribbins name... it's an unbelievable performance, particularly as he gets angrier and angrier towars Basil...

[@TheZodiacz]

@@jajeronymo sppppppoons!

[@prisonersforprofit]

the dialogue and execution is so superior to modern sketch work. on par with theater work.

[@hankroest6836]

Favourite sketch? This is EVERY John Cleese sketch.

[@rockhard2654]

this sketch really does expose his standard formula

[@gutworm686]

Obviously based Basil on this. Not all Cleese’s sketches are like this. You couldn’t have see many.

[@SomePeopleCallMeWulfman]

Yes, this is pretty much the cheese shop sketch but with books.

[@realitycheck5383]

monty python will always be one of, if not the, best comedy groups of all time! thanks uploader!

[@garyk.nedrow8302]

The articulation and comic timing of Cleese and Feldman are simply superb in this brilliant sketch. The sad truth is that 90% of the audience never heard of Barnaby Rudge and never read any of the other Dicken's titles that Cleese so cleverly inverts. So the humor cuts both ways at the same time.

[@andrewmartin6445]

What makes you think that? It was quite common for children to read Dickens at school as part of the English literature syllabus at this time and there were also endless TV dramatisations of his books.

[@anonUK]

Dickens was much more integral to the school curriculum back in the 50s-60s than today, they didn't just do Christmas Carol and bits of Oliver Twist.

[@summersoleil6089]

It is actually like this working at a bookstore :)

[@shrewdthewise2840]

I worked in a music store years ago. Old Guy comes in one day and says: “My wife and I went on vacation back in the 80’s to Vietnam. We were driving down a road through the rice patties and heard some of the farmers singing the prettiest song while they picked rice. Do you guys have that song?” True story 😂😂😂

[@groom84]

@goggles789 So what you're saying is that, there is still a chance 😆 (Dumb & Dumber)

[@shrewdthewise2840]

@goggles789 😂😂😂

[@pluffer241]

*rice paddies

[@lifelonglearner56]

... And did you have that song?

[@wickspg]

Brilliant. I work in the home office of a brokerage firm, and we should write a book of all the similarly silly things we hear people say on the phones - both clients and brokers.

[@GazDuk]

I still get up half an hour before Ive gone to bed!!

[@robotron17]

2:58 "I'm not comfortable!"

[@honestmcgyver]

A vision of the future we live in now - “ I want the bird spotter book with the gannet removed - I don’t like gannets” Nostradamus level

[@honestmcgyver]

In fact the whole sketch to the end ‘but I can’t read or don’t have any money’ - just a sign of no matter what era there’s a load of people like this

[@jamesfawber9487]

Marty and John... can’t get much better...

[@ardalla535]

Reminds me of how I spent 40 yrs looking for evidence of a song I once heard that I remembered as "No Return, No Deposit." It was on the radio constantly and I once had a 45 of it. I could even sing the whole first verse ... but no one had ever heard it. Turns out -- and I found it quite by accident -- it was a song by Bobby Vee "No Obligation." I'm still looking for someone who remembers a series on TV (PBS or otherwise, I don't remember) in the 60s called "The Film Generation." Nobody has ever heard of that either. But I swear it exists. It had a small clip of Polanski's short "Two Men and a Wardrobe." It was in several segments: The Film Generation on War; The Film Generation on Animation, etc. Totally gone .. disappeared.

[@momeara7482]

Why don't you try the chemist?

[@uproar123]

Great sketch, but cutting off the beginning of the sketch kind of ruins the premise. You totally miss the gradual seething buildup of Cleese's frustration.

[@samsignorelli]

According to Cleese, the original tapes were wiped (common back in the day, unfortunately....they would be reused. Same thing happened to early Dr. Who eps), but some have been recovered. This may be all there IS of this sketch.

@@samsignorelli I think, but I'm not sure, I've seen more of this. But it might have been a later staging with different comics.

[@sejuanisupportonly7385]

@ You are possibly talking about Monty Python issuing that same sketch in one of their records. That's were most of us know there is a beginning of the sketch after all :)

[@jolieonetoo]

@ The original version was on a Marty Feldman programme I think. But it was definitely with John Junkin as the bookseller

[@_fesh]

@@samsignorelli Luckily for us, that's not the case - this sketch (and episode) does exist in it's entirety. "At Last..." is quite fortunate in this regard, frankly - 11 of its 13 episodes have been recovered.

[@jeffreyking279]

These two together is pure genius!

[@argelbargel7680]

Edmund Wells' Grate Expectations is a neglected masterpiece.

[@pronkerpronker6708]

Thanks for posting - love these guys always! :D

[@pronkerpronker6708]

I've sold books but mostly autographs for 30 years, now retired, but a stellar memory is staffing a booth at a collectible show and dealing with someone who "wanted an Olivia DeHavilland b/w signed photo 11x14" and having, by chance, that exact item. Customer didn't buy it and appeared "* just wanted to see one" ... :S

[@williamking3301]

Two of my favorite sketches: "Dead Parrot" and "Cheese Shop."

[@nonverbal562]

Napoleon called Britain a nation of shopkeepers. Monty Python, especially John Cleese take the shop skit to a fine art.

[@henrykujawa4427]

@@nonverbal562 Many episodes of "THE AVENGERS" involve various shops run by eccentric cranks.

[@JohnMurphyabc]

Never saw it.. Classic Cleese.. thank you.. awesome..

[@airzulu2733]

You can see where cleese got some of his sketches from . This was excellent more so with Marty.

See also the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, which most people associate with the Pythons, but it was actually from At Last The 1948 Show.

[@notanothershrubbery]

@ They're lucky I had to crawl through a sewer to get my last sketch.

[@joeyvindictive3552]

@@notanothershrubbery luxury I had to get up in the morning at 10 o clock at night to get my last sketch....

[@notanothershrubbery]

@@joeyvindictive3552 Get up? Lucky bastard. That implies one got to go to bed.

[@neilwilson8400]

@@notanothershrubbery o my god!

[@JustineWittich]

A classic that showcases two comedic geniuses! Hooray!

[@robertsimpson7861]

I wonder if that bookshop has a copy of "Hampster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie".?

[@Shazbut0191]

No, but they do have "Commander Coriander Salamander And 'Er Singlehander Bellylander"

[@WilfriedHLingenberg]

I would have loved to see John Cleese doing the squeaky voices, the gooshy sound effects and the Happy Hamster Hop!

[@ovepayne]

Brilliant! Marty and John are treasures!

[@kevinbennett7615]

Cleese used this exact performance for the Parrot sketch. Ha!

[@martintimmer8574]

And Feldman did use this one for his own show as well,Ha!

[@lukassnakeman]

There was also the sketch where he’s running a bookshop that’s a front for criminal dentist organization

[@Stantheman848]

And fawlty towers. And Clockwise.

[@markpetersen8135]

Albatross!! When John was in the office sketch on M. Python

[@kerbicz]

I somewhat reminds me of the introductory scene with the spoons salesman (and an alleged hotel inspector) from _Fawlty Towers._

[@Sr.ChilePepper]

Why not post the complete skit? The whole premise is skipped.

[@Noycey64]

I found that annoying too

[@nissemus]

This KZbin channel is run by marketing executives who don't give a stuff about the content.

[@Katya_Lastochka]

@@nissemus Oh don't be so dramatic. It's probably been lost or destroyed.

[@nissemus]

@@Katya_Lastochka Dramatic? What on earth are you on about? The full sketch is widely available.

[@ianlawson4105]

@@nissemus I've never seen the Cleese/Feldman pairing on youtube before this. The others are all remakes with different performers on different occasions. I had thought this sketch had been wiped. It maybe only the first minute or two was lost. I've been quoting it ever since I saw it on its first TV outing! Marvellous stuff.

[@williamheyman5439]

Being 83 years old, I have been in a bookshop. My children heard of them, and my grandchildren have the URL to bring up "bookshop" on the computer. Other than that it might have well been the wax museum.

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

Marty Feldman was born for Monty Python. Great chemistry between him and John Cleese.

[@HiVizCamo]

Did not know this sketch was so old, my only previous of it was on The Final Rip-Off (ca. 1990 cassette!), Cleese and was it Jones or Chapman? Hilarious.

[@notanothershrubbery]

It was on the 1980 Contractual Obligation album. A great hit on the album was the death of John Denver. Then John Denver had the nerve to go and die, making the joke a little less funny.