Knights who say Ni | Michael Palin on the inspiration behind the characters

We are the Knights who say Ni!
Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni!
In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur and his followers encounter the Knights who say Ni. The Knights demonstrate their power by shouting "Ni!" and this terrifies the king's party who are refused passage through the forest unless they present the Knights with the gift of a shrubbery.
Michael Palin honoured by UCD Arts Society
British comedy legend and travel documentarian, Michael Palin has received a lifetime achievement award from the UCD Arts Society, University College Dublin for his outstanding contribution to the Arts.
Accepting the award, Palin spoke of his early writings at school. He explained how he was drawn to comedy writing at a young age, and how he wanted his brain to work like the brains of surreal, anarchic comedy writers like Spike Milligan, Marty Feldman, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, and Barry Took.
“The writers were the ones I always envied. They were the primary creators. Nothing happened until somebody wrote something,” he told the audience gathered at the Fitzgerald Debating Chamber at University College Dublin.
“I think comedy comes from acute observation of human behaviour,” Palin said. “An almost forensic interest in how people look and gesture and speak and dress and move”.
“I spent far too much of my time in the classroom observing my teachers at school rather than listening to them. And this observation led to wanting to write about what I’d observed and also led to imitation which is where the acting bit comes in,” he added.
While at Oxford University, Palin met Terry Jones, “a likeminded fellow with similar tastes to [his] own”, but with more ambition than him. Together they set out to not just make themselves laugh, but also lot of other people. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Michael Palin and Terry Jones were soon to become two of six members of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python. The other four members were Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, and Eric Idle.
Their TV comedy sketch show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus first aired in 1969. An innovative stream of consciousness matched with surreal animation, Monty Python’s Flying Circus broke all the acceptable norms and standards of comedy at the time. It presented an entirely new style and form which became a seminal influence on all future comedy.
Following Monty Python, Palin followed one of his long held passions and became a travel writer and documentarian. In 2000, he was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television. In 2013, he was made a BAFTA fellow, the highest honour conferred by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
The award from the UCD Arts Society to Michael Palin was presented by Joanna O'Malley, Auditor (2015/2016) of the UCD Arts Society, University College Dublin.
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[@frosynirini9940]

*ekke ekke ekke ptang zoom boing zee has left the chat*

[@thescarletcultist113]

Frosyni Rini nee

[@jacobchernack1055]

You must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest, wiiiiiiiith...A HERRING!!!!!!

[@ghosthunter0950]

it is not what it is it it it it it

[@einysjame]

We shall do no such thing!

[@jacobchernack1055]

@@einysjame Oh, please?

[@einysjame]

@@jacobchernack1055 Cut down a tree with a herring?! It can't be done!!

[@jacobchernack1055]

@@einysjame AAGH!!! Oh! Don't say that word.

[@tytanowyjanuszzmoldawii]

Ni!

[@stevenwymor1398]

We want shrubbery!

[@notsureiL]

Lol he seems to be one charming man pontius pilate.

[@awesomeproductions7755]

Paul Lannister Oh, and he has an equally charming fwiend in Wome. His name’s Biggus Dickus. *(guard struggles not to laugh)* Centuwion! Take him away!

[@reenarawat5537]

@@awesomeproductions7755 welease bwian!

[@teddy1066]

Nii!

[@ian9050]

what a great decision

[@hualani6785]

What a tough room to play!

[@KnorpelDelux]

It!

[@extradimension7356]

ArgggggGGGGG !!!! Stop ! Stop ! Arhhhhh… ahhh !

[@Synochra]

Ekke ekke ekke ekke...

[@notsureiL]

Ni

[@leosurname6993]

Ptang!

[@aleky98]

@@leosurname6993 zoom

[@andrewgray3874]

Knights who till recently said ni

[@douglasbullet6456]

@Aleš Doležal Boing zibmlhfjidszm

[@Himaryous]

Fun fact: Ni (you) and Peng (friend) are Chinese words. Not niwom though a far as I know.

[@biggusdickus5075]

most times, "you" in Chinese is not actually pronounced like the "ni" in the video or the film, we say it with a falling tone. But a angry person might say"you!" like "ni! ni!" exactly

[@liquidcancer4573]

what about ekke ekke ptang boing though?

[@caindain2179]

@@liquidcancer4573those words are probably random

[@jorgepeterbarton]

atomic number 28

[@codewithnacho]

Ni

[@taxusgaming7031]

NIIIIII!!!!!

[@yoavbeneliyahu6686]

It not ni, it the knee🦿

[@lorenzocassaro3054]

The prof was just trying to use reading as a way to keep his inner racism at bay

[@extradimension7356]

Ni !

[@gabriele2950]

Ni!

[@cinematicsterling6897]

Ni!

[@pqoeuehsnskduxueownwudispwsn]

Ni!