Monty Python - Summarize Proust Competition Uncensored

[@davidcoleman757]

'Golf's not very popular round here.' Kills me every time.

[@u.v.s.5583]

Golf is but a fleeting passion, but Proust is immortal!

[@404Dannyboy]

A closeted man attempts to recount his childhood, how he became able to write, his several female lovers who he was always jealous of, all the gossip he ever heard, and how events and time change people and art. Boom give me a prize.

[@troutmask6800]

You win!!!

[@emilyrobbins3238]

Give @404Dannyboy a madeleine!

[@demonicsquid7217]

No prize for you, your tits aren't big enough.

[@mustafa1name]

Sure, sure, just one more technicality - what's your bra size?

[@kiwitoffee]

Don't mention your hobbies!

[@BobXTM]

A friend once said to me "Summarize Proust!" and while I understood he was making a joke I did not know the Python skit and so responded "A guy ate a cookie, kind of brought back old times."

[@Cancun771]

A clear winner if ever I've seen one.

[@dixonpinfold2582]

@@Cancun771 But that's the point innit? You _haven't_ seen him. You've gone and made him the winner and maybe he's flat-chested. Nit.🙄

[@u.v.s.5583]

@@Cancun771 Indeed, dear friend, your judgement is too fast. The contestant must appear in both swimming suit and evening dress. To many a promising candidate one of them or even both of them have turned out to be fatal blows to their chances for victory.

[@PeterSmith-bj4ml]

Was Carol Cleveland on 'oliday when this sketch was made? Although her replacement is very nice. (NOT a Proust reader myself.)

[@GregJamesMusic]

I don’t care how long it takes them to get through it - I’d pay good money to hear a men’s a cappella group sing summaries of a LOT of classic novels.

[@AdMiKa]

And I’d gladly help you pay for those a cappella performances.

[@johnr797]

"Man eats pastry and remembers stuff"

[@Hereford1642]

Nice try, but a madeleine is not really a pastry.

[@emilyrobbins3238]

@@Hereford1642: True. Is there an adequate translation in any language for a madeleine? I believe this could be a longer court case than the one about whether a Jaffa cake is legally a cake.

[@DerEchteBold]

@@emilyrobbins3238 It's classed as a cake Oh, and the English translation for madeleine is ...madeleine!

[@TTony-tu6dm]

One cannot argue with the logic of the awarding of the prize

[@DanStrayer]

Certainly can’t argue with those two. 😊

[@nedkelly8553]

I've read the entire thing twice and I couldn't even begin to do it. I love his writing style and his manic verbosity. The torrent of words and the passion underlying them. The actual plot is almost beside the point, to be honest. His talent for self-expression and his way with words is so rich and eloquent that it doesn't matter to me WHAT he is writing about. I focus on HOW he wrote about whatever subject he happened to be discussing even if that subject was of little relevance or interest to me personally ... How did he write about everything? In a word: Beautifully.

[@RalphBrooker-gn9iv]

À la recherche is often itself hilarious, eg. the beginning of Sodom & Gomorrah when the narrator stumbles upon the ‘liaison’ between the Baron and Jupien!

[@morningstar9233]

I'm guessing you don't have big tits.

[@nbk5389]

Ahem… this was more than 15 seconds. So I am going to award…

[@Zzyzzyzzs]

I got to "I focus on..." and the gong sounded. So I'm afraid you failed to really summarise Proust.

[@shawnpurcell5424]

I'm curious: did you read it in French or English?

[@martinsutoob]

"Strangling animals, golf, and masturbating." "Well, he must have let himself down there a bit. Golf's not very popular round here."

[@u.v.s.5583]

Well, two hits out of three, still pretty good!

[@loqutor]

Count on Graham to play a character who sounds entirely dignified and serious, then to drop something like "[My hobbies outside of reading Proust are] strangling animals, golf, and masturbation."

[@dixonpinfold2582]

Bit far-fetched though, really. I've tried doing all three of those and failed completely. I can only do them one at a time. Have a go yourself, though. It's a ripping good afternoon and that night you get the best sleep of your life.

[@EthelredHardrede-nz8yv]

@@dixonpinfold2582 Sure do at least two, choking the chicken and masturbation.

[@davistoa]

​@@dixonpinfold2582It's easy, you just go out to any golf field and start choking the chicken.

[@u.v.s.5583]

@@davistoa And in what part of this course of action did you complete the simultaneously required masturbating procedure?

[@archsys307]

@@davistoaWhat does it say about the correlation between dick size and ethnicity that the Spanish term for choking your chicken is stroking your goose? Fascinating

[@dpbrannan]

A friend of mine told me that she had to take a French exam on Proust, that she hadn't prepared, and that this sketch helped her -- though I hardly see how that could be true. P'r'aps the "strangling animals, golf and masturbating" line scared her prof. into giving her an A.

[@TornadoCAN99]

Or, she knew she had the biggest TaTa's in the class and he'd give her the top marks.

[@NesconProductions]

Late response: She had the biggest tits.

[@daibonehead]

Maybe she had massive tits?

[@angelacraw2907]

Lol

[@NoahSpurrier]

Or maybe she has the biggest…

[@____Ai____]

"Proust in his first book wrote about, wrote about..." my favourite bit :D

[@hexonatapeloop]

Fa la la la, fa la la la

[@foxymoto]

*DING* Start again!

[@docdaneeka3424]

I want to hear the whole song

[@shack8110]

the least successful contestant, didn't even get as far as the 1st volume. XD I like how the 2nd contestant can barely remember anything and he gets through 3 volumes.

[@keithbellew4101]

I'm reading Proust at the moment because of Monty Python, and I have not been disappointed

[@whamases]

Keith Bellew I'm strangling small animals at the moment because of Monty Python and I have not been disappointed.

[@lucyhurst2534]

whamases I'm masterbateing at the moment because of money Python and I have not been disappointed.

[@MarxistKnight]

Keith Bellew Proust was a loony.

[@fredkaboom]

I'm playing golf at the moment because of Monty Python, and I have never been more disappointed.

[@Discrimination_is_not_a_right]

Currently masturbating, wondering why I put up with that sex rigamarole for so long. Wonderful activity.

[@grahamyates2490]

A worthy winner.

[@luisreyes1963]

Yes, she did have a killer rack. 🍈

[@Kirke182]

I met this woman online who was a Proust fanatic and could tell you everything about him and his works. I figured she must have seen this sketch but I sent her this clip anyway and, surprisingly, she had not. Her response was, "OMG!! That was freaking hilarious!!"

[@shack8110]

+Kirke182 what's so great about proust? why is he considered great?

[@nhmooytis7058]

yu stu Ever hear of GOOGLE? This ain't a literature class, bud.

[@garygramm6533]

Dude, that was a great move! To paraphrase Scroobius Pip in 'Thou Shalt Always Kill': Don't use poetry, art or music to get into girls' pants - use it to get into their heads!' I hope it worked!!

[@n0denz]

Was she the girl with the biggest tits?

[@MrFtge]

So did you get it in or what

[@sirpercivalsmallcock-jones9585]

This sketch is uncensored on the UK DVDs, but sadly all the other "lost" bits (Python fans will know what I mean) have not been restored, probably because they no longer exist.

[@Rascaduanok]

Sheer comedy genius. One of my favourites from them.

[@lordfunkbottom9541]

I received the complete Monty Python's flying circus DVD as a gift.I have been a fan of the show since the 70's when it was first broadcast in the states. This particular sketch was and is one of my favorites. the DVD put out by A&E television states that it is unedited but the punch line is missing the masturbation.So I guess strangling animals and golf are alright with A&E.just no wanking.I just wanted to alert fans to this weaselly behavior .

[@baldieman64]

+lord funkbottom A lot of it is funnier on audio only. The Llamas sketch being a prime example.

[@doublelxp]

It was BBC's edit when it originally aired.

[@sonictelephone1526]

Well, the last one is sometimes referred to as "choking the chicken," so isn't it the same thing? 😂

[@youllneverbe]

Just finished writing an essay on 'Swann's Way'... 3.20am in Uni library. Had to watch this again. I should have just submitted Graham Chapman's lines over again to make up the word count.

[@u.v.s.5583]

You should have submitted a recording of choral interpretation of this essay.

[@MrGranfield]

We had Proust summarised in evening dress, but not swimwear. Great sketch though.

[@Rusticating]

ya gotta love the way Chapman looks stunned and disoriented after failing to fully 'encapsulate'...

[@TornadoCAN99]

In high school me and my mates would play cassette tapes of this and other sketches in the hallways during breaks. Me mate would always crank the volume to max at the hobbies line ;-) I made the tapes off Monty Python vinyl records....had a bunch, including "Contractual Obligations", "Another Monty Python Record", "Live at Dury Lane" , "Previous Record Album" , "Instant Record Collection". These were all uncensored, including this very Proust skit....albums sold in Canada in the 1970's. They, for the most part, are different performances than what was showing on the actual TV episodes....so there are nuanced differences in the scripting, the comedic timings and verbalizations...

[@christianbrix4311]

The 'strangling animals, golf, and masturbating' line will always be one of my all-time favourite Monty Python lines. It's the contrast of a despicable act, a (at the time) highly taboo word, and the most bland and inoffensive pastime known to man. They were also right to put golf in the middle, not sure why. It wouldn't have been as effective at the beginning or at the end. Apparently the BBC were shocked and appalled though, and I think I remember Eric Idle once saying they even bleeped it out when it first aired. But not the part about strangling animals, rather it was the masturbation part that offended them! So when I first joined facebook many years ago and was asked to fill in my hobbies, I thought I'd pay homage to one of my favourite Python sketches, and put these three hobbies. My sister saw it, laughed, and told our mother about it. She then rang me and said 'What's this about you masturbating?' So it turns out my mother has the same skewed view on right and wrong as the BBC, and lives in a world where it's better to make a monkey suffer horrendously than to spank it.

[@ZuluRomeo]

Yes, it really was Bill Bailey. As a then 8 year old he was quite the prodigy when it came to television set lighting.

[@jamiewilson3599]

Meanwhile, his mother is stuck wondering when he's coming home.

[@RPMXLII]

Ah, I wasn't aware the new set had it uncensored. That's good to hear.

[@adaptiveagile]

Why does this crack me up every single time I watched it since it was aired? Only Monty Python can do that. Geniuses.

[@LouisEmery]

We got the uncensored version one in Canada on TV in the 70s.

[@animaginaryboy_]

If you're calling the author of À la recherche du temps perdu a looney, I shall have to ask you to step outside!

[@morningstar9233]

I'm drawn to women who deserve a Proust trophy.

[@richardott3706]

a man of taste

[@marvinc9994]

@@richardott3706 Amen to THAT! Gotta love ANY woman with a big Intellect😍

[@wittylibrarian]

I can win the Summarize Proust contest. "It's boring."

[@brushfuse]

Absolute classic. Delivered it like a pro.

[@kathleenschuhl1858]

thx for the non-censored version!

[@19ThePurplePython93]

I have the only recently released flying circus box set and that's uncensored :D I was so glad to be able to hear it as it should be.

[@raymondm.9954]

This didn't seem any different from what they used to show on the local PBS station.

[@PavelJagen]

@@raymondm.9954 The BBC broadcast version cut the word "masturbating" from the hobbies.

[@bazpearce9993]

@@PavelJagen that's apt, as it's as tantemount to admitting the BBC is a bunch of wankers.

[@classiclife7204]

For those who labored through "Swann's Way" and then know the terror that there are 6 more volumes to go

[@seanomatopoeia]

Worst book I've ever read. This sketch is the only joy the book gave me!

[@wellesradio]

@@seanomatopoeiaWorst? You need to read more. I’ve read tons of terrible books.

[@nicholastosoni707]

I was in Scholastic Bowl in High School. I tried pulling this challenge on my teammates. Their reply? In perfect unison, a resounding "PROUST SUCKS."

[@ted.angell7609]

To be fair, many luminaries of Proust’s day, including Salvador Dali, James Joyce and Sigmund Freud, said similar things about him.

[@RalphBrooker-gn9iv]

Never seen this before. I love Proust. Love Python.

[@dangerouslytalented]

dammit she always wins.

[@luisreyes1963]

Got a problem with that? 🧐

[@dangerouslytalented]

@@luisreyes1963 SHE EARNED IT. HER TITS SAY MORE ABOUT PROUST IN 15 SECONDS THAN ALL THOSE MEN EVER COULD

[@jasmoran66]

A worthy winner, I'd say.

[@razieldumas]

The funniest thing about this sketch is that strangling animals is perfectly fine by the censors, but masturbation? Well. That's another thing entirely!

[@Harambae613]

It’s acceptable for the censors to actually choke your chicken instead of euphemistically?

[@razieldumas]

@@Harambae613You can spank your monkey, but don’t you DARE SPANK your MONKEY!

[@mustafa1name]

A careful process of elimination reveals that they turned a BLIND eye to the bunny-throttling due to excess wanking and a disgusting golf habit

[@markrobinson6129]

Graham's contribution is pretty much verbatim from the Encyclopedia Britannica entry for Marcel Proust.

[@marcbelisle5685]

I can’t believe I’d never seen this one before. Genius.

[@huitetdemi]

Where is the swimsuit round?

[@u.v.s.5583]

The winner was the same. She had the handsomest mustache of all.

[@JaneXemylixa]

A few interesting facts I just noticed: 1. The choir were the only ones to get 15 seconds - the two others got 20; 2. The showy music at the end is the same as in At Last The 1948 Show opening :)

[@silvasilvasilva]

I believe it's the Flying Circus opening.

[@torgman]

No, that was the Monty Python theme.

[@JaneXemylixa]

@@torgman Look, I know what the Liberty Bell March sounds like, and that is NOT Liberty Bell March

[@torgman]

@@JaneXemylixa By "showy music," you meant the music that played when the award was given. That wasn't clear.

[@JaneXemylixa]

@@torgman Gotcha

[@DavidLanglois1]

Bless you for posting this!

[@lordfunkbottom9541]

I just want to thank you for this post I recently purchased the python box set and was livid when I got to this sketch witch iv'e known by heart since i was 12 and found it censored it's not mentioned on the box anywhere that the collection is in any way censored there's a&e all over the place witch is strange because the circus predates cable tv by decades but to anyone else who wants to buy the box set look around don't get taken don't buy a&e's one very truly yours mike two sheds

[@Gilmaris]

Ha, they've got the name of the sixth volume wrong. It's not "The Sweet Chear Gone" (and what's a "chear", anyway, other than a misspelling of "cheer"), it's "The Sweet Cheat Gone".

[@Elitist20]

Or "Albertine disparue", now usually translated as "Albertine Gone". And "Cities of the Plain" is "Sodome et Gomorrhe"/"Sodom and Gomorrah".

[@KyleRayner12]

It looks like Proust was a fan of Moliere, and that he referenced him in his works fairly often. "Le Malade Imaginaire" is a Moliere play.

[@dharmaseed]

It's about damn TIME somebody uploaded the uncensored version! Thank you!! Any chance of uploading the 'Army General As Clown' sketch in it's entirety?

[@romram13]

I'm french, but I don't understand what he say...

[@carnalea2424]

Since Eric Idle comes from Wolverhampton, nearish places sometimes get a mention in Python sketches: Bromsgrove and Droitwich, for example.

[@ricarleite]

When it was aired in Brazil in the early 1990s (Multishow cable station) it was uncensored. I remember this clearly.

[@ted.angell7609]

Interesting. They wouldn’t even translate “F@t B@st@rd” 😂😂

[@LordZontar]

And twenty minutes of episode follows on after the competition, with the Summarising Proust Choir having a second go at the end.

[@mmmhorsesteaks]

It's what Proust would have wanted.

[@DukeJon1969]

Think I'll have to read the book to appreciate this sketch. Is it long?

[@Mx5322]

It takes about 50 hours of a lifetime, which isn't that much if you think about it

[@jeffallen55]

Only one of the longest novels ever written. And the longest that is commonly read.

[@u.v.s.5583]

@@jeffallen55 Longer than Harry Potter?

[@ted.angell7609]

@@Mx5322if you can read it- and really take it in- in 50 hours, I want your autograph. The Audible version is about 120 hours.

[@vardellsfolly5200]

English humour. No country can surpass it. Long live Monty Pythons!

[@emmarose4234]

Λαυρέντιος Ψαροκάηκας You just wrote a haiku!!! English humour. No Country can surpass it. Long Live Monty Pythons!

[@quizmaster85]

I think Australia's Region 4 DVD has *that* line intact.

[@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe]

"Strangling animals, golf, and masturbating." Not all at the same time, I presume.

[@pictochatlol]

@Tareltonlives I wouldn't consider Proust obscure.

[@donaldkunzer3427]

I taped every episode off of PBS also, (Even the German language ones). The next time PBS ran MP, all the nauty bits wereblurred and the bad words disappeared. PROGRESS! :p

[@davidjordan9759]

I first watched this in the student union at Bingley college and when the choral society was mentioned there was a big cheer and I shouted 'We.ve been mentioned on telly.'

[@stephenlyall7759]

“….golf isn’t very popular round here….”😂

[@flyer3232]

"Proust in his first book wrote about, wrote about.."

[@19ThePurplePython93]

@coolgamer1677 Monty Python Flying Circus: The Complete Boxset to give the full title, looks like one of them retro television sets of the 60's (at least the UK boxset does, not sure if it differs in other countries)

[@tomservo56954]

When an American TV network aired a Python special in the 1970's, even thought it was at 11:30 PM et, they insisted on bleeping the words "naughty bits".

[@simonsimon325]

did the girl with the biggest tits make it in though?

[@marmadukewinterbotham2599]

Bloke smells a bun. Gets nostalgic.

[@NickHarman]

The Python chaps would never have spelled Summarise with a Z.

[@Naddig74]

They clearly did.

[@NickHarman]

Naddig74 Illiterate stage hand perhaps, or an American

[@Naddig74]

English python enthusiast who can see its - spelt that way on the set-.

[@Naddig74]

Oh wait, I see what you mean :p sorry. Possibly.

[@BFBCFTW]

Being Oxbridge chaps it makes sense they'd use the Oxford English Spelling of a Z.

[@marsza11jm]

"Proust in his first book wrote about, wrote about..." Superb.

[@JohnS1704]

Why were they holding the All England finals in Newport?

[@Queinty]

I mean, sometimes in my head I might start harmonising 'Proust in his first book wrote about wrote about' but that only goes offa seeing repeats in the 80's. I'm only 46 ffs and I only like one of Mr Barrett's hobbies.

[@rickintexas1584]

I’ve never even heard of Proust. Now I have to go look it up. Oh, and I like the contest winner 😊

[@u.v.s.5583]

I can tell you: he is not worth it. (Proust, not the contest winner, but the latter one is a she, not a he, so there is little danger of confusion anyway.)

[@rockerseven]

The thing that makes you think is why they censored "masturbating" and yet kept in "strangling animals" lol

[@TryTheBLT]

Aren't they the same thing?

[@alicekliewer]

TheTubePortal Oh god...

[@synthonaplinth5980]

or 'tits'....

[@marquisewilliams3904]

Because sex is super icky.

[@quizmaster85]

I think this came uncensored on a recent Region 4 DVD set

[@RPMXLII]

According to the MP "Just the Words" script site, it's "la malade imaginaire de recondition et de toute surveillance est bientôt la même chose"

[@amandahugankiss4110]

He just shoves him off stage. I love it.

[@bradrobbins3431]

I have the complete monty python series on dvd and i dont recall ever seeing this clip

[@shruggzdastr8-facedclown]

My question is: What revolves forty-two times per minute?

[@Prisoner416]

@19ThePurplePython93 which one is that? I need to get the right version.

[@joadbreslin5819]

What's the point in having a panel of judges if the host can single-handedly award the winning prize?

[@IdaSputum]

Now i know where Swansway the band got their name

[@ScooterZn]

@artwel123 Strangling the trouser snake?

[@cheezmiss]

hey -- this is the uncensored version -- kool!

[@ColoradoOwl]

this is the UNCENSORED version......LOVE IT!

[@scottca9780]

One can imagine why the powers that be thought they should censor references to self abuse. but surprisingly they left the golf reference in.

[@mogshade66]

Golf's not very popular around here 😊

[@jimwright2795]

For Proust fans, author Shelby Foote of "The Civil War" fame was also a fan. He said that he'd had read it 9 times (he then near 80 yo) as reward for accomplishments across his lifetime/career.

[@mistymisterwistyjones9668]

I agree: golf is a filthy hobby!

[@basjongenelen]

Funny sketch, very funny for those who actually read 'A la recherche du temps perdu'. Thanks for posting!

[@tomservo56954]

What a coincidence...that's how I plan to spend the upcoming holiday weekend.

[@ted.angell7609]

Golf… you pervert!

[@TheCastellan]

@Morias Strangling animals?

[@grant8891]

Other than the masturbating part, I like how they make such a big deal on a French novelist which many Americans may not really know about

[@tomservo56954]

Before or after his plate of madelines?

[@Pikestnt]

Yay! I have the same hobbies as Harry Baggat. (Except for golf)

[@bbqplatypus318]

"Golf's not very popular around here." XD

[@svejesve]

Has anyone came across a ONE volume edition of In search of lost time in any language? I know that some english and german editions have only 3 volumes.

[@dont-want-no-wrench]

have read proust. the impressive thing is the attempt itself.

[@HAISPAM]

Thank you so much!

[@gelchert]

For some reason, the judges don't seem to be amused.

[@dreadfulspiller8766]

This was on british tv in the 70s and they couldn't do this on tv now in the states.

[@Queinty]

Couldn't do this on TV anywhere now, more's the shame.

[@domenicoascione3769]

8 people are Marcel Proust.

[@DRBiblicalMD]

this is one of my favorites for whatever reason haha.

[@rosemaryallen2128]

Proust rarely went out. All that writing, I expect. Jean Cocteau said that he 'had the look of an electric light bulb left on during the day'. And I remember a 1960s photograph of a cat looking at a bookshelf, captioned, 'No Proust! No Sartre! This place is a mental slum!' I prefer Python - It's all I can take.