Parrot Sketch Not Included – 20 Years of Monty Python was a tribute special to the Monty Python

Monty Python

Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 comedy group, broadcast on 5 October 1989. It was hosted by Python fan and actor Steve Martin

Steve Martin

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

, who introduced several sketches from the group's television series Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...

, as well as some sketches from the German remake Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus consisted of two 45-minute Monty Python German television comedy specials produced by WDR for West German television...

. True to its title, the popular Dead Parrot sketch

Dead Parrot

The "Dead Parrot Sketch", alternatively and originally known as the "Pet Shop Sketch" or "Parrot Sketch", is a popular sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus, and one of the most famous in the history of British television comedy...

 was not included.

Sketches Included

• Willam Tell
• The Merchant of Venice as performed by a herd of cows
• Silly Olympics
  Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
  Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a 1982 concert film in which the Monty Python team perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl. The show also included filmed inserts which were mostly taken from two Monty Python specials, Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus, which had been...
  
  
• Dennis Moore
• How Not To Be Seen
  How Not To Be Seen
  "How Not to Be Seen" is a popular sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus. It was first aired as a the 11th episode of the 2nd series of the show ....
  
  
• Exploding Version of The Blue Danube
  The Blue Danube
  The Blue Danube is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 , a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866...
  
  
• Dennis Moore (again)
• World Forum/ Communist Quiz Show
• The Philosophers' Football Match
  The Philosophers' Football Match
  The Philosophers' Football Match is a Monty Python sketch depicting a football match in the Olympiastadion at the 1972 Munich Olympics between philosophers representing Greece and Germany...
  
  
• RAF Banter
• French Lecture on Sheep-Aircraft
• Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth
• Architects Sketch
  Architects Sketch
  The "Architects Sketch" is a Monty Python sketch, first seen in episode 17 of Monty Python's Flying Circus, "The Buzz Aldrin Show".-Description:...
  
  
• How to Recognize a Mason
  Freemasonry
  Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
  
  
• The Ministry of Silly Walks
  The Ministry of Silly Walks
  "The Ministry of Silly Walks" is a sketch from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show Monty Python's Flying Circus, episode 14, which is entitled "Face the Press". The episode first aired in 1970. A shortened version of the sketch was performed for Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl...
  
  
• Queen Victoria Handicap
• The Wacky Queen
• Working Class Playwright
• The Fish-Slapping Dance
  The Fish-Slapping Dance
  The Fish-Slapping Dance is a comedy sketch written and performed by the Monty Python team. The sketch was originally recorded in 1971 for a pan-European May Day special entitled Euroshow 71...
  
  
• A man with a Stoat Through His Head
• Roy and Hank Spim – Mosquito hunters
• Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days"
• Patient Abuse
  Patient Abuse
  Patient Abuse is a sketch from the final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, "Party Political Broadcast". The sketch is among the few not entirely written by members of Monty Python, and is notable for its considerable amount of black humour...
  
  
• Hospital Run by RSM
• Come Back to My Place
• Homicidal Barber
• The Lumberjack Song
  The Lumberjack Song
  "The Lumberjack Song" is a song by the Monty Python comedy troupe. The song was written by Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Fred Tomlinson.It first appeared on the ninth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, "The Ant: An Introduction" on BBC1 on 14 December 1969...
  
  
• Film Trailer
• Spam
  Spam (Monty Python)
  "Spam" is a popular Monty Python sketch, first televised in 1970. In the sketch, two customers are in a greasy spoon café trying to order a breakfast from a menu that includes the processed meat product in almost every dish. The term spam is derived from this sketch...
  
  
• A man With a Tape Recorder up His Nose
• Musical Mice
• The Mouse Problem
  The Mouse Problem
  "The Mouse Problem" is a Monty Python sketch, first aired in 1969 as part of Sex and Violence, the second episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus....
  
  
• House Hunters
• Rival Documentaries
• Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto Escape Act
• Argument Clinic
• The Spanish Inquisition
  The Spanish Inquisition (Monty Python)
  "The Spanish Inquisition" is a series of sketches in Monty Python's Flying Circus, Series 2 Episode 2, first broadcast 22 September 1970, parodying the real-life Spanish Inquisition. This episode is itself entitled "The Spanish Inquisition"...
  
  
• Bus Animation
• The Spanish Inquisition (again)
  The Spanish Inquisition (Monty Python)
  "The Spanish Inquisition" is a series of sketches in Monty Python's Flying Circus, Series 2 Episode 2, first broadcast 22 September 1970, parodying the real-life Spanish Inquisition. This episode is itself entitled "The Spanish Inquisition"...
  
  
• And Then
• The Visitors
• Man-Powered Flight
• Raymond Luxury Yacht
• Television is Bad for Your Eyes
• Last Gumby announcement

Deleted sequence

According to the autobiography The Pythons, a new piece of material written and featuring the Monty Python members and Steve Martin was to be included in the special. In the sequence, the Monty Python members, dressed as school boys, ask Martin questions and take notes. The sequence was removed at request by the Pythons because it was felt to be unfunny. However, some of the members today wish it had been included, as it had been the last time that Monty Python member Graham Chapman

Graham Chapman

Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...

 would perform with the group.

The Pythons gave an alternate version of their appearance, which is featured in the special, in which Steve Martin briefly reveals that they are all in a cupboard. Chapman appears very pale and sallow; at the time the throat cancer

Head and neck cancer

Head and neck cancer refers to a group of biologically similar cancers that start in the upper aerodigestive tract, including the lip, oral cavity , nasal cavity , paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx. 90% of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas , originating from the mucosal lining...

that would kill him was advancing rapidly. This would be his last appearance on television before his death, which coincidentally was one night before the premiere of the programme.