Monty Python's Flying Circus/Sex & Violence

Sex and Violence
Season One, Episode Two
Airdate	October 12, 1969
Production Number	53440
Written by	John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam
Directed by	Ian McNaughton
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Monty Python's Flying Circus — Season One

Sex and Violence is the second episode of the first season of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Also Appearing: Carol Cleveland

Episode Breakdown

• Flying Sheep: A man from the city (Jones) meets with a farmer (Chapman) at a fence, starring in disbelief at some sheep in a tree. The farmer believes that they believe that they're birds, even though they clearly can't fly (despite their best attempts). The trouble seems to be that sheep are very dim, except for Harold, who is attempting to hatch a plot to escape through flight. The shepherd hasn't gotten rid of the ringleader precisely because flying sheep could be a lucrative business opportunity for him, should Harold succeed.
• French Lecture on Sheep-Aircraft: Two French men (Cleese and Palin) demonstrate, in French, the opportunities which a flying sheep could present. They seem to be showing the possibilities of an airplane which is disguised as a large sheep, with several seets in the base, wheels for feet and a propeller in the tail. The two lecturers hop around, baaing like sheep and cut to an interview with several women (Chapman, Cleese, Palin and Jones), who talk about French people they like.
• And Now for Something Completely Different: An interviewer (Cleese) politely struggles with posing the fact that Arthur Frampton (Jones) has three buttocks. They try to move in with a camera to see the mutation, but he refuses because he's on television. To prove that he actually does have three buttocks, he suggests that they go cycling together. The interviewer declares "Strewth!" and cuts back to the anchor (Idle), who goes right back to them. They realize that the just did this bit and go back to the anchor who tries to throw to the man with three noses but settles for a man with two noses who blows both his normal nose and one under his shirt.
• Musical Mice: Compère (Palin) introduces Arthur Ewing (Jones) and his musical mice. Ewing opens a box with 23 white mice who have been trained to squeak at a particular pitch. Ewing tells the audience that they will perform "The Bells of St. Mary's" and produces two large wooden mallets, with which he clubs the mice from behind his box. Security rushes in to pull him off stage after several shrieks from the audience.
• Marriage Guidance Counsellor: Arthur Pewtey (Palin) and his young blond wife, Deirdre Pewtey (Cleveland), enter the office of the marriage guidance counsellor (Idle). But, the counsellor gets so caught up in her beauty that while Arthur goes on at length about their marital problems, the counsellor flirts with Dierdre. He and Dierdre disappear behind a curtain and have sex. Arthur leaves the office and attempts to force himself into denial when he meets a southern man in black (Cleese) who tells him to go back in and stand up for himself. He's told to go away and is hit over the head with a rubber chicken by a man wearing a suit of armor.
• The Wacky Queen: Queen Victoria (Jones) and William Gladstone (Chapman) are introduced in a film dedicated to a serious depiction of their lives that has gone unseen, until a new announcer claiming to be Alfred Lord Tennyson (Palin) chattering about the "wacky queen." The two go on to perform typical silent comedy routines involving slapstick which would be at home in a Three Stooges short.
• Working-Class Playwright: Ken (Idle), the son of a playwright (Chapman) comes home to a frosty reception from his father and a more welcoming attitude from his mother (Jones). The father is up in arms about Ken leaving London for Yorkshire to work in a coal mine while he's slaving away doing interviews and wrestling "with the problem of a homosexual nymphomaniac drug-addict involved in the ritual murder of a well known Scottish footballer." Ken is kicked out and the father realizes that there might be a play in that situation.
• And Now for Something Completely Different: A man with a broom knocks on his ceiling to get the couple from before to shut up and attempts to introduce a man with nine legs, but he ran away. Instead, he gives the people a Scotsman on a horse and a man with a third nose. Later, Harold the Sheep is shown animated with wings, but he's shot out of the sky by a large cannon, although the crowd isn't amused by this like they were with the man with two noses.
• The Wrestling Epilogue: On the Epilogue, a man (Cleese) moderates a debate between Monsignor Edward Gay, a church cleric, and Dr. Tom Jack, a humanist who opposes the existence of God. Instead of debating however, the two have decided to fight for the existence or non-existence of God in a wrestling match. MC Arthur Waring (Idle) introduces the two once again before allowing the fight to begin. Tom gets the upper hand initially before moving back to the moderator, who is shot at by a cartoon cowboy.
• Mice Protest: Among the features in the animated short include a man with a carnivorous baby carriage, Rodin's "The Kiss" being played like a flute and a series of protesters with pro-mouse signs.
• The Mouse Problem: Linkman (Palin) examines the mouse problem and what could compel a man to want to become a mouse. An interviewer, Harold Voice (Jones), speaks with a man (Cleese) confessing his mouse tendencies which was started in a drunken party that hooked him with cheese and dressing up as mice. Although initially given anonymity, the confessor's full name, Arthur Jackson, and address is put on screen several times. A psychologist who goes by "The Amazing Kargol" (Chapman) is brought out with his assistant Janet (Cleveland) to explain this issue. Kargol admits to committing murder and arson as youthful indiscretions, which is somehow similar to men acting as mice. The anchor shows clips of several famous men who also suffered from the mouse syndrome, including Julius Caesar and Napoleon. They go to the public to see how they would fix the issue. The answers range from strangling them to "splitting their nostrils open with a boat hook." They then show clips of bizarre mouse parties, which Jackson goes on to explain. At the end of the segment, the anchor bids the audience good night and shoots a flying sheep out of the air.
• Epilogue: "And here is the result of the Epilogue: God exists by two falls to a submission."

Notes

"It's..."

• Michael Palin is a disheveled looking man racing over a series of stand dunes, causing odd sound effects to occur every time he dips below the range of sight.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• Reused Sketch: "The Mouse Problem" sketch was originally written for the 1969 film The Magic Christian, however it was not used in production. Graham Chapman and John Cleese provided additional material for the film.