Cheese Shop sketch
The
"Cheese Shop" sketch is a famous sketch from
Monty Python's Flying Circus. It is a fairly typical
John Cleese set-piece. In essence John Cleese attempts to purchase some cheese from the cheese shop; unfortunately the proprietor, Mr.
Wensleydale (
Michael Palin as usual playing the obstructive shopkeeper to Cleese's irate customer) appears to have not one single variety in stock, not even a morsel of
Cheddar cheese, 'the world's most popular cheese'... The slow crescendo of
bouzouki music in the background mirrors Cleese's growing anger.
The sketch was parodied by Alexei Sayle in an episode of The Young Ones. Sayle rushes into a shop and asks if it is a cheese shop. When the Palinesque proprietor tells him "No, sir," Alexei says, "Well, that sketch's knackered then, innit?"