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Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 9

The Ant, an Introduction

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9.1

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 12/14/69

Hermit dodging landmines; credits; Part 2: The Llama, Live from Golder's Green- a Flamenco troupe explains the Llama `Llamas son mas grandes que las ranas'; and now for something completely different: a man with a tape recorder up his nose; mountaineering sketch, two men skilled in climbing apply to an expedition to the twin peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro; and now: Monty Python; a man with a tape recorder up his brother's nose, and now in stereo; animation- saint selling encyclopedias; barber fights urge to kill, reveals he always wanted to be a lumberjack, song- Lumberjack Song; letters of protest; housewife protests about to much sex on television `I mean, I keep falling off', Prof. Gumby gives an opinion on television's influence; announcer grovels during introduction of star, `Ken Buddha, a smile, two bangs and a religion', animation- Brian Islam and Brucie; life in the country guns, guns, guns; knight with chicken not needed this week; and now: Victor and Iris's night alone together with Arthur Name `name by name but not by nature', Mr. & Mrs. Brian Equatol `like round the middle of the earth only with a L' `Oooh, I Wet um', a great poof and a Ken Shabby prototype with his goat, song- Ding Dong; Hermit; credits.moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (2)

Cross-dressing lumberjacks singing, homicidal barbers, cross-eyed mountaineering, a man and his brother with tape recorders up their noses, and LEEEama!

9.7

By plumber-man, Mar 12, 2011

This may very well be the greatest Monty Python episode ever made, but that combining of words, "Greatest Monty Python" would be very well open to debate, and I think that there is no perfect Python sketch (Even my friend got tired of hearing the Lumberjack song) but there are sketches that can compete for the title, but still, this is a great episode, watch it, then rent Life Of Brian to see a true marvel of nature: Monty python that deserves an award for one of the funniest films ever made! To sum up, I like and recommend this episode.moreless
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He's a lumberjack and he's OK, he works all night and he sleeps all day

9.0

By MagnusDonaldson, Jun 26, 2007

A top class show, with great sketches throughout. There's an obvious highlight here: the lumberjack song, another very famous sketch that is considered a major highlight of the show by the mainstream public. I highly enjoy the song, and it fully deservent of being considered the best song in this show's history. Don't ignore the sketch before it with the psycho influenced barber. A very overlooked sketch is the hunting sketch, I love this one and you shouldn't sleep on this one at all. The mountainering sketch is very silly and entertaining, with John as a man with very bad vision and Graham as the guide with little sense of direction. We see the first appearance of the "Now For Something Completely Different" character who introduces the show in Series 2. My only issue with this episode is the last sketch, I didn't like it and I found it offensive. So overall an episode that's well worth watching, with some classic sketches.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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John Cleese	Various Characters [ series 1 - 3, Deutsche shows & features ]
Eric Idle	Various Characters
Graham Chapman	Various Characters
Terry Jones	Various Characters
Terry Gilliam	Various Characters
Michael Palin	Various Characters

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Connie Booth	Lumberjack's girl	Recurring Role
Carol Cleveland	Iris	Recurring Role
The Fred Tomlinson Singers	Canadian Mountie Chorus	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- In the "Homicidal Barber" sketch, the tape recorder very briefly continues to play after Michael Palin shuts it off.
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QUOTES (4)
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- Letter: "Dear Sir, I wish to complain on the strongest possible terms about the previous entry in this webpage about the lumberjack who wears womens' clothes. Many of my best friends are lumberjacks, and only a few of them are transvestites. Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong (Mrs.) P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times."
  Housewife: Well, I object to all this sex on the tellyvision. I mean, I keep falling off!
  Caption: "That joke was Britian's entry for this year's Rubber Mac of Zurich Award. It came last."
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- The Spanish Lecture on Llamas: The llama is a quadruped which lives in big rivers like the Amazon. It has two ears, a heart, a forehead, and a beak for eating honey. But it is provided with fins for swimming. Llamas are larger than frogs. Llamas are dangerous, so if you see one where people are swimming, you shout: "Look out, there are llamas!"
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- Kenny Lust: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the refreshment room here at Bletchley. My name is Kenny Lust and I'm your compere for tonight. You know, once in a while it is my pleasure, and my privilege, to welcome here at the refreshment room, some of the truly great international artists of our time. And tonight we have one such artist. Ladies and gentlemen, someone whom I've always personally admired, perhaps more deeply, more strongly, more abjectly than ever before. A man... well, more than a man, a god, a great god, whose personality is so totally and utterly wonderful my feeble words of welcome sound wretchedly and pathetically inadequate. Someone whose boots I would gladly lick clean until holes wore through my tongue, a man who is so totally and utterly wonderful, that I would rather be sealed in a pit of my own filth than dare tread on the same stage with him! Ladies and gentlemen... the incomparably superior human being, Harry Fink!
  Voice Offstage: He can't come!
  Kenny Lust: Never mind, it's not all it's cracked up to be.
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- "The Lumberjack Song" Lyrics
  Bevis: I didn't want to be a barber anyway. I wanted to be a lumberjack. Leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia... The giant redwood, the larch, the fir, the mighty scots pine. The smell of fresh-cut timber! The crash of mighty trees! With my best girlie by my side... We'd sing... sing... sing!
  I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay.
  I sleep all night. I work all day.
  CHORUS
  Mounties: He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
  He sleeps all night and he works all day.
  Bevis: I cut down trees. I eat my lunch.
  I go to the lavatory.
  On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
  And have buttered scones for tea.
  Mounties: He cuts down trees. He eats his lunch.
  He goes to the lavatory.
  On Wednesdays he goes shopping
  And has buttered scones for tea.
  CHORUS
  Bevis: I cut down trees. I skip and jump.
  I like to press wild flowers.
  I put on women's clothing
  And hang around in bars.
  Mounties: He cuts down trees. He skips and jumps.
  He likes to press wild flowers.
  He puts on women's clothing
  And hangs around in bars?!
  CHORUS
  Bevis: I cut down trees. I wear high heels,
  Suspendies, and a bra.
  I wish I'd been a girlie,
  Just like my dear Mama.
  Bevis and mounties: I (He) cut(s) down trees. I (He) wear(s) high heels,
  Suspendies, and a bra?!
  Bevis: I wish I'd been a girlie,
  Just like my dear Mama!
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NOTES (1)
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- Some versions of the Lumberjack Song use the lyric "I wish I'd been a girlie / Just like my dear papa!" Also, in versions like the one featured here, the lumberjack's girlfriend whines, "Ohh, Bevis! And I thought you were so RUGGED!" In other versions, the song ends with the Mountie Chorus singing the chorus one last time after a brief pause.
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