Confuse-a-Cat is a sketch that appears in "Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the 20th Century," the fifth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Synopsis[]
In a suburban lounge near Esher, husband (Michael Palin) and his wife (Terry Jones) call a veterinarian (Graham Chapman) for their cat who just sits out on the lawn. The vet suggests that they confuse their cat and recommends they call Confuse-a-Cat Limited.
Confuse-a-Cat Limited arrives in a military fashion and puts on a performance for the cat consisting of random events, including Long John Silver walking onstage, a boxing match, and a penguin on a pogo stick. The confusion is successful and the cat returns to his owners.
Trivia[]
- This sketch was written by Graham Chapman and John Cleese. It was inspired by an observation made at Graham's flat of a motionless cat on a well-tended side of the neighbours' garden. Graham and John thought the cat was complacent in its inertia.
- The location sequences were filmed on August 18th, 1969 at Edenfield Gardens in Worcester Park, Surrey.
- The cat was provided by Vivian Morley of Animals Unlimited.
- The drumming heard during the performance was recorded by Tony Taylor in Dubbing Theatre Y at the BBC Television Centre on September 27th, 1969.
- This sketch was featured in the BBC's annual Christmas Night with the Stars show in 1969, after the previously-submitted Pet Conversions was rejected because of its content.