No Time to Lose is a sketch that appears in "A Book at Bedtime," the thirty-eighth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Synopsis[]
No Time Toulouse
Back at Edinburgh Castle, the RSM (Terry Jones) is restraining the last remaining Scotsman MacDonald (Graham Chapman) from killing himself. The captain (John Cleese) says there is "no time to lose" and the RSM ponders on it for a while, saying he's never heard the phrase before. He becomes increasingly confused about its meaning.
At the No Time To Lose Advice Centre, a man (Michael Palin) walks in and sits down at a desk to a consultant (Eric Idle). The man would like to use the phrase "no time to lose" to make his life a little more exciting, and the consultant coaches him on how to say the phrase properly and the segment suddenly turns into a short film 'No Time Toulouse', "the story of the wild and lawless days of the post-impressionists".
Meanwhile, MacDonald has somehow escaped the RSM's grip and his about to jump out the window and almost saws his head off. Hastily, the captain hands the RSM the mission plans, and he leaves with his remaining Scotsman. It then cuts to the RSM driving MacDonald to the mission, but MacDonald manages to jump out the van. The RSM hauls him back in, but MacDonald keeps trying to run himself over.
The captain explains the full plan to the audience, which is that the RSM will "lull the enemy into a false sense of security by giving them large quantities of money, a good home, and a steady job", and MacDonald will "hurl himself at the secret documents, destroying them and himself".
The first presenter of 'A Book At Bedtime' (Michael Palin) is reading the ending of the story, aided by the rest of the crew.