Parrot Sketch Not Included - 20 Years of Monty Python

Parrot Sketch Not Included - 20 Years of Python was a television tribute special to the Monty Python comedy group on October 5, 1989. It was hosted by Python fan and famed actor Steve Martin, who introduced several sketches from the group's TV series as well as some sketches from their German specials, except for their most famous sketch The Dead Parrot Sketch, as the special's title dictates.

Opening Credits

Steve Martin Presents

A Steve Martin Film

Steve Martin is

Steve Martin in

Parrot Sketch Not Included - 20 Years of Monty Python

Sketches Included

• William Tell
• "The Merchant of Venice" as performed by a herd of cows
• Silly Olympics
• Dennis Moore
• Dennis Moore Rides Again
• How Not to Be Seen
• Exploding Version of "The Blue Danube"
• Dennis Moore Rides Again (continued)
• World Forum - Communist Quiz
• The Philosophers' Football Match - Greeks vs Germans, First Half
• RAF Banter
• Zeppelin
• French Lecture on Sheep-Aircraft
• Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth
• Architects Sketch
• How to Recognise a Mason
• The Ministry of Silly Walks
• Queen Victoria Handicap
• The Wacky Queen
• Working-class playwright
• The Fish-Slapping Dance
• Submarine
• Untitled animation between Molluscs - Live TV Documentary and The Minister for Not Listening to People
• Mrs N*gger-Baiter Explodes
• Mosquito Hunters
• Untitled animation between Programme Titles Conference and Woody and Tinny Words
• Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days"
• Patient Abuse
• Hospital Run by RSM
• Come Back to My Place
• Homicidal Barber
• The Lumberjack Song
• Brigadier and Bishop
• Letter about The Lumberjack Song
• Film Trailer
• Spam
• A Man with a Tape Recorder Up His Nose
• Musical Mice
• The Mouse Problem
• Untitled animation between Life and Death Struggles and Mary Recruitment Office
• Rival Documentaries
• Farming Club/Life of Tchaikovsky
• Argument Clinic
• Untitled animation between Johann Gambolputty and Non-Illegal Robbery
• The Spanish Inquisition
• Race Against the Credits
• Killer Cars
• The Spanish Inquisition (continued)
• Queen Victoria Handicap (continued)
• The Visitors
• Man-Powered Flight
• Raymond Luxury-Yacht Interview
• Untitled animation between Storage Jars and The Show So Far
• Last Gumby Announcement

Deleted Sequence

According to the "autobiography" The Pythons, a new piece of material written and featuring the Monty Python members and Steve Martin was to be included in the special. In the sequence, the Monty Python members, dressed as school boys, ask Martin questions and take notes. The sequence was removed at request by the Pythons because it was felt to be unfunny. However, some of the members today wish it was included, as it was the last time deceased Monty Python member Graham Chapman performed with the group.

The Pythons did do an alternate version of their appearance, which is featured in the special, in which Steve Martin reveals that they are all in a cupboard. Chapman appears very pale and sallow; at the time the throat Cancer that would kill him was advancing rapidly. This would be his last appearance on television before his death, which coincidentally was one night before the premiere of the program.