The Bishop is a sketch that appears in "The Buzz Aldrin Show", the seventeenth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Synopsis[]
Title card
A dramatic animated opening plays, introducing a production 'in association with The Sunday Schools Board' starring Reverend E. P. Nesbitt (Terry Jones) and F. B. Gromsby-Urquhart-Wright as the voice of God.
It cuts to an English church with a choir singing. A car drives up with loud sound effects and the Bishop and four vicars wearing dark sunglasses jump out and race towards the church. Another vicar, Rev. Grundy (Graham Chapman) stands at the pulpit begins to read a text but the Bishop tells him not to. He continues reading 'Leviticus 3:14' and the pulpit explodes. The Bishop's crook handle begins to glow and he answers it like a phone. There is another problem.
A vicar, Rev. Neuk (John Cleese), is doing a baptism, holding a fake baby that ticks like a bomb. The Bishop bursts in and tells him not to say the kid's name. As he says the name 'Francesco Luigi-', the baby opens and explodes.
It cuts to a montage of the Bishop and his henchmen bursting in on events. When a vicar officiating a wedding touches a ring, a 16-ton weight falls on him. When two vicars are chiming the bell, one gets caught in a rope and is pulled up before the Bishop can save him. As another vicar holds a funeral, a cannon from inside the grave aims and shoots before the Bishop can stop it.
It then shows the Bishop and his henchmen strolling through a busy street, bumping people out of the way. Reverend Morrison (Eric Idle) from the previous sketch is hanging out of a window calling for help, followed by action shots of the Bishop and his team running towards the window. They break into Mr Devious' room, where the Bishop slams his crook onto the table. It cuts to the ending. A man and a woman (Michael Palin and Chapman) watching the film leave to the next sketch.