Restaurant Sketch, also known simply as Dirty Fork, is a Monty Python sketch that appears in the third episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, "How to Recognise Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away". It also appears in And Now for Something Completely Different.
It is notable for being the first Monty Python sketch wherein the characters react to the audience "booing" them.
Synopsis[]
Two men (Graham Chapman and Terry Jones) carry a donkey across the beach ("Donkey Rides") and pass a redcoat (Michael Palin) who introduces "The Restaurant Sketch" in typical compère fashion.
A man (Chapman) and his wife (Carol Cleveland) enjoy a night out at an expensive French restaurant, only to discover that they have been given a dirty fork, and the man politely asks the waiter, Gaston, (Terry Jones) to replace his dirty fork that "has a spot of dirt on it."
After giving a polite comment about the dirty fork to Gaston, he apologizes profusely and runs to get the head waiter, Gilberto (Palin). Gilberto arrives, recoils in disgust at the fork, and demands Gaston that the entire kitchen staff be fired, and to inform the manager.
As Gilberto expresses his disgust at the fork, the manager (Eric Idle) arrives and sends Gilberto off before he sits down at the table and apologizes "deeply, sincerely and humbly" for the dirty fork. Soon, he becomes emotional and begins to speak of how the dish-washer can barely move her arthritic fingers, but it is not her fault, the cook's son had just been incarcerated, and Gilberto has a war wound, his staff are good people. He ultimately goes into the restaurant's problems and how he had thought they were over those hard times until the fork incident had happened.
He begins to sob and the cook, Mungo, (Cleese) enters, shaking with rage. "You bastards! You vicious heartless bastards! Look what you've done to him! He's worked his fingers to the bone to make this place what it is! And you come in here with your petty, vicious, heartless quibbling, and you grind him into the dirt! This fine, honorable man whose boots you are not worthy to kiss! Oh... it makes me mad!" he gasps, and swings his cleaver onto their table. Gilberto soon arrives and attempts to ease Mungo, only to clutch his head in pain, crying over his war wound. Just as Mungo seems to have gotten over his angry rage, the manager stabs himself in the stomach with the dirty fork screaming "IT'S THE END! THE END OF THE LINE!" and keels to the ground, dead.
Mungo then lifts his cleaver over the man when Gilberto, quickly recovering from the war wound, rounds the corner, stopping Mungo from trying to murder the man just in time. "Mungo!" he gasps, struggling to hold him. "Mungo- Remember... never kill a customer." Just as they calm down, Gilberto ends up dying from his war wound, driving Mungo in a fit of rage and attempts to kill the couple, only for Gaston to force him down, slamming him onto the table and ends up going over it.
The aftermath
A caption says, "And Now... The Punchline!" The man adds "Lucky we didn't say anything about the dirty knife," looking into the camera. The whole cast moans at the bad joke as does the audience in turn.
The redcoat gives his verdict on the sketch and dismisses the punchline. The man from the sketch hits him on the head with a raw chicken which he gives back to the knight (Terry Gilliam).
Behind the scenes[]
This sketch reflects Python's thoughts about punch lines. The Monty Python troupe had decided from the start that they were going to throw away punchlines, and this was a play on the shows that would use corny lines like the dirty knife. Most Python sketches just end abruptly, sometimes even characters say "What a stupid sketch" and walk out. In Monty Python Live in Aspen, Terry Gilliam explains: "Our first rule was: no punch lines.. [some sketches] start brilliant, great acting, really funny sketch, but punch line is just not as good as the rest of the sketch, so it kills the entire thing. That's why we eliminated them."
The sketch is approved material of the Key Stage 2 PSHE curriculum, discussing "resolving conflict".
Trivia[]
- This sketch was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones.
- The redcoat's sign-off was filmed near Bournemouth on the same day as the Genghis Khan and German casualties scenes from Whither Canada?.
- This sketch was written and recorded for Whither Canada? but dropped from the finished episode and moved to How to Recognise Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away, replacing the "Vocational Guidance Counsellor" sketch.
- The credits for Whither Canada? remain intact however, which is why Carol Cleveland's name is in the credits despite not appearing in the finished episode. This is also the reason why Cleveland is oppositely not credited for appearing in How to Recognise….
External links[]
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