the best is you get so used to the background music and when he shouts "SHUT THAT BLOODY DANCING UP!" it catches you offguard and forget its even playing. It makes it about 10x more funnier.

"an act of pure optimism" i love it 😂

The everyday absurdism of a cheese shop with no cheese, and shopkeeper who denies it, just kills me.

In a nutshell. And I thought to myself, 'a little fermented curd will do the trick', so, I curtailed my Walpoling activites, sallied forth, and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles! Come again? I want to buy some cheeeeese!

Since hearing this sketch all those years ago, I have made it my life's work to try each of these cheeses at least once. Surprisingly, most of these cheeses actually exist.

How many British cheese shops have to put up with customers doing Monty Python recreations?

This video taught me about the different types of cheese

cleese and palin were the best together. argument,parrot,cheese,silly walks. all classics.

This is 1 of those sketches that didn't quite make their featured "greatest hits" ...but in my opinion just about as good as anything they've done. A vintage performance by John Cleese rattling off all the different types of cheese and a well written/performed sketch by the 1 and only original team of Monty Python. "Venezualan Beaver cheese"

The "Licensed for public dancing" sigh at 0:08 makes me laugh every time! It's so easy to miss, but so ridiculous! Who would dance at a cheese shop? XD

I was in a small town in Texas, walking down the Main Street, when I saw a sign for “Cheeses of the World.” I crossed the street to look in the window. It was either recently shut down or just about to newly open. It was closed, all of the shelving was up, and there were zero “cheesy comestibles” on the premises. I could only laugh heartily to myself. I really wanted to share that moment with someone. I felt like it was a setup.

I like the guy in Viking horns who pops out and says "anyway"! 😝

This sketch is so classically random. Love the dancing in the background, and how long it takes Cleese to tell them to shut up.

The thing I love the most about Monty Python, is that its 40 years old, and we're still laughing out asses of at it. Who knew jokes with no punchline could be so funny.

The way John Cleese's character speaks at the start of the sketch reminds me of the character Bernard Cribbins played in the Inspectors episode of Fawlty Towers, Using a big vocabulary.

"WILL YOU SHUT THAT BLOODY DANCING UP?!"

I still think the funniest aspect of this sketch is the sheer pretentiousness of Cleese's character. Describing yourself stopping reading a book by Walpole as "curtailing my Walpoling activities" is such a creative piece of writing. :)

‎"I thought to myself: A little fermented curd could do the trick. So I curtailed my Walpoling activities, sallied forth and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles." Monty Python has some of the most ingenious lines in history.

My dad owned a cheese shop in the 1960’s - 80’s and two young chaps waited for a quiet spell without customers, and performed this sketch for their delighted audience of one. Pop was a loyal Python fan, and he retold this anecdote long after he retired.

One wonders how long it took Mr. Cleese to memorize that list of cheeses. 😂

This sketch made me read H. Walpole's Rogue Herries. It was actually very good so I read the whole saga. Thanks, Monty Python!

"I don't care HOW excrementally runny it is! Hand it over with all speed!" Hahahahaha!! Oh god...

Him transforming into a cowboy for like half a second at the end really caught me off guard

My favorite part is how they fake you out with the Camembert, making us think there's about to be a punchline involving how incredibly runny it is, only for the cat to eat it. It's why I love Monty Python; they throw curveballs like that.

"And what led you to that conclusion?" "Why it's the cleanest!" "Well it's certainly uncontaminated with cheese..." That was genius.

"Well it's certainly uncontaminated by cheese." Arguably the greatest line from the TV series with "It is an ex-parrot," in close contention. Of course Star Trek: Voyager had an episode where some alien cheese infected their computer so I guess maybe the writers were Python fans.

" Negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles...." LOL A line delivered in all it's possible glory by the incomparable John Cleese . I never tire of these sketches!

A fabulous sketch just hearing John mentioning all them cheeses. Is enough for me to give this Sketch a big massive thumbs up.

“Has he?” “She, sir.” Small things like this make this really move along. Best Python sketch!

Saw this sketch live last week. Cleese and Palin struggled to keep straight faces. Brilliant.

That's the genius of Monty Python. They avoid a lot of the expected structure of the comedy sketch, often including the punchline, and leave you giggling and at the same time wondering if it really was funny. On repeated viewings (often many repetitions), it just gets funnier as you listen to the skill with which the dialogue is sculpted.

50 years after this sketch appeared on TV, I bought some Sage Derby at the Christmas market just because I recognised its name from this sketch. Now THAT'S the power of product placement! XD

It's a good sketch, bordering on great, but the 'Cheese Shop' game in the Brand New Monty Python Bok is a true classic. One player is the cheese shop owner, the other player is the customer. Game goes like this: 1) Shop owner and customer exchange pleasantries. 2) Shop owner asks how he can help. 3) Customer asks for a variety of cheese. 4) Shop owner offers an excuse for the lack of said cheese in stock (a simple "No" is okay, or numerous variations upon such. however, points are awarded for creative excuses - "Not since the Great Moroccan Curd Shortage of 1978, I'm afraid Sir" and so forth). 5) Customer asks for a *different* variety of cheesy comestible. 6) Shop owner offers a *different* excuse for not having any of said fromage in stock. 7) Game continues in this fashion until one player either a) cannot think of a new cheese/excuse, or b) repeats a cheese/excuse. Great at parties. Can empty entire front rooms.

I'm doing grate, but I could be cheddar.

“Curtailed my Walpoling activities” This is ridiculously good. So well written.

"What a senseless waste of human life."

Quicksilver rhythm of that sketch and the sheer verbal acrobatism was 100%, absolutely brilliant

The best ever. Had a version on record in the 70s that was even funier. The timing was just brilliant. IMO this is the best sketch far more than the dead parrot

The look on Cleese's face when he gets corrected about the cat's sex...

The camembert was so runny it was actually just plain milk for the cat

Python sketches have no punchlines per se (a fact they not only admit but exploit to hilarious effect in the scene after "Argument Clinic" for example); rather, they create scenarios that are inherently absurd (a cheeseless cheese shop) and reveal that fact throughout the sketch. The dancers are another absurdity that builds as the sketch goes on. A classic example of Cleese's "thesaurus" sketches, which are always a hoot.

two classic understated moments in this sketch I could listen to over and over again... The thoughtful pause that Michael Palin give after "Double Gloucester ?", and then "she, sir" after "the cat's eaten it, Has he ?"

Looks like a shop for an argument to me.

I sometimes imagine Michael Palin being the Doctor in Doctor Who. He would have been amazing.

One of their very best ever sketches. Finest in the district. Most staggeringly popular in the manor, Squire!

One of my all time favorite MP sketches. Brilliantly absurd. The music and dancing take it so perfectly over the top.

I looked up Illchester on Wikipedia after this and found a slight anomaly. When typing in the name of the eponymous town, wikipedia referred to it as a "human settlement" instead of just "town" or "village". The peculiarity thereof led me to take a map of England and try random other smaller towns in England but my search concluded: none (of the small dozen I searched) but Illchester is referred to as "human settlement"

i just love how well articulated he is

This is making me crave cheese. XD

Love Chapman's performance. Dancing with that "Graham" look on his face.

"...Venezuelan Beaver Cheese"? LOL!

Not much of a cheese shop, is it?

lol, i can`t go through a grocery store without checking out the cheese section and the variety they have. my favorite quote in the sketch was ` predictable really, i suppose. it was an act of pure optimism to have posed the question in the first place` classic python.

The character of Basil Fawlty was actually based on a real life hotel owner. Back in the 70's the Pythons stayed in a hotel somewhere in England where they were filming. Apparently the owner was as rude and obnoxious as you can get and so Cleese wrote a series around him. There were only 12 episodes but as Rhissanna rightly says, they were excrutiatingly funny to the point of making you squirm watching them. If you have never watched Fawlty Towers then get yourself the set.

This is just absolutely glorious

It's a great attention getter, the way it starts with the still photos of John walking into the shop.

Graham and TJ dancing in the background really make this one for me.

'I want to buy some cheese.'

Priceless. One of my favorite MP sketches.

From Cleese's elaboration at the start there, you can sort of see the inspiration for Fawlty Towers' Mr. Hutchinson.

Those corduroy shoes are kickin.

That guy REALLY knows cheese! I was always curious about Red Leicester, because it was his first choice. For a long time I never saw any, but finally saw some at Whole Foods. It's $ 9.75 a pound!!! The little piece I tried was hard, but good. Supposedly it's really good melted, too.

One of my favorites. But how on earth did he memorize all those cheeses?!?

'it was an act of pure optimism to ask in the first place...' brilliant

Some day I hope to taste the elusive Venezuelan beaver cheese.

Michael Palin is just as funny as John Cleese in this skit. Great how John Cleese finally goes off on the annoying musicians!😂

one of the funniest sketches that i often quote.

i quote "any way" -- "WhO said that??" almost daily 😂

Benny Hill, Monty Python and Marty Feldman -- true comedic geniuses! In the very early 1970's we didn't have many TV channels and most went off the air before midnight. Luckily, my family lived in Michigan and we received Ontario, Canada TV broadcasts late at night. That's when Hill's and Python's shows were broadcast. Good times...!

Like the cheese counter at Tesco.

My personal fave sketch.

Aaaaahhhh! The cat ate it! 🧀🐱🧀 Classic Python! Maybe John should change his name to John Cheese!😂 Blessings and kindest regards David from Australia. 🌏 🙄☝️

Doing this sketch for my theatre class. Shit yeah.

Has to be one the best sketches ever. All praise to be both performers and writers for producing such wonderful imaginative comedy.

I’m a starting to see a pattern with the most famous MP:FC sketches. John Cleese is on one side or the other, on an exchange of people unable or unwilling to properly provide what’s been advertised. Cheese, *living* parrots, silly walks, arguments, etc

Must say after decades a Python fan, this cheese addiction sketch with its nod to many addiction documentaries was so inspired.

Great sketch----also on their Matching Tie And Handkerchief LP....this is where I learned so many cheese names!

the music makes it so surreal lmao

Well, it's so clean. It's certainly uncontaminated by cheese! This whole skit is just comedy writing gold! 😂😂😊

There are no Cheese Shops in Lancaster, where I live! ... So, I buy my cheese at Aldi. Not only do they have plenty of cheese "contaminating" the supermarket, but there is NO annoying music and dancing! 🤣

2023 and it still is brilliant and funny

You can't beat Monty Python. John Cleese in Faulty Towers still kept up this kind of humour. Well done.

Next to the 5 minute argument these 2 are hilarious wordplay

I loved the live on-stage version even more: "It's a bit runny sir." "I don't care how fcking runny it is...."

The rythme in this sketch is INSANE! It's a song really!

What I most like of Monty Phyton sketches is they get even funnier as the story goes on, long live the Monty Phytons! cheers from a mexican fan!

That was a fitting end. 😂

The best sketch imo

This sketch always makes me so hungry. I love me some cheese. :)

You spend the entire sketch waiting for 4:51, and it's still hilarious!

Cleese and Palin in a classic sketch.Thanks for the upload.

Bloody marvelous!

"Venezuelan beavercheese ?" "Not today sir, no"

Brexit came Hard on the cheese shops.

i memorized this and other sketches when i was a teenager from the albums ...and if bored i still go through them for fun to this day

Oooohh. John Cleese. One of your best. “The senseless waste…”

Outside of " . . . we already got one . . ." my favorite line in all of Pythondom is in this sketch. "Well, it's certainly uncontaminated by cheese." I'm convinced the Star Trek: Voyager episode where the computer's bio gel packs get "sick" from the fumes off Neelix's cheese was inspired by this sketch.

This is the first monty python sketch I have ever liked, and I just happened upon it by accident! No one ever told me about this one before. This is truly amazing. Very funny indeed. Every frame exudes humor.

This is one of my favorites😂

Everything about this sketch is glorious. The music, the ending, the hotness that is Mr. John Cleese...perfect.