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Dead Parrot Sketch Is 1,600 Years Old
laejoh writes "Monty Python's 'Dead Parrot sketch' — which featured John Cleese — is some 1,600 years old.
A classic scholar has proved the point, by unearthing a Greek version of the world-famous piece.
A comedy duo called Hierocles and Philagrius told the original version, only rather than a parrot they used a slave.
It concerns a man who complains to his friend that he was sold a slave who dies in his service.
His companion replies: 'When he was with me, he never did any such thing!'
The joke was discovered in a collection of 265 jokes called Philogelos: The Laugh Addict, which dates from the fourth century AD.
Hierocles had gone to meet his maker, and Philagrius had certainly ceased to be, long before John Cleese and Michael Palin reinvented the yarn in 1969."
Old age.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Wow those plagiarists...what next are you going to tell me that the Holy Grail movie was based on ancient stories as well? Or Life of Brian? Are you telling me that Jesus wasn't an original character?
As a Classics major as an undergrad, I'm always happy to see these kind of stories. There was some wicked humour in the ancient world that is still hilarious today, from the political jibes in the plays of Aristophanes to the obscenities of Petronius' Satyricon. It's a pity that most people would never think about reading them, because one tends to assume that old literary works are dry and serious.
What's worse is that only only did they blatantly copy the Greeks parrot sketch, but they even copied (with some minor alterations) a humorous tale about a wandering preacher in The Life of Brian. Really, the Monty Python crew knew no shame.
That joke's not dead... It's pining for the fjords...
I'll have to check them out when I have time.
What I find really interesting is the graffiti from those times. Stuff about elections, dirty jokes (which you'd still find funny today), and so on.
You can read more of their jokes at Google Books.
Seriously, I saw these guys in their prime on the "Ranting from Rome to Apulia" tour. Fucking hilarious stuff. They really took a turn for the worse when that pussy Constanine brought in Christianity, though. It was just never the same for comedians in the Empire with those holier-than-thou types in charge.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6tQ0218
THIS.... is an Ex-Parrot!!
What? They had humour prior to the 1960s? Seriously, deep inside me I believe that people hardly made or said anything funny back then. I'm sure lots of people feel the same way.
You just got troll'd!
joke predates you!
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Umm, those aren't the same joke at all. Just because they both involve selling and dying doesn't mean that they're the same joke. The premise of the older joke is that the man who sold the slave is saying something in a surprised manner which is obviously true. The contrast is between his surprise and the understanding of the audience for the joke that he shouldn't be surprised (since obviously the slave hadn't died before he sold it).
The joke in the Monty Python sketch is that the parrot was dead when it was sold. The humor comes from the absurdness of the idea that someone could be sold a dead parrot without realizing it. The joke is furthered by the sales clerk's obviously futile attempts to claim that the parrot isn't dead and the colorful language used to attempt to convince the clerk that the parrot is dead. This is not at all the same joke. The premise is completely different, as is the type of humor involved. The Greek one is ironic humor. The Monty Python one is absurdist humor.
A 419-baiter got some Nigerian scam artists to record themselves doing the sketch as well. I actually like this one better!
The CB App. What's your 20?
It's the same sketch, only there is no parrot but a slave, the slave is not dead in the shop and consequently not nailed to the perch. But otherwise, really the same thing.
That's what I thought too, until I read Suetonius' Twelve Caesars... The amount of trash in it makes it particularly entertaining.
The Raven
Are they implying Monty Python stole the joke or that it has just been done before? It seems like a pretty strait forward joke and I can see it being reinvented. Either way it was a damn funny sketch.
Just for that:
Venn ist das nurnstuck git und slotermeyer? Ya! Beigerhund das oder die flipperwaldt gersput!
When I was much younger I was turned on to the classics after reading Lysistrata. Quick synopsis from Wikipedia:
Led by the title character, Lysistrata, the story's female characters barricade the public funds building and withhold sex from their husbands to end the Peloponnesian War and secure peace.
The euphemisms and innuendo are killer, especially to a young teen :)
As a Classics major as an undergrad, I'm always happy to see these kind of stories. There was some wicked humour in the ancient world that is still hilarious today, from the political jibes in the plays of Aristophanes to the obscenities of Petronius' Satyricon. It's a pity that most people would never think about reading them, because one tends to assume that old literary works are dry and serious.
Nah. If this story has taught me anything, it's that if there's anything worth reading in those old sheepskins/tablets/papyrii, some modern comedian will steal it and repeat it, saving me the trouble of figuring out all the obscure cultural references from 3000 years ago.
I'm kidding. I think.
That is disappointing. It means the sketch where Eric brings Kenny back to the friend store to complain that he is dead is not even a original tribute. It is just a more direct rip off of the original work that the Pythons inadvertently ripped off from. Will the inhumanity never end!
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Yes, Euripides' Electra is one of the funniest plays in all existence simply for the recognition scene. Everyone should read the Oresteia and then read Euripides. Heck, that scene is hilarious even if you haven't read the Oresteia. Euripides mercilessly parodies a variety of literary conceits which are still used today. It is almost like Euripides had access to TVTropes.com
He read the World's Funniest Joke of course!
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
One of the more interesting sermons I ever heard in church was around humor in the bible. Our preacher had a PhD in archeology, knew several dead languages, etc. So he was able to provide context for jokes that people people treat as dry and serious today. Apparently Jesus had a better sense of humor than people give him credit for.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Oh wait, wrong sketch.
Also: 60s pop music was a lot more than the 50 or so songs that have been endlessly repeated on your local classic rock station and in movie soundtracks.
We think we have a memory of decades from before we were born, but we just have some editor's sleezy commercial take on the time. Really getting something approximating a feel for another time takes actual work and research.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
HUGE masochist.
The whole whipping, forced labour(carrying his cross), crown of thorns, getting stabbed with a spear, nailed to the cross and then being heaped with public ridicule was planned.
y'know the whole religious ecstasy thing? Self flagellants in ye olden times? Yes. You can come closer to Christ when you're whipping yourself. *cough*
Of course, they were supposed to come and take him down again after a while, not leave him there on the cross. Stupid careless tops =\ You don't leave your bottom unattended when they're in bondage. Just asking for trouble.
Apparently even Jesus had a sense of humour. "Peter you are my rock" is probably the most famous pun in the world (Peter = rock).
http://slashdot.org/submission/1062723/Cheap-mobile-data-plan?art_pos=2
Everyone should read the Oresteia and then read Euripides.
How about a few links then? Learning ancient Greek so I can digging through historical liturature ain't on my bucket list.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
In related news, the RIAA is suing John Cleese for copyright infringement on behalf of the estates of Hierocles and Philagrius.
Customer: I want my money back, this joke is old!
Salesman: Well, it wasn't when I have told you it.
Customer: It was, greeks were telling it 1600 years ago!
Salesman: I won't give your money back then, warranty has expired long ago!
Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
Like inhaling farts and sleeping with corpses, it is an acquired taste.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Blank Reg: This is a network linker. It's a bit out of your league, idn'it, Paula?
Paula: So, whatch'll you trade for it?
[Blank Reg offers her something]
Paula: What's that?
Blank Reg: It's a book!
Paula: Well, what's that?
Blank Reg: It's a non-volatile storage medium. It's very rare. You should 'ave one.
Paula: Stuff it!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Ovid had a humorous poem about a dead parrot long before this play was ever written, complete with the long-winded and repetitive description of exactly how dead the parrot is which characterizes Monty Python's sketch.
This was itself a parody of a poem by Catullus, lamenting the death of his lover's "sparrow." The quotes are there for a reason; it's the term he used, but modern poets would probably have used a more, err, feline term to catch the nuance, if you know what I mean (wink and a nudge, say no more, say no more).
Monty Python was made up of some extremely erudite people; even Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film actually corresponds to someone from Arthurian legend (and bonus points if you can tell me who). No doubt they drew inspiration from the Ovid poem too, among others, and is there really any problem with that? It's friggin funny.
Wow.. arguing over a python sketch...
If there was EVER any doubt about slashdots denizens, this pretty much clarified the situation.
Picard or Kirk, anyone?
Politics will sooner or later make fools of everybody... - Dick Armey
Jesus, only somebody with complete lack of humour can find that funny.
The punchline of the original joke was that the slave had never done that sort of thing before...likening the death of the slave to simple disobedience or other unpleasant but recurring behavior a slave might have.
In the monty python sketch....there was no punchline (as they had a distaste for punchlines). And further, the premise is that the bird was dead when it was sold, which should have been obvious at the time...though you also have the shopkeeper insisting that the parrot is still alive even though it is obviously dead.
These two sketches are not related at all, IMO, let alone "the same joke." They are just a bit similar in that one person owns something that is dead, and wants his money back.
If this story has taught me anything, it's that if there's anything worth reading in those old sheepskins/tablets/papyrii, some modern comedian will steal it and repeat it, saving me the trouble of figuring out all the obscure cultural references from 3000 years ago.
You'll be sorry when you hear Dane Cook's new routine on how the dudes at the BK Lounge always put too much garum in his meal of emmer loaves and saltpetered kale, brah. You'll be sorry!!!
Generally, browse the Project Gutenberg without any feelings of guilt or worries of lawlessness ;)
I speak England very best
Of course part of the absurd humour in the Monty Python sketch is that there are no parrots in Scandinavia. But Monty Python probably should have expected this story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1958285/Monty-Python's-dead-parrot-did-exist.html. Basicly, Norwegian parrots did exist 55 million years ago, even though it is not known if they were blue...
From the link: Michael Palin was amused when told about the discovery, saying: "All I can say is that it just shows that nothing is original."
--- guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people ---
I had a professor like that in college, he was a Lutheran Minister and an archeology PhD. He made the Bible hysterical.
I assume he was hard of hearing, because the Church ordered professors to "find a way to make the Bible historical".
I speak England very best
Comedy has been around since the the dawn of civilization, when Ugg the caveman first discovered comedy after eliciting laughs with an accidental fart joke.
He was eaten by a dinosaur. Come on, don't you know your world history?
These two sketches are not related at all, IMO, let alone "the same joke."
To be fair, the BBC made the same mistake, and my reaction when I saw it on the Beeb's site was the same as yours. The big difference is that on slashdot, you can post a correction. It'll get buried in hundreds of weak attempts at humor, and nobody will ever see it, but at least it's there. The Beeb doesn't really have a place for this sort of bad-analogy-correction. Mistaken facts, they'll correct (which is one way they're superior to Slashdot--the fact that they actually have functioning editors is another), but I wouldn't expect to see any corrections for a more abstract error of this type.