Spam (Monty Python)
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Spam is a popular Monty Python sketch, first broadcast in 1970. In the sketch, two customers are trying to order a breakfast from a menu that includes the processed meat product in almost every item. The term spam (in electronic communication) is derived from this sketch [link].
It features Terry Jones as The Waitress, Eric Idle as Mr. Bun and Graham Chapman as Mrs. Bun. The televised skit also featured John Cleese as The Hungarian, but this part was left out of audio recordings of the sketch.
Only three and a half minutes long, it builds up into a semi-argument between the waitress who has a menu limited to having SPAM in just about everything ("SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, sausage, eggs and SPAM"), and Mrs. Bun, who is the only one in the room who does not want it (despite there being some items mentioned that do not actually include SPAM, she nevertheless asks for an item with SPAM in it).
At several points, a group of Vikings in the restaurant (later referred to as the Green Midget Café) drown out all conversation by jumping up and loudly singing a song about "SPAM, lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM." They are interrupted by the waitress several times, but they resume singing more and more loudly until at last the song reaches an operatic climax.
In the end credits, every member of the crew has either SPAM or some other food item from the menu added to their names.
This was the final sketch of the 25th show of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and was first aired December 15, 1970. Despite its shortness, the sketch became immensely popular. The word "SPAM" is uttered at least 132 times.
The Menu
- Egg and bacon
- Egg, sausage and bacon
- Egg and spam
- Egg, bacon and spam
- Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
- Spam, bacon, sausage and spam
- Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam
- Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam, tomato and spam (this is only in the radio version's menu, but the TV version features the Hungarian trying to order it)
- Spam, spam, spam, egg, and spam
- Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam
- Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce served in the Provençale manner with shallots and aubergines, garnished with truffle paté, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam
Trivia
Spam was one of the few meats excluded from the British food rationing that began in World War II and continued for a number of years after the war, and the British grew heartily tired of it, hence the sketch.The phenomenon, some years later, of marketers drowning out discourse by flooding Usenet newsgroups and individuals' email with junk mail advertising messages was named spamming recounting the repetitive and unwanted presence of Spam in the sketch.
The Hormel company, the makers of the meat product Spam, while never quite happy with the use of the word spam for junk email, have always seemed supportive of Monty Python and their skit. Hormel issued a special tin of Spam for the Broadway premiere of Eric Idle's hit musical Spamalot. Also, the sketch is part of the company's Spam museum in Austin, MN, United States and is performed every day by local actors.
Comedy rap act Sudden Death incorporated the Monty Python Spam chant (albeit sung by the band, not sampled from the skit) into the chorus of their song Spam, though the song is about the junk-e-mail spam and not the lunchmeat Spam.
The DVD release of the series contains a deliberate subtitling error. When the Hungarian tries to order food, his words are "My lower intestine is full of Spam, Egg, Spam, Bacon, Spam, Tomatoes, Spam." Yet the subtitles read "Your intestine is full of Sperm." This is a continuation of the "Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook" sketch, earlier in the episode.
External links
- [Full text and audio of the sketch]
- [More complete script of the Spam sketch]
- [Video of Spam sketch]
- [Google Video of Spam sketch]
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