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Dead Parrot Sketch
The "Dead Parrot sketch", alternatively and originally known as the "Pet Shop sketch" or "Parrot sketch", is a sketch from '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'' about a non-existent species of parrot, called a "Norwegian Blue". A satire on poor customer service, it was written by John Cleese and Graham Chapman and initially performed in the show's first series, in the eighth episode ("Full Frontal Nudity", which first aired 7 December 1969). The sketch portrays a conflict between disgruntled customer Mr Praline (played by Cleese) and a shopkeeper ( Michael Palin), who argue whether or not a recently purchased parrot is dead. Over the years, Cleese and Palin have performed many versions of the "Dead Parrot" sketch for television shows, record albums, and live performances. "Dead Parrot" was voted the top alternative comedy sketch in a ''Radio Times'' poll. Plot Mr. Praline (Cleese) enters the pet shop to register a complaint about the dead Norwegian Blue parrot (actually Spix's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is Preston, Lancashire, Preston, and the county town is the city of Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster. The county has an area of and a population of 1,490,300. Preston is located near the centre of the county, which is urbanised and includes the towns of Blackburn and Burnley; the seaside resort of Blackpool lies to the west, and Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster is in the north. For Local government in England, local government purposes the county comprises a non-metropolitan county, with twelve districts, and two Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas: Blackburn with Darwen and Borough of Blackpool, Blackpool. Lancashire County Council and the two unitary councils collaborate through the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lumberjack
Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled using hand tools and dragged by oxen to rivers. The work was difficult, dangerous, intermittent, low-paying, and involved living in primitive conditions. However, the men built a traditional culture that celebrated strength, masculinity, confrontation with danger, and resistance to modernization. Term The term lumberjack is of Canadian derivation. The first attested use of the term combining its two components comes from an 1831 letter to the Cobourg, Ontario, ''Star and General Advertiser'' in the following passage: "my misfortunes have been brought upon me chiefly by an incorrigible, though perhaps useful, race of mortals called lumberjacks, whom, however, I would name the Cossacks of Upper Canada, who, having been reared among the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dead Parrot O2 Arena
Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose shortly after death. Some organisms, such as '' Turritopsis dohrnii'', are biologically immortal; however, they can still die from means other than aging. Death is generally applied to whole organisms; the equivalent for individual components of an organism, such as cells or tissues, is necrosis. Something that is not considered an organism, such as a virus, can be physically destroyed but is not said ''to die'', as a virus is not considered alive in the first place. As of the early 21st century, 56 million people die per year. The most common reason is aging, followed by cardiovascular disease, which is a disease that affects the heart or blood vessels. As of 2022, an estimated total of almost 110 billion humans have died, or roughly 94% of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orion Books
Orion Publishing Group Ltd. is a UK-based book publisher. It was founded in 1991 and acquired Weidenfeld & Nicolson the following year. The group has published numerous bestselling books by notable authors including Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, Nemir Kirdar, and Quentin Tarantino. History Orion Books was launched in 1992, with Orion purchasing the assets of Chapman Publishers the following year. In the same year (1993), Orion acquired a warehousing and distribution centre called Littlehampton Book Services (LBS), which was based in Sussex in the UK. A majority share capital of Orion was sold to Hachette Livre in 1998, before Hachette Livre became the sole owner of the Orion Publishing Group in 2003. In December 1998, Orion acquired publishing house Cassell, whose imprints included Victor Gollancz Ltd. This imprint became a part of the Orion group and Orion also took ownership of the Cassell Military list. After acquiring Hodder Headline, Hachette UK was formed, with Orion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toaster
A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast, the color caused by the Maillard reaction. It typically consists of one or more slots into which bread is inserted, and heating elements, often made of nichrome wire, to generate heat and toast the bread to the desired level of crispiness. Types Pop-up toaster In a pop-up or automatic toaster, a single vertical piece of bread is dropped into a slot on the top of the toaster. A lever on the side of the toaster is pressed down, lowering the bread into the toaster and activating the heating elements. The length of the toasting cycle (and therefore the degree of toasting) is adjustable via a lever, knob, or series of pushbuttons, and when an internal device determines that the toasting cycle is complete, the toaster turns off and the toast pops up out of the slots. The completion of toasting may be determined by a timer (sometimes manually set) or by a thermal sensor, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monty Python Live At Aspen
''Monty Python Live at Aspen'' was a reunion show featuring the surviving members of the Monty Python team: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, appearing on stage together for the first time since their Hollywood Bowl shows in 1980. Filmed on 7 March 1998 at the Wheeler Opera House in Colorado as part of The US Comedy Arts Festival, it featured the five Pythons in an interview with host Robert Klein. The late Graham Chapman was also allegedly in attendance as his "ashes" were brought out in an urn with his portrait attached to the front, only to be knocked over by Terry Gilliam. The Pythons initially appear with an uninvited Eddie Izzard, who is quickly made to leave the stage. The team and Klein then discuss their work and answer questions from fans on the internet. At the end of the evening they are presented with an American Film Institute Star Award, which is handed to John Cleese, who goes into a mock rant about how they never received any r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Dunne Books
Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction. History The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph Goebbels biography in 1996 but had to drop the book when it was found out that Irving was a Holocaust denier for having links to Institute for Historical Review, "the literary center of the United States Holocaust-denial movement." In October 1999, St. Martin's Press recalled a Dunne book, ''Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President'', and destroyed them after various incidents about the author, J. H. Hatfield, surfaced. The incidents were that he had served prison time for a car-bombing attempt on his former boss's life and that he included an anonymous accusation about Bush. A St. Martin's executive editor resigned in protest over the publication. In November, Dunne editors stopped attending St. Martin edi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Car Salesman
An automobile salesperson is a retail salesperson who sells new or used cars. Unlike traditional retail sales, car sales are sometimes negotiable. Salesmen are employed by new car dealerships or used car dealerships. Car negotiation The price of a car, unlike many retail sales, is often negotiable. New cars will often have a factory window sticker (Monroney sticker in the US) listing equipment and options, and the suggested retail price or MSRP. The salesman is traditionally paid a commission rather than a fixed salary, usually based on a combination of profit margin and unit volume. Popular culture The automobile salesman, particularly the used car salesman, has often been a source of characters, often negative, in movies, television shows, and cartoons. History and fairy tales often characterize peddlers (people selling goods) as negative influences, or outsiders out to take advantage of people. Politicians have been negatively associated with used car salesmen in the past. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
How To Irritate People
''How to Irritate People'' is a 1968 British mockumentary sketch comedy television special recorded in the UK at LWT on 14 November 1968 and written by John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. Cleese, Chapman, and Brooke-Taylor also feature in it, along with future Monty Python collaborators Michael Palin and Connie Booth. In various sketches, Cleese demonstrates exactly what the title suggests—how to irritate people, although this is done in a much more conventional way than the absurdity and surrealism of similar Monty Python sketches. Notable sketches Pepperpots The recurring characters of the "Pepperpots," old British housewives who annoy theatre-goers and quiz show hosts in these sketches, would go on to be a major part of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', appearing in the majority of the show's episodes. Job Interview The "Job Interview" sketch, featuring Cleese as an interviewer who asks several unusual questions of Brooke-Taylor, the i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Colonel (Monty Python)
The Colonel is a recurring fictional character from the British television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', played by Graham Chapman. Character The Colonel acts as a "Double act, straight man" comic foil to the show's absurd characters and sketches. He maintains a rigidly mirthless personality and is always dressed in British Army Uniforms_of_the_British_Army#No._2:_Service_dress_(temperate_parade_uniform), No. 2 Dress uniform. He occasionally makes appearances in the show, usually breaking the fourth wall and disrupting sketches to pronounce them too silly for the public and, therefore, demanding that something else be shown. He often orders the show to proceed in a different direction (sometimes to the unshown director) and frequently makes offhanded insults to men with long hair. The Colonel's role in stopping or redirecting sketches has been discussed as an example of a character breaking the fourth wall of theatrical production, challenging the "fictional credibility" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
