h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

John Cleese is down in record saying that he thought the third series went downhill as the only truly original sketch in that series (for him anyway) was The Cheese Shop sketch. He did not appear in the fourth series (which I've never seen actually ) because of this.

I believe himself and Graham Chapman and Michael Palin and Terry Jones just ended up taking the p**s out of each others' sketches.

Ho Hum.

Having said that, I love the third series myself

Yet again I have to agree! John Cleese was unhappy with the Flying Circus from about halfway through the second series, as he felt they were repeating themselves. Then again, he does seem to get bored very quickly - this is why Fawlty Towers only had 12 episodes.

Please note: I'm still in the process of writing this one, as it's based on an original from the Flea Market that had quite a lot of mistakes in it!

Yeah I remember that article. Don't remind me

I'm going to publicise all this if you don't mind. I think it would be nice if others came up with their fave moments too - I dare say most will be the classic moments anyhow.

Go for it! A plea for suggestions might look better from an 'impartial observer'

Not so sure I'm impartial

*Does a silly walk*

Python Smileys? Now there's an idea...

My brain hurts

I went through the whole list and couldn't think of single one that was appropriate - you have. Nice one!

I feel I should comment on the first comment of this series of comments. John Cleese did *not* think the cheese shop sketch was the only orignal piece in the third series. Quite the opposite, in fact. He's actually pointed to the cheese shop sketch as an example of how he felt the sketches were getting repetitive. He felt that Dennis Moore was one of the few truly original sketches of the third series.

Are you sure about that..? I agree about Dennis Moore, but John Cleese always cites the Cheese Shop as the perfect example of how Graham Chapman was an excellent gauge of how funny a sketch is. Cleese says he wasn't convinced while they were writing it, but Graham insisted that it was funny and, when it was finished, Cleese was very grateful that he had, as it became one of his favourite sketches and, with Dennis Moore, the only original pieces in the third series.

That's my understanding of it, anyway. I'll check my sources when I get home and see if I can dig up the precise Cleese quote.

I'm pretty sure about that. I believe he mentioned it in the Life of Python special. I'll check and see if I can find the exact quote.

Ack...Okay, I was wrong...Stupid imperfect memory...Cleese stated that The Cheese Shop and Dennis Moore were probably the only two original sketches he'd done in the third season.

Saves me thumbing through all my books!

I'll make sure that Dennis Moore gets mentioned in the article.

Now I think about it... I probably won't mention Dennis Moore and Cheese shop in this article - I'll save that level of detail for the full 'Flying Circus' article that is next on my list... This one is meant to be a brief overall history of Python.