John’s Cleese’s speech at Graham Chapman’s funeral.
“Graham Chapman, co-author of the ‘Parrot Sketch,’ is no more.
He has ceased to be, bereft of life, he rests in peace, he has kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and gone to meet the Great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky.
And I guess that we’re all thinking how sad it is that a man of such talent, such capability and kindness, of such intelligence should now be so suddenly spirited away at the age of only forty-eight, before he’d achieved many of the things of which he was capable, and before he’d had enough fun.
Well, I feel that I should say, “Nonsense. Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard! I hope he fries.”
And the reason I think I should say this is, he would never forgive me if I didn’t, if I threw away this opportunity to shock you all on his behalf. Anything for him but mindless good taste. I could hear him whispering in my ear last night as I was writing this:
“Alright, Cleese, you’re very proud of being the first person to ever say ‘shit’ on British television. If this service is really for me, just for starters, I want you to be the first person ever at a British memorial service to say ‘fuck’!”
The other Pythons talk about Graham Chapman:
The famous “Dead Parrot Sketch” from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, was written by John Cleese and Graham Chapman. The sketch portrays a conflict between disgruntled customer Mr Praline (played by Cleese) and shopkeeper (Michael Palin), who hold contradictory positions on the vital state of a “Norwegian Blue” parrot. It pokes fun at the many euphemisms for death used in British culture.
The Dead Parrot Sketch (original):