"The Ministry of Silly Walks" is a sketch
from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television
show Monty Python's Flying Circus, episode
14, which is entitled "Face the Press".
The episode first aired in 1970.
A shortened version of the sketch was performed
for Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl.
This sketch involves John Cleese as a bowler
hatted civil servant in a fictitious British
government ministry responsible for developing
Silly Walks through grants.
Cleese, throughout the sketch, walks in a
variety of silly ways.
It is these various silly walks, more than
the dialogue, that has earned the sketch its
popularity.
Cleese has cited the physical comedy of Max
Wall, probably in character as Professor Wallofski,
as important to its conception.
Sketch
The sketch as originally depicted in the series
begins with John Cleese playing a nameless
civil servant who, after purchasing The Times
from the general store/newsagent in the previous
sketch, walks through the streets of London
in a very peculiar manner.
He eventually arrives at his place of business:
The Ministry of Silly Walks.
In the hallway he passes other employees all
exhibiting their own silly walks before arriving
at his office.
Once there, he finds a man waiting for him—one
Mr Putey—and apologizes for the delay, explaining
that his walk has become particularly silly
of late and it takes longer for him to reach
his destination.
Putey, explaining that he has a silly walk
he wishes to develop with grant money, demonstrates
his walk which, to Cleese, is not particularly
silly.
He tells Putey that he does not believe the
ministry can help him, as his walk is not
silly enough and funding is short.
The government, he explains, is supposed to
give equally to Defence, Social Security,
Health, Housing, Education, and Silly Walks,
but recently spent less on Silly Walks than
on national defence.
After a visit by Mrs Twolumps, Cleese shows
Mr Putey a film with silly walks..
After he tosses the projector off stage, Cleese
offers Mr Putey a grant that will allow him
to work on the Anglo-French Silly Walk, La
Marche Futile, which is then demonstrated
by a man dressed in a mixture of stereotypical
English and French outfits, with a sped-up
version of La Marseillaise played over the
top.
There is a brief appearance during the sketch
by Mrs Twolumps, presumably the minister's
secretary, bringing in coffee with full silly
walk.
As she enters, the cups fall all over the
tray, completely spilling their contents.
The minister looks at the tray, says "Thank
you, lovely" and she exits again, taking the
tray with her, complete with upended cups.
In the Hollywood Bowl version, Carol Cleveland
accidentally hops next to Cleese and spills
some of the coffee on him during the sketch.
As the years went by amid repeated requests
to do the sketch, Cleese found it increasingly
difficult to perform these walks.
He would say, when told about a new Python
tour, "I'm not doing silly walks."
Accordingly, the sketch was not performed
during Monty Python Live, the troupe's 2014
reunion / farewell show, but was replaced
by "The Silly Walks Song", which was performed
by a group of dancers who mimicked Cleese's
original walks while wearing bowler hats and
carrying briefcases.
In the book The Pythons, members of the troupe
indicated that they considered the whole scene
nothing more than pure silliness.
Cleese in particular seems disheartened that
so many fans consider it the troupe's "best"
sketch.
Reception
In 2005, the sketch was chosen by a poll taken
in Britain as the 15th greatest comedy sketch
of all time.
References in popular culture
In 2000, an episode of Mission Hill, "Andy
and Kevin Make a Friend", referenced the sketch
when one of the characters attempts to impress
a girl by showing how he does a 'great silly
walk' from the Ministry of Silly Walks.
A reference is made to the Silly Walk in an
episode of the WB's Gilmore Girls when Rory
says "Please, don't walk away like that",
and Dean responds with "Sorry, I'd do a silly
walk, but I'm not feeling very John Cleese
right now."
In the video game Goldeneye 007, an image
of a man doing John Cleese's silly walk can
be seen on one of the computer monitors in
the game.
In an issue of The Simpsons Bongo comic when
the British invade Springfield it shows John
Cleese doing the goosestep and labels him
as "the Minister of Silly Walks".
On an episode of The Chaser's War On Everything,
Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor do a sketch
called "The Chaser's British Comedy Sketch",
filled with various Monty Python cliches,
which climaxes with Andrew screaming "I'm
going to do something so totally bizarre it
will be imitated verbatim by comedy nerds
for decades to come!"
He then does a silly walk, doing imitations
of Pepperpots, until a 16-ton weight falls
on his head.
In November 2007, as the Eurostar duration
between Brussels and London was reduced to
1 hour and 51 minutes, the "Ministry of Silly
Walks" appeared in an ad campaign in Belgium.
The adverts were all on building corners,
showing two workers carrying a large glass
pane walking towards the corner on one side,
and walking towards them on the other side
a John Cleese look-alike doing his famous
Silly Walk.
The tagline read "Warning!
London is just around the corner!".
In the twenty-fifth-anniversary reunion episode
of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, John Cleese
consents to appear on the show on condition
that he be allowed to do the Silly Walk; the
other cast members are dubious about the comedic
impact of doing the Walk on radio, but they
ultimately give in after Cleese puts on a
show of hurt feelings.
Near the end of the show, Cleese presents
the Silly Walk, rendered on radio as a series
of loud, slow footsteps.
In the video game Destroy All Humans!
2, if you read a hippie's mind in the Albion
level, one of the thoughts is, "I hope I can
get a job at the Ministry of Silly Walks".
In a standup comedy routine in Blue Collar
Comedy Tour: One For the Road, Larry the Cable
Guy, referring to strange people who go to
Wal-Mart in the middle of the night, says
that it "turns into Monty Python's Ministry
of Silly Walks."
In Improv Everywhere's 2010 Mp3 experiment,
participants were asked to walk in a silly
manner.
After the silly walk session was finished,
'Mark' stated: "Excellent silly walks.
Those belong in the Ministry hall of fame".
A segment in a Beano Book featured Minnie
the Minx as the "Minnie-ster of Silly Walks".
Basil in Fawlty Towers often does silly walks.
In the second issue of Alan Moore and Kevin
O'Neill's comic book The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen, Volume III: Century, the "Minister"
can be seen performing the silly walk in the
background in London, passing the League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen.
See also
Gait
Gait analysis
References
External links
Video of the sketch
Monty Python in Britain's Top 50 Comedy Sketches
Montreux Festival - Silly Walks Special
