Spam (Monty Python)

"Spam" is a Monty Python sketch, first televised in 1970 and written by Terry Jones and Michael Palin. In the skit, two customers are lowered by wires into a greasy spoon cafe and attempt to order a breakfast from a menu that includes Spam on almost every dish, much to the dismay of one of the customers. As the waitress recites the spam-filled menu, a group of Viking patrons drowns out all conversation with song, repeating "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam… Lovely Spam! Wonderful spam!".

The excessive amount of spam was likely a reference to the ubiquity of this and other imported canned meat products in the UK after World War II (a period of rationing in the UK) as the country struggled to rebuild its agricultural base. Thanks to its wartime ubiquity, the British public had grown tired of it.

The televised skit and several subsequent performances feature Terry Jones as the waitress, Eric Idle as Mr.Bun, and Graham Chapman as Mrs. Bun, who doesn't like spam. The original sketch also featured John Cleese as The Hungarian and Palin as the historian, but this part was left out of the audio version of the sketch recorded for the team's second album, Another Monty Python Record (1971).). A year later, this track was released as the first single from 7" of the Pythons.

The use of the term spam for unsolicited electronic communications derives from this skit.

History

Spam Sketch in Monty Python Live (Mostly) in 2014

The three and a half minute sketch takes place in the fictional Green Midget Cafe in Bromley. An argument develops between the waitress, who rattles off a menu in which almost every dish contains spam, and Mrs. Bun, who herself doesn't like spam. She orders a dish without Spam, much to the astonishment of her Spam-loving husband. The waitress responds to this request with disgust. Mr. Bun offers to take spam from her and asks for a plate containing a lot of spam and baked beans. The waitress says that the beans are not available; when Mr. Bun asks for a Spam substitution, the waitress starts reading the name of the new dish.

At various times, a group of Vikings in the restaurant interrupt conversations by singing loudly about Spam. The furious waitress orders them to be quiet, but they keep singing louder. A Hungarian tourist arrives at the counter and tries to place an order using a totally inaccurate Hungarian/English phrasebook (a reference to an earlier skit). A police officer quickly escorts him away.

The sketch abruptly cuts to a historian in a television studio talking about the origin of the Vikings in the cafe. As he progresses, he begins to insert more and more of the word "Spam" into the Internet. in each sentence, and the background rises to reveal the restaurant behind it. The historian joins the Vikings in singing his song, and Mr. and Mrs. Bun is pulled from the scene on cables as he continues the song. In the original televised presentation, the end credits begin to roll with the singing still audible in the background.

Production Notes

The skit premiered on December 15, 1970 as the final skit of Monty Python's Flying Circus 25th show, and the end credits of the episode were changed so that each member of the group has Spam or some other menu item added to their names. (Spam Terry Jones, Michael Spam Palin, John Spam John Spam John Spam Cleese, Graham Spam Spam Spam Chapman, Eric Spam Egg and Chips Idle, Terry Spam Sausage Spam Egg Spam Gilliam, etc.) The skit "Spam" it became immensely popular and was ranked the fifth favorite Python sketch in a poll. The word "Spam" it is pronounced at least 132 times. The Vikings' song Spam is a parody of "The Viking Song" by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

This sketch has also been featured in several Monty Python videos, including Parrot Sketch Not Included - 20 Years of Monty Python. A fake sheet music for the song appears in Monty Python's Big Red Book. The DVD release of the episode contains a deliberate subtitle error. When the Hungarian tries to order food, his words are "My gut is full of spam, egg, spam, bacon, spam, tomatoes, spam." However, the subtitles read "Your gut is full of sperm". This is a continuation of the sketch "Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook " from the same episode.

The audio version of the skit excludes the Hungarian and the historian, and instead has the Vikings reaching a dramatic crescendo. The waitress, resigned to these interruptions, mutters "Damn Vikings!" In the 2014 version of the skit performed at Monty Python Live (Mostly), one of the Vikings responds "Racist bastard!" before leading the group to an operatic chorus that includes a sample of " Finland " from the team's Album of contractual obligations.

Spam was a popular food item during World War II in the UK. Margaret Thatcher, a wartime teenager in Grantham, Lincolnshire, recalled the thrill of opening a Spam tin one Boxing Day for lunch. Although rationed, it was generally readily available and not subject to a shortage of supply, like other meats. Thanks to its wartime ubiquity, the British public eventually grew tired of it.

Menu

The menu Monty Python Live (mainly) in 2014

• Egg and Spam
• Egg, sausage and spam
• Egg and Spam
• Egg, bacon and spam
• Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
• Spam, bacon, sausages and spam
• Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam
• Spam, Spam, Spam, Egg and Spam
• Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam, tomato and spam (vinyl disco)
• Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Baked Beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam
• Thermidor aux crevettes de langosta con salsa Mornay, dress with truffle pate, brandy and fried egg on top, and Spam. (TV transmission)
• (Thermidor aux crevettes de bogavante with Mornay sauce, served with vests and eggplants, straightened with truffle pate, brandy and fried egg on top and Spam. (Vinyl deck)

Impact

The phenomenon, some years later, of marketers drowning out speech by flooding Usenet newsgroups and people's e-mail with junk mail advertising messages was called spam, due to the fact that some of the first users of the Internet flooded the forums with the word spam recounts the repetitive and unwanted presence of spam in the skit. This phenomenon has been reported in court decisions handed down in lawsuits against spammers; see, eg, CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc., 962 F.Supp. 1015, no. 1 (SDOhio 1997). In addition, it was referenced in an Electronic Frontier Foundation amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in 2014. The term is also used to refer to mass marketing using spam phone calls or text messages, and has since entered video game culture as a term to refer to producing a large amount of something, such as rocket spam or grenade spam.

The Python programming language, named after Monty Python, prefers to use spam, ham, and eggs as metasyntactic variables, rather than the traditional foo, bar, and baz.

The sketch appears at the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota. In the picture: Flying Pig pub (Section of England)

Hormel spammers, while never content with using the word spam for junk mail (which is also derived from the sketch), have supported Monty Python and his sketch. Hormel issued a special can of Spam for the Broadway premiere of Eric Idle's musical Spamalot based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The sketch is part of the company's Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota, United States, and is also mentioned in Spam's canned ads for the product's 70th anniversary in 2007, although the date of the Python sketch was incorrectly stated as 1971 instead of 1970.

In 2007, the company decided that such advertising was part of its corporate image and sponsored a game in which its product is strongly associated with Monty Python, featuring a product with "Stinky French Garlic" as part of the Spamalot promotion. For the company's 75th anniversary in 2012, they introduced Sir Can-A-Lot, a gentleman character, featured on product packaging with the phrase "Glorious SPAM®!".