Title: Full Frontal Nudity
Original Airdate: 12/7/1969
Guest starring: Carol Cleveland, Katja Wyeth, Rita Davies, Ewa Aulin, Donna Reading
It's: Two gangsters trying to muscle in on an army base ("Army Protection Racket"), a newlywed couple trying to buy a bed from insane salesmen, conversing hermits, a man trying to return a dead parrot that he was tricked into thinking was alive ("Dead Parrot Sketch"), a flasher, and gangs of old women terrorizing the populace ("Hell's Grannies").
The Dead Parrot Sketch and Hell's Grannies (along with the Colonel who didn't like things getting silly) were reshot for And Now For Something Completely Different, and the Flasher was used as well as a short transition device.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: The Flasher, whom we see only from behind as he opens his raincoat in front of folks, to various reactions of shock and disgust. Finally he "flashes" the camera, revealing a fully dressed man with a sign reading "BOO" hanging from his neck.
- Berserk Button: Whatever you do, don't say the word "mattress" to Mr. Lambert or he'll put a bag over his head. He, however, can say it however many times he wants.
- Blatant Lies: The idea that "Bolton" and "Ipswich" are palindromes of each other (as claimed by the Dead Parrot sketch shopkeeper) is linguistical nonsense - not only do they not start and end with the same letter or have identical halves, they are not even the same word.
- Brick Joke: At the beginning of the episode, a caption appears saying "AT THIS PERFORMANCE, THE ROLE OF DAVID HEMMINGS WILL BE PLAYED BY A PIECE OF WOOD". During the end credits, the announcer says that "David Hemmings appeared by permission of the National Forestry Commission".
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: This is the only appearance of Dino Vercotti (played by Terry Jones), the brother of Luigi Vercotti. Luigi would make appearances in further sketches.
- Freudian Slippery Slope: "Good evening. I'd like to talk to you tonight about the place of the nude in my bed... um... in the history of my bed — of art, of art! I'm sorry. The place of the nude in the history of tart — call girl — I'm sorry, I'll start again. (pauses, takes deep breath) Bum. Oh, what a giveaway, I'm sorry... the place of the nude in art..."
- Hurricane of Euphemisms: Arguably the Trope Codifier. According to John Cleese, the Parrot Sketch was partly inspired by a thesaurus' list of synonyms for "died": "He's not pining, he's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he'd be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, rung down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!"
- Implausible Deniability: The shopkeep in the Dead Parrot sketch is dead-set on claiming the parrot isn't dead despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Inverted by exploiting Ambiguous Syntax. A gang of "Baby Snatchers" features in the Hell's Grannies sketch, but they aren't people who snatch babies, they're babies who snatch people (specifically, adults dressed like babies who kidnap adults).
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Mr. Praline approaches the train porter to make a complaint:Porter: I don't have to do this, you know!
Praline: I beg your pardon?
Porter: I'm a qualified brain surgeon! I only do this because I like being me own boss.
Praline: Excuse me; this is irrelevant, isn't it?
Porter: Oh yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to thirty minutes. - Misplaced Wildlife: The dead parrot is said to be a "Norwegian blue," a name Graham Chapman came up with specifically because parrots were not native to Norway. note
- No Sense of Humour: The Colonel who stops sketches for being "too silly":"Now, nobody likes a good laugh more than I do... except perhaps my wife... and some of her friends... oh, yes, and Captain Johnston. Come to think of it, most people like a good laugh more than I do, but that's beside the point."
- Reluctant Warrior:Colonel: Watkins, you've only been in the army a day.
Watkins: I know, sir, but people get killed, properly dead, sir, no barley cross fingers, sir. A bloke was telling me, if you're in the army and there's a war, you have to go and fight.
Colonel: That's true.
Watkins: Well I mean, blimey, I mean if it was a big war somebody could be hurt.
Colonel: Watkins, why did you join the army?
Watkins: For the water-skiing and for the travel, sir. And not for the killing, sir. I asked them to put it on my form, sir - no killing.
Colonel: Are you a pacifist?
Watkins: No. I'm a coward. - The Scottish Trope: Mr. Lambert can say "mattress" as many times as he likes, but if someone else says it he puts a paper bag over his head and Mr. Verity stands in the tea chest and sings "Jerusalem". The more times it is said, the more people are required to join in, until eventually all of Britain has to do it.
- Self-Plagiarism: The Parrot Sketch is taken from a sketch John Cleese had written for his special How to Irritate People, which involved a mechanic insisting the car he had "repaired" was fine (for bonus points, the mechanic was played by Michael Palin as well).
- Shame If Something Happened: Used by Luigi and Dino Vercotti when they try the old protection racket bit on an Army base, insisting it would be a shame if someone were to set fire to the paratroopers; unfortunately for them, the colonel has an aversion to silly things and stops the sketch in its tracks.Luigi: It's only because you couldn't think of a punch line.
Colonel: Not true! Not true! - Vox Pops: Throughout the episode, different characters are asked about their stances on frontal nudity.
- When Elders Attack: "Hell's Grannies
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