Title: The All-England Summarize Proust Competition
Original Airdate: 16/11/1972
And now, it's: The All-England Summarize Proust Competition
After the closing credits: hair dressers trying to climb Mount Everest, a preview for the movie A Magnificent Festering, a family trying to reach the fire brigade by phone, Mr. Smoke-Too-Much visiting a travel agency, and (Miss) Anne Elk's theory about the brontosaurus.
Tropes:
- Bowdlerise:
- Bowdlerisation ruined the "Summarize Proust" sketch by cutting out the marginally offensive part of a punchline (future versions changed it to a shoddily spliced version which simply cut the offending word instead of the whole exchange):
MC: What are your hobbies, outside summarizing?
Contestant: Well, strangling animals, golf, and masturbating.- Also, a joke involving the replace B with C gag in the "Travel Agent" sketch was removed. In the record version and the live version of the sketch, Eric says "What a silly bunt!" before going into his rant, making a reference to Bountry Matters.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Who won the first prize in "All England Summarizing Proust Competition"? The girl with the biggest tits. And she didn't even have to summarize anything.
- Captain Obvious: (Miss) Anne Elk, whose theory about the Brontosaurus (which, she repeatedly tells us, belongs to her) is just a vague description of its shape.
- Character Filibuster: Mr. Smoke-Too-Much rants at the travel agent about everything he hates about package tours. We leave for the (Miss) Anne Elk interview, and when we return to the travel agency he's still going on.
- Chatty Hairdresser: A team of them climb up Mount Everest and eventually open a salon on the slope.
- Drop the Cow: *BONG* Start again... (Looney waves at the camera).
- Musicalis Interruptus: The Proust song in the Proust-summarizing competition sketch.
- Never Heard That One Before: Parodied. Mr. Smoke-too-much apparently has never gotten a comment on the fact that his name is a meaningful phrase.
- Newhart Phone Call: Spoofed; the episode features several of these, but all the audience hears is the character saying "yes... yes... yes... no... yes..." repeatedly. Punctuated by checking their shoe size.
- Police Are Useless: Trying to call the cops will result in them putting the phone off the hook. The firemen are no better.
- Running Gag: Shoe size?
- Tiny-Headed Behemoth: According to one theory about the Brontosaurus, it was thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end.
- Unwinnable Joke Game: Summarize Marcel Proust's 7-volume, 4000-page epic in 15 seconds.
