1. Cheese Shop. My favorite line: “I curtailed my Walpoling activities…”
(MORE: Monty Python Cast To Have On-Stage Reunion)
2. Dear Parrot. Probably the most beloved of all Python sketches. Lovely plumage!
3. Bookshop. This appeared on one of the Python records, and was performed on stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p62uutgNN4c
4. Spanish Inquisition. You didn’t expect to see this on my list? Well, noooooooobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
(MORE: How John Cleese Found His Planes Voice)
5. Fish Slapping Dance. So much of the pleasure of Python comes from wordplay, but this one’s a classic without a single line of dialog.
6. Philosopher Football. I Kant explain…. geddit?
7. Flying Sheep. The late, great Graham Chapman was my favorite Python, and his deadpan delivery here is just perfect.
8. Lumberjack Song: Utterly juvenile, and endlessly hilarious.
9. Biggus Dickus: I tried to keep the Python movies out of this list (so I could do another one!) but this one just kinda crept in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8_jgiNqUc
10. Cleese’s Eulogy for Chapman: Not a sketch at all, but it’s sad, and funny and brilliant.