South Park has paid tribute to Monty Python’s Flying Circus as the iconic British comedy sketch show celebrates its 50th anniversary.

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Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Carol Cleveland, the first episode of the BBC 1 series aired at 10:55pm on Sunday October 5, 1969.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus stamped on comedy convention with a giant Renaissance foot, an image that became synonymous with the show thanks to Gilliam’s animated title sequence, and it went on to inspire a number of comedy writers, including South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.


Today (October 5), the South Park Facebook page posted a video recreating Monty Python‘s famous dead parrot sketch.

The original sketch, which first aired December 7, 1969, poked fun at poor customer service. Portraying a conflict between disgruntled customer Mr. Praline (played by John Cleese) and a shopkeeper (Michael Palin), they argue whether or not a recently purchased parrot is dead.

In the South Park recreation, Mr. Praline is played by Eric Cartman while Kyle Broflovski takes on the role of the shopkeeper. However, instead of a parrot, they argue over a dead ‘Kenny’.

“I wish to complain about the friend I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique,” Cartman says, before Kyle tells him that Kenny isn’t dead, “he’s resting.”

Watch the clip in full below:

A Tribute to Monty Python Happy 50th anniversary to Monty Python! Posted by South Park on Friday, October 4, 2019


After four TV series and 45 episodes, the comedy collective would go on to take on stage (with touring shows) and screen (with four Monty Python movies). Monty Python’s Flying Circus also gave rise to Fawlty Towers, Ripping Yarns, The Rutles, Time Bandits and many other projects.

Watch the original Monty Python parrot sketch below:

Last month, the first teaser clip for the new season of South Park was revealed, it saw the show tackle Donald Trump’s controversial family separation policy.

Returning to screens on Comedy Central on September 25, the first episode of season 23 was called Mexican Joker and centred around ICE agents storming the Broflovski household to remove Kyle and adopted Canadian brother Ike from their parents, after Cartman tips them off for harbouring an illegal immigrant.