The "Cheese Shop" sketch is a famous sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus. It appears in episode 33, "Salad Days".
The sketch is a fairly typical John Cleese set-piece. In essence, John Cleese attempts to purchase some cheese from the cheese shop; unfortunately the proprietor, Mr. Henry Wensleydale (Michael Palin (as before), playing the obstructive shopkeeper to Cleese's irate customer), appears to have not one single variety in stock, not even a morsel of Cheddar cheese, 'the single most popular cheese in the world'. The slow crescendo of bouzouki music (played by live musicians in the shop, and erroneously called a dulcimer by Cleese) in the background mirrors Cleese's growing anger as he lists various, increasingly obscure cheeses to no avail. The list comes to a bizarre conclusion with Cleese's desperate request for "Venezuelan Beaver Cheese." The secondary punchline of this sketch is when John Cleese, who at the beginning said he wasn't annoyed by the music, suddenly loudly interrupts the musicians and tells them to stop. The main punchline, of course, is that there is no cheese in the shop; when Palin admits this fact, Cleese shoots him in the head, then says sadly to himself: "What a senseless waste of human life!" In the television program, the sketch is revealed to be a teaser for Sam Peckinpah's "Rogue Cheddar"; this provides a link to further discussions of Peckinpah films.
Other versions
The sketch was reworked for The Brand New Monty Python Bok, becoming a two-player word game in which one player ("the Customer") must keep naming different cheeses, and the other player ("the Shopkeeper") must keep coming up with different excuses (otherwise "the Customer wins and may punch the Shopkeeper in the teeth").
The sketch was parodied in an episode of The Young Ones. Alexei Sayle rushes into a shop (also seeming to do a silly walk, paying homage to "The Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch) and asks if it is a cheese shop. Rik Mayall, the Palinesque proprietor, replies "No, sir." Alexei says, "Well, that's that sketch knackered then, innit?"
David Welbourn wrote an Interactive Fiction-version of the sketch, a small text adventure game called "Cheeseshop", in which the player can attempt to buy cheese at the shop. The game is available on the internet, at the Interactive Fiction Archive.
The "Asian Bride Shop" sketch in an episode of Goodness Gracious Me also pays homage to the Cheese Shop sketch in that the characters are Asian versions of Cleese and Palin and substitute the names of cheese types with descriptions of types of brides.
Another pastiche was a script circulated in early 2004 which parodied the SCO v. IBM lawsuit[1]. In the script, a judge, taking Cleese's role, inquires of the Palinesque attorney for The SCO Group as to the evidence he will be presenting for his suit, only to discover after a monotonous line of questioning similar to the original sketch that SCO has no evidence at all. The script was a sharp parody of the quality of the SCO lawsuit, implying that it was exceedingly frivolous.
Still another variation on the sketch appeared in The Order of the Stick, a webcomic satirizing Dungeons and Dragons. In this one, the cheese shop is replaced by a polearm shop, with the warrior Roy Greenhilt trying to get a replacement for his broken sword. However, this time the punchline is changed so that he is unable to assault the owner due to his lack of a suitable weapon.
The skit was also referenced in the Weird Al Yankovic song "Albuquerque". In this version, the main character attempts to buy donuts at a donut shop, with similar results. The scene ends when the shopkeeper reveals that all he has is a "box of one dozen starving, crazed weasels" which the main character purchases, opens, and is attacked by.
Cheeses
Forty-three cheeses are mentioned in the skit - Red Leicester, Tilsit, Caerphilly, Bel Paese, Red Windsor, Stilton, Emmental, Gruyère, Norwegian Jarlsberg, Liptauer, Lancashire, White Stilton, Danish Blue, Double Gloucester, Cheshire, Dorset Blue Vinney, Brie, Roquefort, Pont l'Evêque, Port Salut, Savoyard, Saint-Paulin, Carre de l'Est, Bresse-Bleu, Boursin, Camembert, Gouda, Edam, Caithness, Smoked Austrian, Japanese Sage Derby, Wensleydale, Greek Feta, Gorgonzola, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Pipo Crème, Danish Fynbo (mispronounced 'fimboe'), Czechoslovakian sheep's milk, Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, Cheddar, Ilchester, and Limburger.
Venezuelan Beaver Cheese
This type of cheese is distinguishable by its stunning similarity to the Venezuelan beaver, i.e., non-existent. Although this delicacy appears to be entirely fictional (Venezuela has no native beavers), various recipes for Venezuelan Beaver cheese have in fact been published.
Venezuelan Beaver cheese also makes an appearance in Sierra's computer adventure game Leisure Suit Larry VII, and in the webcomic Triangle and Robert.
Trivia
In the sketch itself Palin refers to his character's name simply as "Mister Wensleydale". However, the name "Henry Wensleydale" appears above the shop front in the series of stills that precede the original TV version of the sketch. When the same sketch was performed at the Secret Policeman's Ball, his name became Arthur Wensleydale.
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