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{{Short description|Monty Python sketch}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Redirect|Trout slapping|the practice on Wikipedia|Wikipedia:Whacking with a wet trout}}
[[Image:Fish Slapping Dance.jpg|thumb|John Cleese and Michael Palin in the Monty Python sketch "The Fish-Slapping Dance"]]
[[File:Monty Python Fish-Slapping Dance plaque Teddington Lock.jpg|thumb|right|A [[blue plaque]] at Teddington Lock]]
'''The Fish-Slapping Dance''' is a comedy sketch written and performed by the ''[[Monty Python]]'' team. The sketch was originally recorded in 1971 for a pan-[[Europe]]an [[May Day]] special titled ''Euroshow 71''.<ref>[http://orangecow.org/pythonet/bbc2pythonnight1999.html Pythonet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119035110/http://www.orangecow.org/pythonet/bbc2pythonnight1999.html |date=19 November 2009 }}: Python Night on [[BBC Two]], 1999</ref> In 1972 it was broadcast as part of episode two of series three of ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', which was titled "Mr & Mrs Brian Norris' Ford Popular".

==Overview==
The sketch stars [[John Cleese]] and [[Michael Palin]] in safari outfits and [[pith helmet]]s at the side of a [[Lock (water transport)|lock]] ([[Teddington Lock]] in west [[London]]<ref name="es">{{Cite web|last=Bloomfield|first=Ruth|date=2021-03-26|title=What it's like to live in Teddington, the best place to live in London|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/where-to-live/teddington-london-area-guide-homes-schools-transport-links-a120891.html|access-date=2021-06-13|website=www.standard.co.uk|language=en}}</ref>). Both are facing each other and light orchestral music plays while Palin dances towards Cleese, lightly slapping him in the face with two small [[Sardine|pilchards]], and returning to his starting spot. After Palin does this four times, he returns to his starting spot and stands still. In traditional British [[folk dancing]], of which this is reminiscent, one would now expect the other dancer to repeat these steps. Instead, the music stops, Cleese reveals his fish – a much larger [[trout]] – and clobbers Palin on the head with it, knocking him into the water several feet below. Palin has discussed in various interviews how on rehearsal, the lock's chamber was filled (raising the water level); however, when the filming took place, the chamber was empty, and he had to dive a frightening height on his jump.

In the 1972 Python episode the scene then changes to a [[Terry Gilliam]] animation in which a cartoon-version of Palin's character sinks into the Canal until eaten by a giant German fish with a [[swastika]] on its body, then that fish is eaten by a bigger British one with a [[Royal Air Force roundels|Royal Air Force roundel]], and then that fish is eaten by an even bigger Chinese fish with a [[red star]] on its head.

The music is "Merrymakers Dance" from "Nell Gwyn suite" by British composer Sir [[Edward German]] (1862–1936).

The sketch is about 20 seconds long, but its situational non-verbal portrayal endears it to the audience.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://is.muni.cz/th/146250/ff_b/Monty_Python_vs_Jara_Cimrman.pdf|title=Monty Python vs Jára (da) Cimrman|last=Janáčková|first=Tereza|year=2007|publisher=[[Masaryk University]] Faculty of Arts|access-date=18 June 2010}}</ref> It remains one of Michael Palin's favourite routines on the show, and he made it the centrepiece of his own choice of sketches for his ''[[Monty Python's Personal Best]]'' miniseries episode. Palin has stated that the sketch summarizes concisely what Python is all about.

==In popular culture==
*In the Monty Python-derived [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] show ''[[Spamalot]]'', written by [[Eric Idle]], there is a song called "The Fisch Schlapping Song", sung by pseudo-[[Finland|Finnish]] people, before the historian abruptly ends the song. During the song, men and women dressed in stereotypical [[Scandinavia]]n garb slap each other with fish, very similar to the original sketch.
*The [[Sweden|Swedish]] comedy team Angne & [[Svullo]] did their own version of the fish slapping dance in one episode of their popular TV show in the late 1980s. The sketch starts the same as the original: first Angne slaps Svullo a few times in the face with small fish, then Svullo takes out a big fish and with a single blow knocks Angne into the water, laughing hysterically. However, in their version an old lady with an umbrella then comes by and starts hitting Svullo with her umbrella until he too falls into the water.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFRqakuBJf8 |title=Angne och Svullo – Fisk |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=2010-09-03 |access-date=2012-05-13}}</ref>
*In an interview, [[George Harrison]]'s son, [[Dhani Harrison]], said that the Fish-Slapping Dance was one of his father's favourite Monty Python sketches.
*The [[Australia|Australian]] [[satire|satirical]] TV show ''[[The Chaser's War on Everything]]'' did a "British comedy sketch" that mainly parodied Monty Python. At one point, someone is slapped with a fish.
*In ''[[Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie]]'', one of the "sins" of the Ninevites is that they slap people with fish, even slapping each other with fish (at which mention two Ninevites proceed to slap each other with increasingly huge fish, cumulating with the second Ninevite crushing the first Ninevite with an impossibly large fish). The commentary track to the DVD confirms the inspiration for this to be the Monty Python sketch.
*The Scout from ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' has a weapon called the Holy Mackerel based on the sketch. It is a reskin of his stock bat, but the kill feed counts how many times the player slaps someone with the fish, and when killed, it shouts, "FISH KILL!" The description reads, "Getting hit by a fish has got to be humiliating. <ref>{{cite web |url= https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Holy_Mackerel | website= Team Fortress Wiki |access-date= 2023-12-13 | title= Holy Mackerel - Official TF2 Wiki | Official Team Fortress Wiki }}</ref>
*On 14 March 2012, the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]'s comedy show ''[[Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight]]'' did a sketch where a 15-year-old audience member performed the Fish-Slapping Dance with John Cleese.
*On 27 December 2020, the online version of [[The Guardian]] brought a caricature of [[Boris Johnson]]'s [[Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU, Euratom and the UK|EU Trade Deal]] in the form of a fish slapping dance with credit to Monty Python.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2020/dec/27/brian-adcock-on-boris-johnsons-eu-trade-deal-cartoon |title= Brian Adcock on Boris Johnson's EU trade deal – cartoon | website= [[The Guardian]] |first= Brian |last= Adcock |date= 2020-12-27 |access-date= 2020-12-27}}</ref>
* During [[Club Penguin]]'s development, an animation about a [[ninja]] [[penguin]] was made, which was inspired by the Fish-Slapping Dance.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 29, 2015 |title=Ninjas and Penguins - RocketSnail |url=https://rocketsnail.com/blog/2015/8/28/ninjas-and-penguins |access-date=April 7, 2024 |website=RocketSnail Games}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T8XeDvKqI4E The Fish Slapping Dance (YouTube)]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmBlUb2dcsk The Fisch Schlapping Song from Spamalot (YouTube)]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_UQTi-8xU Michael Palin discusses the sketch (YouTube)]

{{Monty Python}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fish-Slapping Dance, The}}
[[Category:1971 works]]
[[Category:Monty Python sketches]]
[[Category:Fish in popular culture]]

The Fish-Slapping Dance - Revision history

imported>Phoarefan: Removed unnecessary word