Spam (Monty Python sketch): Difference between revisions

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"'''"Spam"'''" is a [[Monty Python]] [[sketch comedy|sketch]], first televised in 1970 on ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' (series 2, episode 12, "Spam") and written by [[Terry Jones]] and [[Michael Palin]]. In the sketch, two customers are lowered by wires into a [[Cafe (British)|greasy spoon café]] and try to order a [[breakfast]] from a [[menu]] that includes [[spam (food)|Spam]] in almost every dish, much to the consternation of one of the customers. As the waitress recites the Spam-filled menu, a group of [[Viking]] patrons drown out all conversations with a song, repeating "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam… Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam!".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thegoodword.co.uk/2010/09/20/the-origin-of-the-word-spam/| title = The Origin of the word 'Spam'| agency = The Good Word| access-date = 23 August 2019| archive-date = 16 December 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191216040211/http://www.thegoodword.co.uk/2010/09/20/the-origin-of-the-word-spam/| url-status = dead}}</ref>

The excessive amount of Spam was probably a reference to the ubiquity of it and other imported [[Potted meat|canned meat products]] in the [[United Kingdom]] after [[World War II]] (a [[Rationing in the United Kingdom|period of rationing in the UK]]) as the country struggled to rebuild its agricultural base. Thanks to its wartime ubiquity, the British public had grown tired of it.<ref name="Longmate"/>

The televised sketch and several subsequent performances feature [[Terry Jones]] as the waitress, [[Eric Idle]] as Mr. Bun and [[Graham Chapman]] as Mrs. Bun, who does not like Spam. The original sketch also featured [[John Cleese]] as [[Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook|The Hungarian]] and Palin as a historian, but this part was left out of the audio version of the sketch recorded for the team's second album ''[[Another Monty Python Record]]'' (1971). A year later this track was released as the Pythons' first [[Single (music)|7" single]].

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The three-and-a-half-minute sketch is set in the fictional Green Midget Cafe in [[Bromley]]. An argument develops between the waitress, who recites a menu in which nearly every dish contains Spam, and Mrs. Bun, who does not like Spam. She asks for a dish without Spam, much to the amazement of her Spam-loving husband. The waitress responds to this request with disgust. Mr. Bun offers to take her Spam instead, and asks for a dish containing a lot of Spam and [[baked beans]]. The waitress says the beans are not available; when Mr. Bun asks for a substitution of Spam, the waitress begins reading out the new dish's name.

At several points, a group of [[Vikings]] in the restaurant interrupt conversations by loudly singing about Spam. The irate waitress orders them to shut up, but they resume singing more loudly. A [[HungaryHungarians|Hungarian]] tourist comes to the counter, trying to order by using a wholly inaccurate [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]/[[English language|English]] phrasebook (a reference to a [[Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook|previous sketch]]). He is rapidly escorted away by a [[Police officer|police constable]].

The sketch abruptly cuts to a historian in a [[television studio]] talking about the origin of the Vikings in the café. As he goes on, he begins to increasingly insert the word "Spam" into every sentence, and the backdrop is raised to reveal the restaurant set behind. The historian joins the Vikings in their song, and Mr. and Mrs. Bun are lifted by wires out of the scene while the singing continues. In the original televised performance, the closing credits (which also have "Spam" inserted in various points among others) begin to scroll with the singing still audible in the background.

==Production notes==

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The audio version of the sketch excludes the Hungarian and historian, and instead has the Vikings reaching a dramatic [[crescendo]]. The waitress, resigned to these disruptions, mutters "[[Bloody]] Vikings!" In the 2014 version of the sketch performed in ''[[Monty Python Live (Mostly)]]'', one of the Vikings replies "Racist bastard!" before leading the group into an operatic chorus that includes a sampling of "[[Finland (song)|Finland]]" from the team's ''[[Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album|Contractual Obligation Album]]''.

Spam was a popular food during World War II in the UK. A wartime teenager in [[Grantham]], [[Lincolnshire]], [[Margaret Thatcher]] remembered the excitement of opening a tin of Spam one [[Boxing Day]] for lunch.<ref name="Hamming It"/> Although rationed, it was generally easily available and not subject to [[Rationing in the United Kingdom#Food rations|not subject to supply shortages]], as were other meats]].<ref name="Hamming It">{{cite news |title=Hamming it up |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/nov/05/food.arts |access-date=23 August 2019 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> Thanks to its wartime ubiquity, the British public eventually tired of it.<ref name="Longmate">''How We Lived Then: A History of Everyday Life in the Second World War'', Norman Longmate, Arrow Books, 1971, pp 142, 159</ref>

==Menu==

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*[[Lobster Thermidor]] aux [[Prawn|crevettes]] with a [[Mornay sauce]], garnished with [[truffle]] [[pâté]], [[brandy]], and a [[fried egg]] on top, and Spam. (Television broadcast)

:* (Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce, ''served in a [[Provençal dialect|Provençale]] [[Provence#Cuisine|Provençale manner]] with [[shallot]]s and [[Eggplant|aubergines]]'', garnished with truffle pâté, brandy, and a fried egg on top, and Spam. (vinyl record)

==Impact==

The phenomenon, some years later, of marketers drowning out discourse by flooding [[Usenet]] newsgroups and individuals' [[email]] with junk mail advertising messages was named [[Spam (electronic)|spamming]], due to some early internet users that flooded forums with the word ''spam''<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url=http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html |title=Origin of the term "spam" to mean net abuse |publisher=Templetons.com |access-date=5 July 2013}}</ref> recounting the repetitive and unwanted presence of spam in the sketch. This phenomenon has been reported in court decisions handed down in lawsuits against spammers – see, for example, ''CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc.'', 962 F.Supp. 1015, n. 1 (S.D.Ohio 1997). Furthermore, it has been referenced in an [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] ''[[amicus curiae]]'' brief to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in 2014.<ref>[https://www.eff.org/files/2013/11/05/eff_amicus_brief_fortres_grand.pdf “Electronic"Electronic Frontier Foundation amicus curiae”curiae"]. Supreme Court of the United States.</ref> The term also is used to refer to mass marketing using junk phone calls or text messages, and has since entered video game culture as a term to refer to producing a large quantity of something, such as rocket-spamming or grenade-spamming.

The [[Python (programming language)|Python]] programming language, named after Monty Python, prefers to use spam, ham, and eggs as [[metasyntactic variable]]s, instead of the traditional [[foobar|foo, bar and baz]].

The Japanese [[anime]] series ''[[Girls und Panzer]]'' featured the special episode "Survival War!", which referenced the "Spam" sketch,<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/AlsvLZvAkOg Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160903232232/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlsvLZvAkOg Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=YouTube: Girls Und Panzer – *pam *pam *pam|website = [[YouTube]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlsvLZvAkOg}}{{cbignore}}</ref> but the word "spam" was censored. This was reversed in the English dub.

==Hormel's response==

[[File:Spam Museum - World Market (England).jpg|thumb|upright|The sketch is featured at the [[Spam Museum]] in [[Austin, Minnesota]]. ''Pictured'': Flying Pig pub (England section)]]

[[Spam (food)|Spam]] makers [[Hormel]], while never happy with the use of the word ''spam'' for junk email{{Citation Needed|date=March 2025}}, have been supportive of Monty Python and their sketch. Hormel issued a special tin of Spam for the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] premiere of [[Eric Idle]]'s musical ''[[Spamalot]]'' based on ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]''. The sketch is part of the company's [[Spam Museum]] in [[Austin, Minnesota]], United States, and also mentioned in Spam's on-can advertisements for the product's 70th anniversary in 2007 – although the date of the Python sketch was incorrectly stated to be 1971 instead of 1970.<ref>{{cite news |title=SPAM 70th Low Sodium |url=http://spam.budwin.net/html/066a.html |access-date=23 August 2019 |agency=Budwin.net}}</ref>

In 2007 the company decided that such publicity was part of their corporate image, and sponsored a game where their product is strongly associated with Monty Python,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spamspamspamspam.co.uk |title=SPAM® – Monty Python's SPAMALOT – Play this very silly catapult game for fun! |publisher=Spamspamspamspam.co.uk |access-date=5 July 2013}}</ref> featuring a product with "Stinky French Garlic" as part of the promotion of ''Spamalot''. For the company's 75th anniversary in 2012, they introduced Sir Can-A-Lot, a knight character, appearing on the product's packaging with the phrase "Glorious SPAM®!".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spam.com/spam-101/history-of-spam|title=History of SPAM|publisher=spam.com|access-date=18 February 2016|archive-date=23 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523091958/http://www.spam.com/spam-101/history-of-spam|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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{{Monty Python}}

{{Spam (food)}}

{{Hormel}}