Summary
Cleese plays an erudite customer (Mousebender in the script) attempting to purchase some cheese from 'Ye National Cheese Emporium, purveyor of fine cheese to the gentry (and the poverty-stricken too)'. The proprietor, Mr. Henry Wensleydale (Palin), appears to have nothing in stock, not even Cheddar, "the single most popular cheese in the world". A slow crescendo of bouzouki music plays in the background (for which Cleese initially expresses appreciation, being "... one who delights in all manifestations of the Terpsichorean Muse"), but as the sketch progresses it mirrors Cleese's growing frustration until he loudly demands the music cease. As Cleese lists increasingly obscure, unsavoury, and, in one instance fictional, cheeses to no avail, the proprietor offers weak excuses such as "Ohh! The cat's eaten it." Cleese remarks that it's not much of a cheese shop, but Palin insists it is the best in the district due to its cleanliness, to which Cleese replies "Well, it's certainly uncontaminated by cheese." Eventually, Cleese asks if Palin has any cheese at all, to which Palin replies "yes". Cleese then tells him that he will ask the question again, and if Palin says "no", he will shoot him through the head. Palin answers "no" the second time, and Cleese immediately shoots him, then muses, "What a senseless waste of human life!" He then puts on a Stetson, and the sketch segues into Hugh Walpole's Rogue Cheddar and a link to the Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days" sketch.
Read more about this topic: Cheese Shop Sketch
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