Déjà Vu

I'll just come out and say that this is one of my favourite episodes. It's one of the first that couldn't be replicated onstage, and it goes beyond mere silliness into pure surrealism.

Nothing about this episode is normal. Planes are hijacked to Luton and buses are hijacked to Cuba. Animals explode for no reason. Even the relatively straight faced sketch about the Scottish poet features Cleese in an inflatable chair. At first the explosions and repeated interruptions seem to be part of the standard comedic technique of the callback, but it soon leads to something even stranger...

"Deja Vu" is more or less one-man sketch, and Palin handles it brilliantly. His progression from confident TV presenter to seriously rattled man is great acting, aided by some simple yet effective editing.

There are other more celebrated sketches, but I'll just come out and say that this is one of my favourite episodes. It's one of the first that couldn't be replicated onstage, and it goes beyond...

Because it came right after one of their all-time fan favorite episodes ("The Spanish Inquisition"), "Deja Vu" has been somewhat underrated. It begins with a Carol Cleveland striptease, so you can see it's on the right track! And it ends with the sketch that gives the episode its title, which is not one of their funniest but one of their most conceptually ambitious and bizarre - it touches on the concept of infinity. In the middle, Michael Palin is very funny as a chatty, considerate plane "hijacker" ("never mind, I'll come to Cuba with you and get a flight to Luton from there") and as "a very good playwright". *** out of 4. Underrated episode. Because it came right after one of their all-time fan favorite episodes ("The Spanish Inquisition"), "Deja Vu" has been somewhat underrated. It begins with a Carol Cleveland striptease, so you can see it's on the right track! And it ends with the sketch that gives the episode its title, which is not one of their funniest but one of their most conceptually ambitious and bizarre - it touches on the concept of infinity. In the middle, Michael Palin is very funny as a chatty, considerate plane "hijacker" ("never mind, I'll come to Cuba with you and get a flight to Luton from there") and as "a very good playwright". *** out of 4.