Title: Owl Stretching Time
Original Airdate: 26/10/1969
Guest starring: Carol Cleveland, Katja Wyeth, Dick Vosburg
It's: Two moms slapping their disruptive kids at an art gallery, people eating and commenting on paintings, a man trying to change into his bathing suit in private, a self-defense against fresh fruit class ("Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit"), a man stumbling into a spy story, and a Colonel repeatedly complaining about the use of the British Army's slogan "It's a Man's Life in the Modern Army" for comedy.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: The RSM Man calls Mr Harrison "Mr Apricot" and Mr Thompson "Mr Tinned-Peach".
- Always a Bigger Fish: "The Dentist Sketch" featured a man held at gunpoint by an evil dentist, who is then disarmed and both are held by another evil dentist with a gun, followed by another evil dentist with a sub-machine gun, and another evil dentist with a bazooka. The whole lot of them are surprised by the appearance of "the Big Cheese", who intends to put them all "under the drill".
- Anvil on Head: This marks the first appearance of the 16-ton weight, which is used during the Self-Defense Against Fruit sketch.
- Beach Episode: Two skits as well as the opening and closing "It's" segments were shot at a beach.
- Casting Couch: Invoked: when the Colonel interrupts a man (John Cleese) who says, "it's a man's life in England's mountain green", the man complains about not being able to do his "rustic monologue", before adding, "I'm not sleeping with that producer again."
- Constantly Curious: Arthur Lemming in the dentist sketch is a man who gets caught in the middle of an unraveling conspiracy of evil dentists, and he occasionally asks one of the evil dentists what is going on. The end of the sketch reveals that Lemming is a dentist from the British Dental Association who was spying on them.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The "Self-Defense against Fresh Fruit" sketch.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sgt. Major from the "Self-Defense against Fresh Fruit" sketch.
- The End: The Colonel (played by Graham Chapman) had appeared on screen every time the episode made fun of the British Army slogan "It's a man's life." At the end after they do it one more time, the Colonel comes on and says "Right! No, I warned you, no, I warned you about the slogan, right. That's the end. Stop the programme! Stop it." And the credits roll.
- Exact Words: The trainer from the "Self-Defense Against Fresh Fruit" sketch promises his last two students he won't shoot them, drop 16-ton weights or rocks from the ceiling or kill them. He's true to his word: he releases a tiger who kills them
- Fruit of the Loon: "Self-Defense Against Fresh Fruit."
- Improbable Weapon User: A hypothetical attacker wielding fresh fruit.
- Lame Pun Reaction: When the art critic (Michael Palin) gets Vermeer all over his shirt:Wife (Katja Wyeth): (setting a jug of water down on his desk) Watteau, dear?
Critic: What a terrible joke.
Wife: But it's my only line!
Critic: All right! All right! But you didn't have to say it! You could have kept quiet for a change!
(his wife cries) - Mistaken for Badass: In the "Dentist Sketch", an evil dentist pulls a gun on a man, claiming he's an agent of the BDA, while the man protests he's just an innocent tobacconist. Subverted at the end when said tobacconist reveals himself as Arthur Lemming, Special Investigator from the British Dental Association.
- Our Product Sucks: Used in the "Dentist Sketch"; an evil dentist was using a bookstore as a front and is waiting for an associate, so when a customer shows up, the dentist tries to convince him to go to another bookstore across the street.
- Refuge in Audacity: Invoked. "There is something going on here!" "No, there isn't."
- Right-Hand Cat: The "Big Cheese", apparently the head of the evil dentistry ring, comes out of a hidden room petting a rabbit. And then he kills the rabbit.
- Running Gag: Idle's character in the "Self-defence against fresh fruit" sketch doesn't have many lines, but when he does, they are only about pointed sticks.
- Shout-Out: In the "Dentist Sketch", when Brian is threatening the others with a bazooka, he says to them, "You've got five seconds to tell me...What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"
- Spy Speak: Parodied with the very very obvious spy speak signal that the bookseller uses with the unwitting man who visits the bookstore.Fake Bookseller: I hear the gooseberries are doing well this year...and so are the mangoes.
- Verbal Backspace: The Colonel strongly objects to those in the program who make fun of the Regular Army's slogan, "It's a dog's life...man's life in the modern army."
- Word Salad Title: "Owl-Stretching Time" was one of the proposed titles for the show that was rejected by the BBC, so it was reused as an episode title. It's entirely meaningless.
- You Can Leave Your Hat On: The misadventures of the man frantically trying to find a place to change into a swimsuit at the beach finally end when he finds himself on a stage, and starts to take his pants off again, only for the curtain to rise, giving him an audience, and "The Stripper" starts to play. He decides, "Heck with it," and ends up doing a striptease.
