Title: Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular
Original Airdate: 26/10/1972
In the vein of Kon-Tiki, Ra 1, and Ra 2, Monty Python's Flying Circus presents Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular. Mr. Norris believes the people of Hounslow were descended from the people of Surbiton. After careful preparation and research, the Norris' set out in their Ford Popular to prove such a journey is possible. Ultimately Brian Norris discovers the people of Surbiton were descended from the people of Hounslow instead, and leaves satisfied.
And now, it's: a headmaster asking his students to help with his wife's "plumbing", the show How to Do It, a mom and her grown son and her exploding friend, a doctor advocating the medical uses of dynamite, the show The Farming Club and several other shows discussing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Trim Jeans Theatre, the fish slapping dance, animated fish submarines eating each other, and the crew of a sinking ship trying to abuse the "women and children first" rule. They try to do a skit about the same crew being interrogated by the Venuzuelan police but the BBC runs out of money.
But wait, there's more. The It's man has his own talk show, with special guests Lulu and Ringo Starr. Unfortunately the moment he says "It's" the credits roll.
Tropes:
- Always a Bigger Fish: A literal example occurs in one of the animations, when the victim of the Fish Slapping Dance is eaten by a Nazi German fish that apparently doubles as a submarine. That fish is then eaten by a larger British fish, and then that fish is eaten by an even larger Chinese fish.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- An animated skeleton escapes from a poster and runs all the way to the edge of the filmstrip.
"Oh my God, he's fallen off the edge of the cartoon!"- The "It's" man unsuccessfully tries to stop the credits as Ringo and Lulu walk out in disgust.
- The Cameo: Ringo Starr and Lulu appear at the end of the episode as guests of a show hosted by the "It's" man.
- Experimental Archeology: "Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris's Ford Popular".
- Forgot to Pay the Bill: The BBC runs out of money, and the gas and heat get turned off in the flat they use as their studio.
- Going Down with the Ship: The S.S. Mother Goose, the captain is on the intercom announcing that women and children are to get on the lifeboats first. Inside the cabin, the crew is dressing up like women and children, but they run out of costumes and some of the crew dress up as other things to avoid their fate.Captain: This is your captain speaking, do not rush to the life boats, women, children, Red Indians, spacemen and sort of idealized versions of the complete Renaissance man first.
- Non-Answer: "How to Do It" shows us how to play the flute and cure the world of all known diseases.
- Shamu Fu: The Fish-Slapping dance.
- Spontaneous Human Combustion: Mrs. Niggerbaiter"It's funny, isn't it, how... how your best friend could just... blow up like that. I mean, you wouldn't think it was medically possible, would you?"
