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Spam (Monty Python sketch)
Spam (Monty Python sketch)
Spam (Monty Python sketch)
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"Spam Song"
Single by Monty Python
from the album Another Monty Python Record
B-side"The Concert"
Released8 September 1972
Genre
LabelCharisma
Songwriters
Producers
Monty Python singles chronology
"Spam Song"
(1972) 		"Eric The Half A Bee"
(1972)

"Spam" is a Monty Python 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 greasy spoon café and try to order a breakfast from a menu that includes 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!".[1]

The excessive amount of Spam was probably a reference to the ubiquity of it and other imported canned meat products in the United Kingdom after World War II (a 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.[2]

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 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 7" single.

The use of the term spam for unsolicited electronic communications is derived from this sketch.[3]

Plot

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Terry Jones (behind counter), Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and the Vikings in the Monty Python sketch "Spam"
Spam sketch at Monty Python Live (Mostly) in 2014

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 Hungarian tourist comes to the counter, trying to order by using a wholly inaccurate Hungarian/English phrasebook (a reference to a previous sketch). He is rapidly escorted away by a 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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[edit]
The menu at Monty Python Live (Mostly) in 2014
  • Egg and bacon
  • Egg, sausage, and bacon
  • Egg and Spam
  • Egg, bacon, and Spam
  • Egg, bacon, sausage, and Spam
  • Spam, bacon, sausage, and Spam
  • Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon, and Spam
  • Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam
  • Spam, sausage, Spam, Spam, Spam, bacon, Spam, tomato, and Spam (vinyl record)
  • Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam
  • Lobster Thermidor aux 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 Provençale manner with shallots and aubergines, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy, and a fried egg on top, and Spam. (vinyl record)

Impact

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The phenomenon, some years later, of marketers drowning out discourse by flooding Usenet newsgroups and individuals' email with junk mail advertising messages was named spamming, due to some early internet users that flooded forums with the word spam[7] 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.[8] 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, named after Monty Python, prefers to use spam, ham, and eggs as metasyntactic variables, instead of the traditional foo, bar and baz.

The Japanese anime series Girls und Panzer featured the special episode "Survival War!", which referenced the "Spam" sketch,[9] but the word "spam" was censored. This was reversed in the English dub.

Hormel's response

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The sketch is featured at the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota, United States. Pictured: Flying Pig pub (England section)

Spam makers Hormel, while never happy with the use of the word spam for junk email[citation needed], have been supportive of Monty Python and their sketch. Hormel issued a special tin of Spam for the 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.[10]

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,[11] 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®!".[12]

See also

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References

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Spam (Monty Python sketch)

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from Grokipedia
"Spam" is a comedic sketch from the British television series , first broadcast on BBC1 on 15 December 1970 as the final segment of series 2, episode 12 (overall episode 25). Written by and , the sketch is set in the Green Midget Café, where a waitress (played by Jones) presents a menu dominated by dishes containing the tinned pork product Spam, such as "egg, bacon, sausage and Spam" or "Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam." The absurdity escalates as two customers (Eric Idle and Graham Chapman), suspended by wires to simulate a low ceiling, attempt to order a meal without Spam, only to be drowned out by a group of who repeatedly chant "Spam, spam, spam, spam... wonderful spam!" in a musical interlude that overwhelms the scene. Following the cafe scene, appears as an upper-class British historian in a separate studio segment, commenting on the ' historical inaccuracy in relation to the events before succumbing to an off-screen chant himself, breaking the in a meta-commentary on the proceedings. This self-reflexive humor highlights the troupe's signature style of and irreverence, drawing from Britain's familiarity with Spam as a rationed staple. The sketch's cultural legacy extends beyond comedy, as the repetitive invocation of "Spam" inspired the term's adoption in the 1980s and 1990s to describe unwanted, intrusive electronic messages, first notably used in early () games and later for junk . It has been reprised in various stage shows, albums like Another Monty Python Record (1971), and influenced media such as the Broadway musical (2005). The original broadcast and subsequent releases cemented "Spam" as one of the most iconic sketches in British television history, emblematic of the team's innovative approach to .

Sketch Description

Plot Summary

The sketch opens in a café occupied by a group of wearing horned helmets at one table. A man and his wife enter, with the man instructing his wife to sit down before greeting the waitress and asking what is available on the menu. The waitress recites an extensive list of breakfast options, nearly all incorporating Spam, such as " and ; , , and ; and Spam; , , and Spam; , , , and Spam; Spam, , , and Spam; Spam, , Spam, Spam, , and Spam; Spam, , Spam, Spam, , Spam, tomato, and Spam," culminating in an elaborate dish of " aux Crevettes with a served in a Provençale manner with shallots and aubergines, garnished with pâté, brandy, and a on top and Spam." As the couple discusses their order, the begin chanting "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam" rhythmically, soon erupting into a full praising the product: "Spam, lovely Spam, wonderful Spam!" which repeatedly interrupts their conversation. Frustrated, the wife inquires if there is anything without Spam, emphasizing "I don't want any Spam," and attempts to order "just , , and " or modify an option to exclude it. The waitress insists that such alterations are impossible, suggesting alternatives like "Spam, , , and Spam" which contain "not much Spam in it," while the ' song escalates in volume and elaboration, drowning out the dialogue. The man tries to placate the situation by ordering excessively for himself—"Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, , Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam"—and even requests his wife's Spam portion instead of , but the waitress declares baked beans unavailable. The scene concludes abruptly as the ' chorus overwhelms everything, with the characters shouting over the relentless "Spam, Spam, Spam, lovely Spam, wonderful Spam!"

Production Details

Development Process

The "Spam" sketch was written primarily by and in 1970, drawing on their collaborative writing partnership that originated during their time at Oxford University. The sketch drew inspiration from the prevalence of Spam in post-war , as it was a common rationed food during and after . The sketch uses repetition of the product name to create absurdity and satirize consumer culture, escalating with a chorus of . The troupe collaborated on refining the script. This sketch ultimately appeared in episode 25 of .

Filming and Broadcast

The "Spam" sketch was recorded at BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, , , on 25 June 1970. Production employed a minimalist set depicting a nondescript cafe interior, constructed within the studio, while the Vikings' horned helmets were sourced from the BBC's stock wardrobe, despite their historical inaccuracy for Norse warriors. portrayed the exasperated waitress presenting the menu, played the husband attempting to order, and appeared as the wife seeking spam-free options; and , among others, performed as the disruptive who chant throughout, with their musical number provided vocally by The Fred Tomlinson Singers; appeared as the historian who interrupts the scene. The segment relied entirely on live-action performance by the cast, eschewing or elaborate staging in keeping with the series' low-budget, studio-bound format. It premiered on on 15 December 1970 as the concluding sketch in the twelfth episode of the second series (overall episode 25), titled "Spam," running for about five minutes. The episode aired in color, consistent with BBC Two's color broadcasting since 1967 and the series' format from its debut.

Cultural Impact

Linguistic Influence

The repetitive chanting of "Spam" by in the sketch, overpowering all other conversation much like an intrusive menu item, served as a humorous precursor to the term's digital application. This linguistic influence began in the late 1980s within early online communities, particularly Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), where "spam" described excessive, repetitive messages that disrupted interactions, directly evoking the sketch's annoying repetition. The term gained prominence through a 1990 incident in a , where players flooded the chat channel with quotes from the "Spam" song, leading to discussions among users about its meaning and origin as a reference to unwanted digital intrusions. By the early , "spam" had spread to and contexts to denote mass unsolicited messages, marking its evolution from gaming slang to broader . This adoption reflected the sketch's core theme of inescapability, applied to the growing problem of junk communications in the 1980s and . The term was formalized in technical standards with RFC 2635 in 1999, which defined "spam" for mass unsolicited mailings and explicitly cited the sketch set in a where "spam" dominates the dialogue, mirroring how such messages overwhelm networks. The recognizes the 1970 sketch as the etymological source for this usage, noting its first recorded appearance as a verb meaning to send unwanted postings in 1994, though earlier informal applications existed in circles. To distinguish it from the trademarked food product, the digital sense employs lowercase "spam," emphasizing its role as a rather than a brand.

Broader Legacy

The "Spam" sketch has been adapted and revived in various live performances and theatrical productions, extending its reach beyond the original television broadcast. The sketch's influence permeates the 2005 Broadway musical Monty Python's Spamalot, written by Eric Idle, where the title itself is a playful pun on "Spam" combined with Arthurian legend from Monty Python and the Holy Grail; the production incorporates thematic elements of repetitive absurdity reminiscent of the café scene, contributing to its Tony Award for Best Musical. Beyond entertainment, the sketch has been incorporated into public awareness efforts and cultural discussions, particularly in digital contexts. Organizations have referenced it in anti-spam initiatives to highlight the origins of the term for unsolicited messages. In technology circles, the sketch is frequently cited at conferences to illustrate early internet humor's impact on terminology. Additionally, scholarly works on comedy and media, such as Finn Brunton's 2013 book Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet, analyze the sketch's role in shaping digital culture, dedicating chapters to its influence on how humor intersects with technological annoyances. The sketch has garnered significant recognition, bolstering the Monty Python legacy through awards and public acclaim. Monty Python's Flying Circus, featuring the "Spam" episode, was nominated for the British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Light Entertainment Production in 1971. In viewer polls, it ranked highly in initiatives celebrating comedy; a 2005 Channel 4 program, The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches, placed "Spam" at number 6 based on public votes. The troupe's reunions have sustained its performance into the 2020s, including a 2020 online tribute video following Terry Jones's death that compiled archival clips of his performances, such as in the Spam sketch, to honor the group's catalog. In 2024, a plaque commemorating Monty Python's first meeting was unveiled in , highlighting the enduring legacy of sketches like Spam.

Corporate Response

Hormel's Objections

Hormel Foods Corporation, the American manufacturer of the canned meat product founded in , which introduced Spam in 1937 as a portmanteau of "spiced " and registered it as a for canned shoulder and , viewed the 1970 sketch as contributing to Spam becoming a punchline for jokes, particularly through its of a café menu dominated by Spam variants like "Spam, egg, Spam and Spam." This comedic association challenged efforts to market the product as a versatile, wholesome food option beyond its wartime ration origins. In response to the sketch's cultural impact, Hormel intensified advertising campaigns throughout the 1970s, emphasizing its ease of preparation and culinary applications to positively reframe the brand. Hormel Foods did not initiate any lawsuits against the BBC or the Monty Python team regarding the 1970 "Spam" sketch, permitting its broadcast without interruption. The parody elements of the sketch were protected under the UK's fair dealing provisions for criticism and review in copyright law, ensuring no legal claims prevailed. In the 1970s, media coverage largely supported 's creative use of the term, with the sketch's airing enhancing its immediate popularity among audiences and critics despite Hormel's reservations about brand perception. This positive reception in British press outlets amplified the sketch's visibility, turning it into a of the troupe's early success without significant public controversy. Over time, Hormel's stance evolved, particularly by the 1990s, when the company adopted guidelines tolerating non-commercial uses of "spam" (in lowercase) to refer to unsolicited , provided it acknowledged the origin. This shift aligned with broader U.S. discussions on , as seen in rulings like the 2003 opposition where Hormel unsuccessfully challenged anti-spam software trademarks, reinforcing protections for expressive uses. In marketing, Hormel embraced the association, producing limited-edition products such as the 2006 "" Spam variant tied to Eric Idle's Broadway musical and incorporating Viking chants reminiscent of the sketch in promotional campaigns. As of 2007, the in , features a video exhibit of the sketch, reflecting Hormel's positive engagement with its legacy.
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