Upper Class Twit of the Year
"Upper Class Twit of the Year" is a comedy sketch that was seen on the 1970 "Monty Python's Flying Circus" episode "The Naked Ant" (series 1, episode 12), and also in a modified format as the finale of the movie "And Now for Something Completely Different". It is notable for its satire on dimwitted members of the English upper class. Its title is a reference to the Horse of the Year Show, because equestrianism is often regarded as an upper-class pursuit in the UK. Scenario. To a horserace-style commentary by John  Cleese, we view an obstacle-course race among five stereotypical, upper-class twits, to determine the 127th Annual Upper-Class Twit of the Year. The competitors are: At the start, the twits face the wrong way, so the starter turns them round. They then don't run because they don't know they have to move when the gun goes off. The starter explains the idea to the twits, who respond by laughing and pointing at him. The obstacles are, in order: The sketch ends with Gervaise Brook-Hampster coming in first, followed by Smith-Smythe-Smith (shot by Nigel  in "ANFSCD", shot by Simon in "MPFC") and Nigel Incubator-Jones in a medal ceremony, while Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris manages to club himself unconscious with the butt of his gun (in "MPFC", the men also are interchanged). The three coffins of the winning Twits are placed on the medal rostrum and medals are draped around them. Cleese ends his commentary by remarking that "there'll certainly be some car door slamming in the streets of Kensington tonight!" However, in "ANFSCD" the standings are different with Simon accidentally shooting Vivian into second place then shooting himself into third place and  Nigel knocking himself unconscious. Inspiration. John Cleese has stated that the idea for the "wake the neighbour" part was inspired by an apartment he once rented that was near a bar whose patrons kept him awake at night when they slammed the doors on their cars. This is also mentioned in trivia notes included on the A&E DVD release of Season 1, though the wording there suggests the entire sketch may have been inspired by the people Cleese encountered, not just "wake the neighbour".