Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses
Encyclopedia
"Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses" is a sketch
from the thirty-first Monty Python's Flying Circus
episode, "The All-England Summarize Proust Competition".
This skit features Graham Chapman
as a television interviewer and John Cleese
in drag
as a palaeontologist, Anne Elk, appearing in a television talk show titled Thrust.
The plot of the skit is that the interviewee, Anne Elk, cannot bring herself to describe the actual basis of her supposed new palaeontological theory on dinosaur
s, specifically Brontosaurus
es. After several false starts during which she repeatedly and noisily attempts to clear her throat, Ms. Elk spends most of the interview circuitously leading up to the "theory of dinosaurs by Anne Elk bracket Miss brackets", making assertions like "My theory, which belongs to me, is mine." It turns out that in the end Miss Elk's new theory on brontosauruses is rather shallow: "All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much, much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end." Her true concern is that she receive full credit
for devising this new theory: "That is the theory that I have, and which is mine, and what it is too."
This skit was also performed on the album Monty Python's Previous Record
, under the title 'Miss Anne Elk'. The skit inspired the concept of "Elk Theories" to describe scientific observations that are not theories but merely minimal accounts.
Anne Elk's roundabout speech pattern was based on Graham Chapman's companion David Sherlock
, who evidently spoke in such a manner, amusing the other Pythons.
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
from the thirty-first Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
episode, "The All-England Summarize Proust Competition".
This skit features Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman
Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
as a television interviewer and John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
in drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
as a palaeontologist, Anne Elk, appearing in a television talk show titled Thrust.
The plot of the skit is that the interviewee, Anne Elk, cannot bring herself to describe the actual basis of her supposed new palaeontological theory on dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s, specifically Brontosaurus
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
es. After several false starts during which she repeatedly and noisily attempts to clear her throat, Ms. Elk spends most of the interview circuitously leading up to the "theory of dinosaurs by Anne Elk bracket Miss brackets", making assertions like "My theory, which belongs to me, is mine." It turns out that in the end Miss Elk's new theory on brontosauruses is rather shallow: "All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much, much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end." Her true concern is that she receive full credit
Credit (creative arts)
In general, the term credit in the artistic or intellectual sense refers to an acknowledgement of those who contributed to a work, whether through ideas or in a more direct sense.-Credit in the arts:...
for devising this new theory: "That is the theory that I have, and which is mine, and what it is too."
This skit was also performed on the album Monty Python's Previous Record
Monty Python's Previous Record
Monty Python's Previous Record was the third album by Monty Python, released in 1972. When packaged in 1994's The Instant Monty Python CD Collection the order of some of the sketches was changed...
, under the title 'Miss Anne Elk'. The skit inspired the concept of "Elk Theories" to describe scientific observations that are not theories but merely minimal accounts.
Anne Elk's roundabout speech pattern was based on Graham Chapman's companion David Sherlock
David Sherlock
David Sherlock is a British writer and was the life partner of Graham Chapman of Monty Python, whom he met in 1966 in Ibiza.-Biography:David Sherlock was the inspiration for many Monty Python sketches, including "Anne Elk", and was the originator of the Python sketch "Death of Mary Queen of Scots"...
, who evidently spoke in such a manner, amusing the other Pythons.
