The "Architects Sketch" is a

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

sketch, first seen in episode 17 of ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...

'', " The Buzz Aldrin Show". The episode was recorded on 18 September 1970 and originally broadcast on 20 October 1970. The following year, an audio version was recorded for ''

Another Monty Python Record ''Another Monty Python Record'' is the second album produced by the Monty Python comedy group, released in 1971. Dissatisfied with their monaural BBC debut album released the previous year, the group took full control of the follow-up, which w ...

''.

Description

The sketch is introduced by a group of

Gumbies Very few characters of the BBC television series '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'' appeared in more than one episode, and when they did, it was usually to link sketches together. A few well-known characters are described below. "It's" man Played ...

(on film) who shout "The Architects Sketch" until Mr. Tid (

Graham Chapman Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the surreal comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel and the lead role in two P ...

) yells at them to shut up. They then repeat "Sorry!" until Mr. Tid throws a bucket of water on them from above.''All the Words, Volume One'', pp. 220–222. The sketch proper begins (on videotape) with Tid in an office with two City gents (

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...

and

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

). On a table near the window stand two

architectural model An architectural model is a type of scale model made to study aspects of an architectural design or to communicate design intent. They can be made from a variety of materials such as paper, plaster, plastic, resin, wood, glass and metal. They ...

s of

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently ...

s. Mr. Tid informs the City gents that he has invited the architects responsible to explain the advantages of their respective designs. First to arrive is Mr. Wiggin (

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

), who describes his architectural design and modern construction, and then explains his killing technique starting with a

conveyor belt A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to ...

and "rotating knives". It turns out that Mr. Wiggin mainly designs

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

s and has misunderstood the owners' attitude to their tenants. When Mr. Wiggin fails to persuade them to accept his "real beaut" of a design, he launches into an impassioned tirade against "you non-creative garbage" and

blackballing Blackballing is a rejection in a traditional form of secret ballot, where a white ball or ballot constitutes a vote in support and a black ball signifies opposition. The system is typically used where an organization's rules provide that one or t ...

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. When they still reject his design, however, he begs the increasingly uncomfortable City gents to accept him into the Freemasons. Once Wiggin has been persuaded to leave, the second architect, Mr. Leavey (

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...

), arrives. As Mr. Leavey describes the strong construction and safety features of his design, a tall tower block, his model collapses and catches fire in the manner of the then recent

Ronan Point Ronan Point was a 22-storey tower block in Canning Town in Newham, East London, that partly collapsed on 16 May 1968, only two months after it had opened. A gas explosion blew out some load-bearing walls, causing the collapse of one entire corn ...

disaster, accompanied by a large on-screen caption reading "

SATIRE Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

". The City gents assure Mr. Leavey that provided the tenants are "of light build and relatively sedentary" there should be no need to make expensive changes to the design. After his design is accepted, the model explodes. The City gents exchange bizarre

Masonic handshake Masonic ritual is the scripted words and actions that are spoken or performed during the degree work in a Masonic lodge. Masonic symbolism is that which is used to illustrate the principles which Freemasonry espouses. Masonic ritual has appeared ...

s with Leavey. Wiggin reappears at the doorway, breaking the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

to tell the audience, "It opens doors, I'm telling you." This leads into a filmed section about "How to Recognise a Mason", in which Masons are shown engaging in such bizarre behaviour as hopping down

Threadneedle Street Threadneedle Street is a street in the City of London, England, between Bishopsgate at its northeast end and Bank junction in the southwest. It is one of nine streets that converge at Bank. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. History The stree ...

with their trousers around their ankles. Finally, there follows an animation in which an announcer attempts to "cure" a Mason (an animated cutout of Chapman) through

behavioural therapy Behaviour therapy or behavioural psychotherapy is a broad term referring to clinical psychotherapy that uses techniques derived from behaviourism and/or cognitive psychology. It looks at specific, learned behaviours and how the environment, or oth ...

with a picture of a nude woman; when the subject says, "No", the enraged announcer crushes him with a giant hammer.

References

{{Monty Python

Architects Sketch The "Architects Sketch" is a Monty Python sketch, first seen in episode 17 of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', " The Buzz Aldrin Show". The episode was recorded on 18 September 1970 and originally broadcast on 20 October 1970. The following year, ...