John Cleese's Favourite Sketch: The Bookshop | At Last The 1948 Show

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[RobMacKendrick]

Nobody does outraged frustration like John Cleese. Not even close.

[korbell]

I never knew John Cleese and Marty Feldman worked together. To see two comic genius' feeding off one another, oh what a treat!

[KhaoticPhoenix]

As a bookseller myself, I can attest that this is very true to real life...

[freelyfarmexploits]

John Cleese was channelling an early Basil Fawlty there. Superb piece of comedy history. Marty Feldman was superb in this sketch.

[HEDGE]

Have you got “Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying”?

One of the best lines ever. What comedic perfection on display here!

[jasonterrell]

At least we have John Cleese for a long time to enjoy. The wonderful Marty Feldman left us way too soon. Pure brilliance.

[joanhoffman]

I worked in a bookstore for 26 years. I did meet John Cleese there. Yes, there are the people who have no idea what book they are looking for. For example, a woman came up to me at the information desk, and, referring to the paper in her hand, asked if we had A Streetcar Named Desire by Theresa Williams. I said we didn't have it by Theresa Williams but we did have it by Tennessee Williams. She said, "Fine, I'll look at that one". This was a parent picking up a required book for school for her child, and neither was familiar with the writer. I have many stories like this.

[acrobaticcripple]

Marty Feldman was a genius comic . Both gave this sketch it's brilliance.

[apagoogoo]

there's a story in keith moon's biography where moon goes in to marks & spencer to buy trousers. but he wants them to be very high quality. the stitching must be very strong, especially in the crotch. as he's inspecting the trousers, he starts tugging until he rips them in two. he then refuses to pay for them because their strength is inadequate, after which a row ensues of course because he's destroyed them. at the height of the shop agent's pique, in walks cleese and remarks, "is that a single trouser? i've been searching all over! i'll take it!"

[Clivestravelandtrains]

"with four M's and a silent Q". John Cleese never fails to make me roar with laughter. A genius.

[r.brooks]

I worked in a book shop for seven years, this is so familiar.

[jonathanhill]

I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER SEE THIS
i was an extreme bookworm when i was young and in my early teens, as i was getting into more obscure fiction (in the ancient times, before DSL, before streaming...), i had these conversations weekly at the bookstores in my town. A random british tv compliation VHS tape that my mother borrowed from the library had this sketch.
the first time i saw it i was in literal hysterics.
curled into the fetal position, crying, pointing at the tv, unable to breathe with laughter. and when someone asks whats wrong? all you can do is say stuff like "HE DID THE- AND THE- THEN-" before losing it ten times worse. that level of amusement
i rewound the tape and rewatched it for almost an hour. i stopped cuz laughter wore me down. it never stopped killing me.
then mother returned it before i got home from school then next day and i had never even seen what the cover looked like or wrote down the name of the sketch. my heart broke.
thank you britbox for mending it

[MrMenefrego]

This old Yank has been loving British humor since I was a boy and first heard 'Tommy Handley's It's That Man Again Radio Show;' I was hooked! I thank God for our British cousins and their unique sense of humor!

[jJustPlayingNZ]

I ran a second hand book store for 8 years and this sketch is actually quite true to life. Every so often a customer like this would come in 😀

[reneejoseph]

I wasn't expecting it, but that was HILARIOUS. I forget how funny John Cleese is

[olwens]

Memories of someone coming up to the counter with a book- thrilled to find it, been looking for it for 30 years. But 'I'm not going to buy it because it's too expensive-have you got it in paperback?' (It didn't exist in paperback and cost about a tenner.)

[brookeking]

John Cleese and Eric Idle recreated and updated this skit for their Together Again At Last For The Very First Time tour. It’s understatement to say it was brilliant. RIP Marty Feldman.

[stvp]

The phrase “his intrepid spaniel” has stuck with me for decades

[dorothycastaneda]

John Cleese and Marty Feldman, two very funny men, love it!

[infoscholar]

Those guys were one of a kind funny, at just the right moment in history.