Recreating a Monty Python Sketch Has Become an Annual Tradition for One European City

Everybody has their own personal favorite Monty Python sketch. For some, it’s the famous “Dead Parrot” routine; for others, it’s “Nudge Nudge” (though I’m guessing no one will claim the cannibalistic undertaker bit).

Then there’s the iconic “Ministry of Silly Walks,” in which John Cleese plays an absurdly flexible civil servant working within the titular ministry, where he oversees grant applications for the development of new wacky ambulatory methods. According to Michael Palin, the idea began as a phrase he jotted down in his notebook. When he wasn’t able to figure out what to do with the concept, he handed it off to Cleese’s writing partner, Graham Chapman, who told Palin, “I think we could do something with that.”

There are no bigger fans of the sketch than the residents of Brno, Czech Republic. This coming Saturday, the city will hold a “Silly Walks March,” which is just what it sounds like: Python fans will gather for a 90-minute march through the city streets, all while walking in a ridiculous manner inspired by Cleese’s character Mr. Teabag. There is no dress code, but participants are “encouraged to bring bowler hats and briefcases to match the original motif of the sketch.”

Amazingly, this isn’t the first time that Brno has held a Silly Walk March, the annual event has been going on for over a decade. Back in its first few years, the march was a more modest affair, with silly walkers consisting of only a few eccentric Python fans.

But in 2024, the crowd had seemingly grown quite a bit. Although some marchers were more dedicated to their footwork than others. I mean, if you can hold a coffee cup while doing it, is it really silly walking?

And Brno isn’t the only town to hold events commemorating “International Silly Walks Day,” Reykjavík, Iceland had a similar march in 2017. And its organizer even convinced the city to erect special “silly walk crossing signs” for pedestrians.

These silly walkers may be on to something, an Arizona State University Professor once found that Cleese’s silly walking routine has serious health benefits, telling CNN that reenacting Mr. Teabag’s stride for “11 minutes per day” would “meet the public health requirements for vigorous-intensity physical activity.”

All of this is a tremendous response to a sketch that even Cleese wasn’t a huge fan of at first. He tried to get the sketch dropped from the Pythons’ early live repertoire after just one bad outing, telling the others, “See! It’s not funny!” He agreed to try it out just one more time, and “everyone laughed” forcing him to leave it in the show.

However, he eventually retired the silly walking for good due to his ”two artificial hips and an artificial knee and a heavily infected left big toe.”