Editing How to Irritate People

{{short description|British comedy film}}
{{Infobox television
| image          = How to Irritate People DVD cover.jpg
| caption        = DVD cfd
| director       = Ian Fordyce
| producer       = [[David Frost]]
| writer         = [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]] <br/> [[Graham Chapman]] <br/> [[John Cleese]] <br/> [[Marty Feldman]]
| starring       = John Cleese<br>Tim Brooke-Taylor<br>Graham Chapman<br>[[Michael Palin]]<br>[[Gillian Lind]]<br>[[Connie Booth]]<br>[[Dick Vosburgh]]
| network        = [[LWT]]
| released       = {{Start date|1968|11|14|df=y}}
| runtime        = 68 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
}}
'''''How to Irritate People''''' is a 1968 British [[mockumentary]] [[sketch comedy]] television special recorded in the UK at [[LWT]] on 14 November 1968<ref>Pixley, Andrew: ''Monty Python's Flying Circus - Series 1 Viewing Notes'', p.27, Network, 2019</ref> and written by [[John Cleese]], [[Graham Chapman]], [[Marty Feldman]] and [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]]. Cleese, Chapman, and Brooke-Taylor also feature in it, along with future [[Monty Python]] collaborators [[Michael Palin]] and [[Connie Booth]].

In various sketches, Cleese demonstrates exactly what the title suggests—how to irritate people, although this is done in a much more conventional way than the absurdity and [[surrealism]] of similar Monty Python sketches.

== Notable sketches ==

=== Pepperpots ===
The recurring characters of the "Pepperpots," old British housewives who annoy theatre-goers and quiz show hosts in these [[Sketch comedy|sketches]], would go on to be a major part of ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', appearing in the majority of the show's episodes.

=== Job Interview ===
The "Job Interview" sketch, featuring Cleese as an interviewer who asks several unusual questions of Brooke-Taylor, the interviewee, was later performed, almost unchanged, in the fifth episode of ''Flying Circus'', with Chapman instead playing the interviewee.

===Freedom of Speech===
The "Freedom of speech" sketch, starring Cleese as the host/interviewer and Chapman as interviewee Dr.{{nbs}}[[Rhomboid]] Goatcabin, features a discussion about [[freedom of speech]] in [[Great Britain]], in which Cleese's character repeatedly reformulates the subject's main question ("Do you believe there is freedom of speech in this country?") in so many ways as to start a [[monologue]] and not let Chapman's character speak. This increasingly annoys the interviewee to the point where he is forced to murder the host to express his opinion on the matter, only to be interrupted again by his spirit. This sketch bears some resemblance to [[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]] and was originally performed on ''[[At Last the 1948 Show]]'', with [[Marty Feldman]] having played the interviewee.

===Indian Restaurant===
This sketch, featuring Palin as a waiter in an Indian restaurant who is excessively – and somewhat violently – apologetic to his customers whenever anything goes wrong, may very well have laid the groundwork for the "[[The Dirty Fork|Dirty Fork]]" sketch from the third ''Flying Circus'' episode. In 1980, the Python team recorded an audio version for their ''[[Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album|Contractual Obligation Album]]''. Although cut from the final album, it featured among the outtakes on their widely bootlegged ''[[The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album|Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck]]'' album.

=== Car Salesman ===
The "Car Salesman" sketch, in which Palin refuses to accept customer Chapman's claim that a car he sold is faulty, later inspired Python's "[[Dead Parrot sketch|Dead Parrot]]" sketch, in which the malfunctioning car is replaced by an expired parrot.

=== Quiz Show ===
The "Quiz Show" sketch, where Brooke-Taylor, as a Pepperpot, annoys Cleese, a [[quiz]] show host, while appearing as a contestant on a show, was later adapted into another Monty Python sketch, "Take Your Pick" (or "Spot the Brain Cell," as it would be later called) in the second ''Flying Circus'' series, where [[Terry Jones]] plays the contestant attempting to win the prize of a "blow on the head."

=== Airline Pilots ===
The "Airline Pilots" sketch is set in the cockpit of a commercial airliner, with Cleese (as captain) and Chapman (as copilot). The airliner is on autopilot. Bored, they start making reassuring intercom messages to the passengers telling them there is nothing to worry about &ndash; at which point, of course, the passengers get worried &ndash; aided by the flight attendant (Palin). These messages get continually more incomprehensible or mutually contradictory until eventually, all the passengers bale out. The Monty Python sketch "Bomb on Plane" in episode 35 alluded briefly to this sketch when pilot Michael Palin told passengers, "Our destination is Glasgow; there is no need to panic."

== Release ==
The television special was directed by Ian Fordyce who also directed ''[[At Last the 1948 Show]]'', and was made in the UK for the American market in an attempt to introduce them to the new style of British humor. For this reason, the recording is made to the [[NTSC]] color standard. The idea for the show came from [[David Frost]].

The television special never aired in the UK but was broadcast in the United States on 21 January 1969 as part of ''David Frost Presents'' <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1377417/index.html|title = BFI Screenonline: The Roots of Monty Python}}</ref> on [[KYW-TV]].<ref>{{cite web|title="How to irritate people"|url=http://sotcaa.org/history/ukonline/python_frame.html?/history/ukonline/python/python_irritate.html|website=SOTCAA|access-date=22 February 2018}}</ref> Contemporary reviews suggest a broadcast slot of 60 minutes, including commercials, which would make the version broadcast between 50 and 55 minutes, at least 10 minutes shorter than the current video release. In addition, reviews<ref>{{cite web|title="How to irritate people"|url=http://sotcaa.org/history/ukonline/python_frame.html?/history/ukonline/python/python_irritate.html|website=SOTCAA|access-date=22 February 2018}}</ref> refer to David Frost as appearing in the show, whereas he is absent from the video version. An audio track confirms that he originally introduced the show.<ref>{{cite web|title=Original introduction for How to irritate people|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnmG89VqJFQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/fnmG89VqJFQ| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|website=youtube|publisher=The Monty Python Museum|access-date=22 February 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The 1990 UK video release was overseen by Michael Palin, who explained: "I thought it had a few strengths and weaknesses, so we made a few cuts here and there and we put it out".<ref>Johnson, Kim "Howard" - ''Life Before And After Monty Python'', p.56, Plexus, 1993.</ref>

The show has since appeared on [[DVD]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0063100|How to Irritate People}}

{{Monty Python}}

[[Category:Mockumentaries]]
[[Category:British television specials]]
[[Category:1968 television specials]]
[[Category:Quizzes and game shows in popular culture]]
[[Category:Parodies]]