Original artwork, not a still
It's not much of a cheese shop, is it?
— Monty Python's Flying Circus ‧ 1969
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The understatement is the joke: a man has asked about dozens of cheeses and the best he can offer in the way of complaint is a mild observation about the shop. The sketch grew out of a seasick Cleese fancying cheese on the way back from filming, and it became one of Python's most quoted routines, re-staged for the Matching Tie album and the 2014 live shows. 'Not much of a cheese shop' is now the standard polite complaint about any place that lacks the thing it is named for.
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In context
Spoilers for Monty Python's Flying CircusShow the scene
The Cheese Shop sketch first aired in "Salad Days", episode 33 of Monty Python's Flying Circus (BBC, 30 November 1972). John Cleese plays an erudite customer, named Mr. Mousebender in the script, who walks into Ye Olde Cheese Emporium and asks for one cheese after another, from Red Leicester to Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, while Michael Palin's proprietor offers flimsy excuses and admits to having nothing. Early on, Cleese observes that it is not much of a cheese shop; Palin insists it is the best in the district, and the customer replies that it is certainly uncontaminated by cheese. The sketch ends with a gunshot.
Sources (1)
- Wikipedia: Cheese Shop sketchlead, Origins and Summary sectionsReference checked
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