To mark the very last Monty Python live show on
UKTV Gold this Sunday, a 15 metre high sculpture of a Norwegian Blue parrot hanging
upside down from a crane has been unveiled on Southbank. The
painted fibre glass sculpture, designed by Dave Crosswell, Iain Prendergast and
Toby Crowther, captures the comedy value of the dead parrot, “the hero of Monty
Python’s most celebrated sketch,” says Croswell. Commissioned to commemorate
the 45th anniversary of the first screening of the comedy group’s Pet
Shop scene in which John Cleese plays an infuriated customer trying to get his
money back from Michael Palin, a tenacious pet salesman, having been voted their
best sketch by 45% of TV channel Gold’s viewers. On Sunday the sculpture is
being taken to the O2 for fans to see it at the final broadcast of Monty Python Live (Mostly): One
down, five to go.
