Something for the Weekend?

[k***@takeawaymedia.co.uk]

Can you help get Monty Python into the dictionary?

BBC Two is asking viewers to join The Wordhunt Project and help rewrite
the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), 'the greatest book in the
English language'. A major series next year will present the results
and will be the biggest boldest attempt yet to ask the nation "where do
words come from?" For more information visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wordhunt

One phrase that we are very interested in is the expression "something
for the weekend". At the moment the OED has no evidence for this term
before 1990, but someone has suggested that there is a python sketch
which takes place in a barbers shop and includes the following
dialogue:
"The usual then sir?"
"Perhaps a little off the back?"
"Rangers played well last week, didn't they sir?"
"Do you need...err... 'a little something for the weekend' sir? If you
know what I mean."

Can anyone tell me when this sketch was first performed and where I
might find it? Or is there an earlier usage? Or perhaps we can thank
Python for one of our other appeal words "bonk" perhaps? Please visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wordhunt for the full list.

Thanks in advance

Kim

[Erno Simila]

someone has suggested that there is a python sketch which takes

The one and only python sketch that fits this description (apart
from the dialogue) is "Homicidal Barber" which appeared in Episode 9
of the TV series. However, that sketch does _not_ contain the
phrase you are interested in.

"The usual then sir?"
"Perhaps a little off the back?"
"Rangers played well last week, didn't they sir?"
"Do you need...err... 'a little something for the weekend' sir? If you
know what I mean."

The only thing directly in common with this dialogue and "Homicidal
Barber" sketch is the phrase "played well". Here's a snip from that
sketch from the archives of <http://www.montypythonpages.com/> :

Tape Recorder: (snip, snip) Did you see the match last night, sir?

Customer: Yes. Good game. I thought.

Tape Recorder: (snip, snip, snip; sound of electric razor
starting up) I thought Hurst played well sir.

Customer: (straining to hear) I beg your pardon?

Tape Recorder: (razor stops) I thought Hurst played well.

Customer: Oh yes ... yes ... he was the only one who did though.

Someone may have mis-remembered this and confused it with something
else.

Can anyone tell me when this sketch was first performed and
where I might find it?

The phrase "something for the weekend" is not in any of the Monty
Python's Flying Circus episodes or Python movies. I am pretty
certain of this, since I searched for it on my local copies of the
script files (retrieved from Monty Python Pages; they should contain
all sketches from the TV show & films) and didn't find a match. I
did also a separate search for the word 'weekend' and browsed
through all the sections that matched, but still didn't find
anything resembling the phrase in question.

[d***@yahoo.com]

Post by Erno Simila

someone has suggested that there is a python sketch which takes

The one and only python sketch that fits this description (apart
from the dialogue) is "Homicidal Barber" which appeared in Episode 9
of the TV series. However, that sketch does _not_ contain the
phrase you are interested in.

There's an audio sketch on one of the records, possibly the Monty
Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief, which is a wildlife show
featuring a herd of antelopes (or something like that) going to
the chemists to get "something for the weekend". I'm pretty sure
the exact phrase is used.

Dave Rogers

[Stacie]

Wonderful World of Sound(s), I'm thinking. The one with the magnified
ant roaring and so forth. I'm pretty sure you're right, and the exact
phrase is used in that sketch. Michael Palin is the host of the show.

It appears to be on the Monty Python's Previous Record CD, though,
assuming the discography I found is correct.

[d***@yahoo.com]

Post by Stacie
Wonderful World of Sound(s), I'm thinking. The one with the magnified
ant roaring and so forth. I'm pretty sure you're right, and the exact
phrase is used in that sketch. Michael Palin is the host of the show.
It appears to be on the Monty Python's Previous Record CD, though,
assuming the discography I found is correct.

That's the one - I always confuse those two records. So that's a
documented occurrence in 1972, or 18 years before the date the OP
had found. Aside from anecdotal evidence that Shakespeare used the
phrase in his famous play "Gay Boys in Bondage", I think that's the
best we can do here.

Dave Rogers