X-Nico

Undertakers sketch

The tactless undertaker (Chapman) suggests they can "burn 'er, bury 'er, or dump 'er in the Thames", but rules out the latter after Cleese confirms that he liked his mother. Of the other two, the undertaker says both are "nasty," and describes the sordid details. When the son shows the undertaker his mother's body, which is in a sack, he sees that the dead woman "looks quite young". He tells his assistant, Fred (Eric Idle) that he thinks they've "got an eater."

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This sketch, the last in both the episode and the second series, immediately followed the "Lifeboat sketch" (also about cannibalism) and some graphically cannibalistic animation from Terry Gilliam.

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(As Roger Wilmut pointed out in the book From Fringe To Flying Circus, a genuinely shocked audience would have reacted with an embarrassed silence.)

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Having had interjections throughout the show ("She's switched to ITV!"), the final scene, after the desultory audience invasion, has the entire studio coming to a halt and standing at attention while the music to God Save the Queen is played, and the end credits roll.

see also