Dennis The Constitutional Peasant

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 film about King Arthur and his knights who embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many very silly obstacles.

Dennis The Constitutional Peasant

Dennis: What I object to is you automatically treatin' me like an inferior.
Arthur: Well, I am king.
Dennis: Oh, king, eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, then? By exploiting the workers! By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society! If there's ever going to be any progress--
Dennis: We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as sort-of-executive officer for the week--
Arthur: Yes.
Dennis: But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting--
Arthur: Yes, I see.
Dennis: By a simple majority, in the case of purely internal affairs--
Arthur: [getting annoyed] Be quiet.
Dennis: But by a two thirds majority, in the case of more major--
Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
Dennis' Mother: Order, eh? Who does he think he is?
Arthur: I am your king!
Dennis' Mother: Well I didn't vote for you.
Arthur: You don't vote for kings!
Dennis' Mother: Well how'd you become king, then?
Arthur: The Lady of the Lake,... [Angel chorus begins singing in background] her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [Angel chorus ends] That is why I am your king!
Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
Arthur: Shut up!
Dennis: I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!
Arthur: Shut up; will you SHUT UP?! [Grabs Dennis and shakes him]
Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!
Arthur: SHUT UP!
Dennis: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!!
Arthur: BLOODY PEASANT! releases Dennis and walks away as other peasents come to see what's going on]
Dennis: Oh, what a giveaway. Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm all about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn't you?

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Dennis
• The
• Constitutional
• Peasant
• Monty
• Python
• Holy
• Grail
• King
• Arthur
• short
• film

[Salt0fTheEarth]

He's an anarcho-syndicalist peasant, not a constitutional one.

[PrinceMishka]

I wrote a paper on how accurate this film was to the actual fable of King Arthur and how their different little adventures showed either a juxtaposition to what was current social commentary and what was happening back then (the french knights, the knoights who say ni, the black knight, witch trials) and this scene specifically on the magna carta in the 13th century and how afraid the gentry were of the peasants.

[SqueakWhimsical]

"Help, help! I'm bein' repressed!"

[MattMonk]

Possibly the funniest thing ever.

[meghan0095]

"You can't expect to wield extreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!" HAHAHA I laughed for like yen minutes over this. God I love this movie...:D

[niceguy1068]

@weirddave Yes, because justice and equality were invented in 2011.

[Swidhelm]

@tFighterPilot Yeah I can see that. Makes sense.

[tFighterPilot]

@Swidhelm In Israel most Hebrew shows that aren't live have subtitles. It sometimes help even if you're not deaf.

[Swidhelm]

@tFighterPilot Ah, true. My bad. Now I feel stupid. I was thinking people had trouble with the accent :P Because CNN did it once in an interview with a British WWII vet. They only subtitled him, and not the interviewer, which I thought was hilarious because it was not a thick British accent. It was very easy to understand. Not like the dude was from Leeds or something.

[tFighterPilot]

@Swidhelm Deaf people should be able to enjoy this movie as well.

[redeyedbandit1251]

One of the best scenes in this film and everyone except me wasn't laughing at this scene.

[VrgniaMailman]

@thefreetimedude Maybe. Thumbs up, by the way. They were definitely making fun of the whole Arthur legend. I remember seeing this skit AFTER I had seen the movie Excalibur, with Nigel Williamson and Helen Mirren, and laughing forever. Because Dennis mocks the whole "Lady of the Lake" legend beautifully, calling her a strange woman, a watery tart, a moistened bint. I was really shocked when I found out that MP & the Holy Grail was released before the Excalibur movie.