Science has the answer

John Cleese’s silly walk is ‘exactly’ 6.7 times sillier than a normal stroll, according to scientists stretching the meaning of ‘exactly’.

That was the findings of researchers from Dartmouth University in New Hampshire, which found the absurdity of the comic’s gait primarily derived from the way he flexed his knee.

In Monty Python’s Ministry Of Silly Walks sketch, he bends the joint by 110 degress, compared to the average 20

In the sketch, Cleese interviews Mr Putey, played by Michael Palin, who is seeking a government grant to develop his own silly walk – but it’s not deemed odd enough.

Cleese tells him: 'The right leg isn't silly at all, and the left leg merely does a forward aerial half-turn every alternate step.’

Writing in the journal Gait & Posture, Nathaniel Dominy and  Erin Butler concluded that Palin’s walk was only about 3.3 times more silly than normal walking, after establishing Gait Variable Score to measure it.

But they argued Mr Putey should not have been  refused the cash, arguing he ‘is a promising applicant and deserving of a research fellowship to advance his silly walk. 

They add: ‘We suggest that the sketch holds special resonance and uncanny prescience for researchers in the health sciences today.

Cleese himself lost some of his silliness over time. In a live version of the sketch performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1982, the walk was found it to be just 4.7 times more daft that the average.

And he couldn’t do it at all in the 2014 reunion shows at London’s O2, instead leaving it to a troupe of lithe dancers.

Published: 11 Mar 2020