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Episode 5 - "Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the Twentieth Century"

Original Broadcast Date: Nov. 16, 1969

Attempted Synopsis: A melodramatic veterinarian ponders a couple's staid cat, who is then cured by Confuse-a-Cat Ltd.; a traveler at Customs goes to dramatic lengths not to declare his Swiss watches; the previous sketch is reviewed by a duck, a cat, and a lizard (all of whom are as staid as the cat in the first sketch); Carol Cleveland is not a man; a constable wants very bad to lead a successful raid; a newscaster reads about his own upcoming arrest; a couple watches movies of love-making cliches instead of making love; a passive-aggressive job interviewer does his worst; a career advisor bemoans his past before expounding upon the virtues of encyclopedia sales.

Review: No crisis here, and almost no dead spots. The Confuse-a-Cat, using trick photography, is a lot more elaborate and "traditional" than most Python sketches; just the same, you get the impression that the cat is getting quite a bit of pricey entertainment for free. John Cleese is in top form as one of his early, screechy authoritarian figures (as well as an early Gumby bit).

Priceless Gag: Any of the above are, as the Britons say, spot on. And this episode really goes out of its way to prove that Carol Cleveland is not a man.

Our rating:

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