Monty Python’s 1975 comedy classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail is widely considered to be one of the funniest movies ever put on screen. The legendary sketch comedy troupe’s farcical interpretation of Arthurian legend is one of the defining works of their career, and in the nearly 50 years since its release, Holy Grail has secured its place in the history books of British comedy.
Part of what has given the film such a long-standing reputation is how infinitely quotable it is. Here are some that stand out the most.
9 "She turned me into a newt!" ... "I got better"
This line comes from a sketch early in the film where a group of villagers are trying to convince Sir Bedivere (Terry Jones) that they have caught a witch in their town. After Sir Bedivere pushes back against the group, and they admit to dressing a woman up to look like a witch, a peasant played by John Cleese exclaims that "She turned me into a newt!" When Sir Bedivere questions the man, who is very much not a newt, he sheepishly defends himself by saying "I got better." It's a small moment in a sequence full of absurdities, but it's an excellent example of the kind of silliness that Monty Python likes to lace their work with.
8 “Help! Help! I’m being repressed!”
It's no secret that Monty Python wasn't afraid to delve into political topics in their comedy, and this sequence is one of the funniest examples of them doing just that. As Graham Chapman's King Arthur travels the countryside looking for knights to join his roundtable, he comes across a couple of peasants and begins to ask them about their lord. To his surprise, they state that they don't have a lord, and instead operate in an anarcho-syndicalist commune with different people taking turns as executive officers each week. Dennis, one of the peasants played by Michael Palin, questions Arthur's right to be King solely because he was gifted a sword from a woman in a lake. Arthur grows more and more agitated with Dennis' political ramblings, eventually grabbing him and ordering him to be quiet, to which Dennis responds by shouting "Come see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"
7 “Run away!”
This is one of the many recurring bits in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, as King Arthur and his courageous group of knights seem to run away from danger more often than not. The first instance of this in the film is as the knights attempt to lay siege to a French castle in the English countryside. As they are pelted with various farm animals being thrown at them by the French, Arthur yells "Run away!" and the group then retreats to safety. This happens a few more times throughout the movie, such as when they're attacked by a killer rabbit and later the Black Beast of Aaauuugh. Each time Chapman's Arthur yells the line in the exact same hilariously panicked tone, which makes it really stick in the viewer's head, earning it a spot on this list.
6 “It’s only a model”
As Arthur and his knights come upon their destination of Camelot, the King, Lancelot and Galahad all cry out the name of the castle in anticipation, to which Arthur's servant Patsy (Terry Gilliam) comments that "It's only a model." Arthur immediately shushes Patsy as if he were trying to hide some big secret. The joke is an instance of the Monty Python crew breaking the fourth wall in the film, as the crew obviously couldn't ride to a fictional castle and had to use a miniature model in its place anytime Camelot appeared on-screen. The line is also the only one Patsy is given in the entire film, as the rest of the time he's too busy banging coconuts together.
5 “Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?”
Speaking of coconuts, the film's use of coconuts to replicate the sound of a horse's gallop is one of Holy Grail's most recognizable bits. Funnily enough, the joke came out of necessity, as the troupe couldn't afford any real horses for the film. This resulted in an extended bit in the opening scene of the movie, as the first castle guard that Arthur and Patsy encounter, immediately calls out the two characters for using coconuts instead of a horse. In another funny twist, the guard is less worried about the King's lack of a horse and is more caught up on where Arthur and Patsy found coconuts in medieval England. As Arthur explains that it's not strange for birds from other lands to end up in England, the guard is astounded by the assertion that coconuts could migrate, which leads the King to argue that a bird could have carried the coconut over the long distance. What follows is a much longer conversation about swallows and airspeed velocity. It's the perfect way to start this wonderfully ludicrous parody.
4 “Ni!”
The Knights Who Say Ni are a mysterious group of forest-bound knights who appear about halfway through the film, and proceed to intimidate and horrify Arthur and Bedivere. The knights have a mastery over the word "ni" and use it to threaten the King's passage through the forest unless they are presented with a gift of shrubbery. What makes the Knights of Ni so funny is how ill-defined the word itself is. The film never explains why "ni" terrifies Arthur and Bedivere so, but the group is able to use the sacred word to compel the duo to fetch their shrubbery for them.
3 “Get on with it!”
In another instance of the film toying with the fourth wall, there are a couple of instances where monologues are interrupted by characters from elsewhere in the script screaming "Get on with it!" The first instance happens while Sir Galahad is searching for the Holy Grail in Castle Anthrax, a character named Dingo looks into the camera and begins to wonder if they should've cut the scene, and as she rambles she is interrupted by the likes of The Old Man From Scene 24, the sorcerer Tim, a crowd of armed knights and even God, who all yell at her to "Get on with it!" The joke comes back again immediately after this scene, right before Scene 24, as the film's narrator gets caught up in the old coconut/swallow debate again, to which the crowd again yells "Get on with it!"
2 “Tis but a scratch”
The entire fight sequence between King Arthur and the Black Knight early in the film is jam-packed with hilarious quotes, but the one that stands above them all comes after Arthur cuts the knight's arm off. Arthur, thinking he's won the battle, tells the knight to stand aside. However, the knight quickly replies "Tis but a scratch." Arthur is astounded at the Black Knight's refusal to believe his arm is gone, and the two continue to fight until the knight is completely dismembered. As Arthur and Patsy gallop away with their coconuts, the knight, just a torso and head at this point, refuses to give up and yells, "Get back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs off!"
1 Pretty Much Anything from the French Taunter
The sequence with the French Taunter was referenced a bit earlier with Arthur yelling "Run away!", but that entire scene is one of the most sidesplitting sketches that Monty Python has to offer. Cleese plays the taunter as a French caricature with an absurd accent, and nearly everything he says to Arthur and his knights is absolutely hysterical. The Frenchman tells them to go away because his master already has a very nice holy grail, and then he proceeds to lob a myriad of insults their way, such as: "Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person;" "I don't wanna talk to you no more you empty-headed animal food trough wiper;" "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" and much, much more.