Nudge Nudge

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Candid Photography, better known as "Nudge Nudge", is a sketch from the third Monty Python's Flying Circus episode, "How to Recognise Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away" featuring Eric Idle (author of the sketch) and Terry Jones as two strangers who meet in a pub. Idle (playing a younger man) asks Jones (as an older gentleman) several questions about his relationship with his wife, all bearing questionable sexual innuendo ("Does your wife 'go'?", "is she a sport?", "is she interested in photography?", etc.). Jones responds in a confused, non-committal sort of way, and Idle responds with an enthusiastic "Nudge, Nudge, Say no more" - the punchline being that after a period of time, Jones demands to know what Idle is talking about. Idle asks if Jones has slept with a lady. Jones says that he has, and Idle, fascinated, asks "What's it like?"

Originally written by Eric Idle for Ronnie Barker in another comedy show, it was rejected as a script.[1] Eric Idle openly admits the script is confusing, the joke being mostly in the delivery.

The sketch also appears in the 1971 spin-off film, And Now For Something Completely Different and the 1981 concert film Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. It was also performed when the Pythons appeared on The Midnight Special.

The quote, "nudge nudge, wink wink", has entered the English language as an idiom meaning to imply sexual innuendo.

References

  1. ^ Comment made by Eric Idle during an interview shown on the ABC-TV program "7.30 Report". The interview was broadcast on Wednesday, 28 November, 2007