Election Night Special
Monty Python sketch
"Election Night Special" is a Monty Python sketch parodying the coverage of United Kingdom general elections, specifically the 1970 general election, on the BBC by including hectic (and downright silly) actions by the media and a range of ridiculous candidates.
This sketch was featured in Episode 19 of the Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series, first broadcast on 3 November 1970. A somewhat different version of the sketch (leading into "The Lumberjack Song") was also featured on the Monty Python Live at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane album. A longer edit of the Drury Lane version also appeared on the promotional flexidisc Monty Python's Tiny Black Round Thing. The sketch also provides the basis for an item in Monty Python's Big Red Book in the form of a mock pamphlet for the Silly Party, which alongside characters from the original sketch, also names both Paul Fox and Ian MacNaughton as Silly Party candidates.
Throughout the sketch, the linkman (John Cleese) and other commentators appear in a fixed sequence, either giving variations on their original statement or simply repeating it, as results are coming in from various constituencies. The election is mainly contested by two major parties, the Sensible Party and the Silly Party, though third-party candidates (a candidate for the Slightly Silly Party and a Very Silly Independent candidate) make appearances.
Candidates and their vote totals
The sketch focuses on election results from the following three constituencies:
At the end of the sketch, further results are given in short:
Engelbert Humperdinck gains Barrow in Furness from Ann Haydon-Jones and her husband Pip.
Arthur Negus has held Bristols. "That's not a result, that's a bit of gossip." (Bristols is rhyming slang for 'breasts': Bristol City = titty.)
Mary Whitehouse taking Umbrage (in reaction to the previous "held Bristols").
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Election Night Special” is monty Python sketch. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Election, Night and Special, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3966175. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1970.
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This entry incorporates text from “Election Night Special” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.