Origins
The idea for the sketch came after a day of shooting in Folkestone Harbour, where John Cleese became seasick and threw up repeatedly while trying to deliver a line. During the drive back, Graham Chapman said that Cleese should eat something and asked him whether he fancied anything; Cleese replied that he fancied a piece of cheese. Upon seeing a chemist's shop, Cleese pondered whether the shop would sell cheese, to which Chapman responded that if they did it would be medicinal cheese and that Cleese would need a prescription to buy some. They decided to write a skit based on that idea. However, on starting to write it, they concluded that asking for cheese in a chemist's shop was too unrealistic. Cleese thought that they should instead write a sketch about someone attempting to buy cheese in a cheese shop that had no cheese whatsoever.
Chapman then wrote the sketch with Cleese, who did not initially find it humorous. When Chapman insisted that it was funny, they presented it at a reading for the other Python members. Though most of the other Pythons were also unimpressed, Michael Palin loved it and laughed hysterically, eventually falling to the floor. This amused the others and they agreed to use the sketch.
Read more about this topic: Cheese Shop Sketch
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