Monty Python's Silly Walk: A Gait Analysis and Wake-up Call to Peer Review Inefficiencies

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Scientists analyze Monty Python's silly walks, determine they are indeed silly:

The Ministry of Silly Walks set a new standard for absurdity when the comedy sketch first appeared on Monty Python's Flying Circus television show in 1970. But just exactly how silly were those walks? Extremely silly, new research suggests.

A team of scientists from Dartmouth College conducted a gait analysis on the walks performed by John Cleese (the minister) and Michael Palin (Mr. Pudey, a man applying for a grant to improve his own silly walk). The results appeared in the journal Gait & Posture.

"In the spirit of Monty Python's humor, based on an actual gait analysis, a Dartmouth research team finds that the minister's silly walk is 6.7 times more variable than a normal walk," the college said in a statement on Thursday. Mr. Pudey's walk was found to be 3.3 times more variable than a typical walk.

A chart released with the paper illustrates just how different the Pythons' walks are from a standard gait.

Monty Python's silly walk: A gait analysis and wake-up call to peer review inefficiencies:

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