Dead Parrot sketch culture. The "Dead Parrot" sketch was inspired by a "Car Salesman" sketch that Palin and Chapman had done in "How to Irritate People". In it, Palin played a car salesman who repeatedly refused to admit that there was anything wrong with his customer's (Chapman) car, even as it fell apart in front of him. That sketch was based on an actual incident between Palin and a car salesman. In "Monty Python Live at Aspen", Palin said that this salesman "had an excuse for everything". John Cleese said on the same show that he and Chapman "believed that there was something
Rodrigues parrot and proportionally its head was the largest of any Mascarene species of parrot. The skeleton of the Rodrigues parrot had similarities with the "Tanygnathus" and "Psittacula" parrot genera. The pectoral and pelvic bones were similar in size to those of the New Zealand kaka ("Nestor meridionalis"), and it may have looked similar to the great-billed parrot ("Tanygnathus megalorynchos") in life, but with a larger head and tail. It differed from other Mascarene parrots in several skeletal features, including having nostrils that faced upwards instead of forwards. No features of the skull suggest it had a crest like the broad-billed parrot,