Dead Parrot sketch appearance on "The Muppet Show", Cleese appears as a pirate attempting to take over a spaceship during a "Pigs In Space" sketch. At the end of the sketch, he demands of the smart-mouthed talking parrot on his shoulder, "Do you want to be an ex-parrot?" In 1989's "The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball", a benefit for Amnesty International, the sketch opens similarly, but ends very differently: In a 1997 "Saturday Night Live" performance of the sketch, Cleese added a line to the rant: "Its metabolic processes are a matter of interest only to historians!" In an interview on NPR's "Fresh Air",
Parrot crossbill Parrot crossbill The parrot crossbill ("Loxia pytyopsittacus") is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. "Loxia" derives from "loxos", "crosswise", and "pytyopsittacus" is from "pitus, pituos", "pine", and "psittakos", "parrot". This bird breeds in the pine forests of northwest Europe and into western Russia. There is also a small population in Scotland, adding to the difficulty of distinguishing it from red crossbill and the endemic Scottish crossbill, both of which breed within its range. This crossbill is mainly resident, but will irrupt south and west if its food source fails. This