The German version is described as being "over 60,000 times as powerful as Britain's great pre-war joke" (at this point a newsreel of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waving his "piece of paper" appears on screen). The joke is then used in open warfare, with Tommies running through an open field amid artillery fire shouting the joke at the Germans, who die laughing in response. Afterward, a German field hospital is shown with bandaged German soldiers on stretchers, convulsing with laughter, presumably having heard some parts of the joke. In a subsequent scene, a British officer from the Joke Brigade (Palin) has been taken prisoner and is being interrogated by Gestapo officers. The British officer uses the joke to escape as his German captors die laughing, with one German officer (Cleese) insisting the joke isn't funny before finally cracking up and then uttering a Woody Woodpecker-style laugh before expiring.