The Four Yorkshiremen Sketch

Four well-to-do Yorkshiremen sit together drinking wine and begin reminiscing about their humble origins. Each man tries to outdo the others with tales of childhood deprivation, the stories escalating to ludicrous extremes — from living in a cardboard box to sleeping in a rolled-up newspaper in a septic tank. The sketch ends with each man agreeing they were lucky to have had it so hard, and that today's youth wouldn't believe it. Originally written and performed under the title "Good Old Days," this is the closing sketch of Series 2, Episode 6. Inspired by the short story "Self-Made Men" by Stephen Leacock (1910). Barry Cryer appears as the wine waiter and may have contributed to the writing.

The sketch was originally titled "Good Old Days" in the camera script. Character names (Obadiah, Ezekiel, Josiah, Hezekiah) appear in the camera script, but only Obadiah and Josiah are spoken aloud during the performance. This is one of the surviving sketches from the programme and appears as the closing sketch of Series 2, Episode 6. The sketch later became strongly associated with Monty Python (featuring Cleese and Chapman), who performed it at Live at Drury Lane (1974), Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982), and Monty Python Live (Mostly) (2014). Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman, and Marty Feldman are all deceased; John Cleese is the sole surviving original performer as of 2026. The YouTube upload is by the channel "onemediamusic" (One Media iP), the official rights holder.