Knights who say Ni

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The Knights Who Say Ni are a band of knights from the comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, feared for the manner in which they utter the word "ni" (pronounced [ni], like knee but clipped short). As it was said in the movie, "Those who hear them seldom live to tell the tale!"

The Knights are led by a man who is approximately 12 feet tall with disproportionately short arms and tree branches inserted into his helmet (played by Michael Palin standing on a ladder). The other Knights are of normal human dimensions and act as a chorus, only repeating words and phrases which the head Knight has spoken.

"Ni!" is only the most notable of the sacred words which they are assigned to protect; the others being "Peng" and "Ni-wom". All of these words are infamous for the palpable horror and fear they bring about, whether delivered by the Knights or not.

The Knights demand that King Arthur bring them a shrubbery in order to pass through a patch of woodland which they guard. (It must be a good one and not too expensive) Hence, Arthur and his companions return to a nearby village where they purchase a shrubbery from "Roger the Shrubber." Later, they become the Knights of an odd string of syllables (although the knights apart from the head knight continue to say 'Ni'). The saying is spelled the following way according to the "script" subtitles available on the collector's edition DVD:

Ekke, Ekke, Ekke, Ekke, Ptang, Zoo Ping! [Goodem-zoo-owli-zhiv].

Because of the challenging pronunciation, King Arthur simply refers to them as "The Knights Who Until Recently Said Ni". Originally, the name was to be changed to "the Knights Who Go Ni... Whom... Ping."

Later, the Knights demanded that King Arthur would get them another shrubbery, arrange the two shrubberies so that they get a two-level effect ("...with a little path running down the middle."), and then proceed to "...cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with... a herring!" Arthur refuses, claiming that such a feat can't be done, to which the Knights reply "Oh, Please?"

The Knights have a weakness in that a number of words, when spoken to them, cause them pain and agony. The only one of these words that is revealed in the film is the word "it". This apparently contradicts the earlier conversation, in which "it" is said, yet the Knights do not appear to be affected.

There was a further scene that was scripted, but either cut or never filmed. In it, the Knights recovered from having "it" said, and when they hear someone else coming, they decide that they'll demand another shrubbery, this time calling themselves the "Knights of Nicky-Nicky".

This scene is among the most popular scenes in the movie. The Knights who say Ni have thus, like many Monty Python scenes and sketches, been quoted and referred to in many instances.

Contents 1 Spamalot 2 Origin 3 In popular culture 4 References

[edit] Spamalot

The Knights appear in Spamalot, the Broadway musical adaptation of the film, with their first scene virtually unchanged. The Knight's new name changes almost nightly, improvised by the actor playing the lead Knight (originally Hank Azaria), but always starting with "Ekke Ekke Ekke F'tang F'tang Olé Biscuitbarrel..." which itself references several famous sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus, including Election Night Special. The other major change in the scene is that the renamed Knights not only demand another shrubbery, but also that King Arthur put on a musical and take it to Broadway - not an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, either. King Arthur does attempt to fulfill this quest in the second act until the Lady of the Lake tells him that he is already in a musical -- see fourth wall.

[edit] Origin

Since the start of movie contains some evident joking about Scandinavian language and Sweden, Scandinavians can claim that the word "ni" has been derived from the Swedish language (where it means "you" in the plural or courteous form; incidentally "ni" also means "you" in Mandarin Chinese), but during the DVD commentary, Michael Palin says that their use of the word was derived from The Goon Show. Other parallels to The Goon Show can also be drawn between the strangled voice of the Knights and the voice of Bluebottle.

[edit] In popular culture

• In The Simpsons episode "Homer Goes to College" three fellow students tell Homer Simpson that they know "the words to every Monty Python routine,"^[1] then illustrate this by saying all at once: "We are the Knights who say... Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni!" After saying this they chuckle in delight. Homer, who has no idea what they're talking about, then thinks for a moment and concludes chucklingly: "Heh heh... Ni."

• The knight in the RTS video game Warcraft III says: "I never say Ni!"

• In Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc game Globox says "Ni! Ni!" as one of the spells trying to open the magic door.

• In a part of el goonish shive there are squirrels who repeatedly say "ni" in squirrel language, I.E <ni!> and Tedd remarks, "what is this, a monty python sketch?!", after the squirrels demanded a shrubbery.

• In a deleted scene from the Stargate SG-1 episode Camelot, when Mitchell is being told of Sir Gawain he asks "Isn't he one of the knights who said Ni"?

• In the webcomic 21deadmonkeys made by mmr21, member of the Boxcar Comics collective, The Knights are used as a punchline in the episode "And i know that i'm not coming out on top", where the character of Hoss ends a sentence with "it" and then, when seeing the Knights, asks himself : "Did I say 'is' ?"

• As mentioned above, the new name used in Spamalot changes almost nightly. Some names have included:

• "The Knights who say ecky ecky..." ending with the phrase "I'm Rick James, Bitch". The phrase is borrowed from a popular skit by comedian Dave Chapelle.

• In Detroit, Michigan December 23, "The Knights who say ecky ecky..." was followed by the first few lines of Bohemian Rhapsody.

• Also in Detroit, on January 5, "The Knights who say..." was followed by the chorus from Paradise City by Guns'n'Roses.

• In Pittsburgh, "The Knights who say ecky ecky.." was ended with Troy Polamalu, the Pittsburgh Steelers's strong safety.

• A long progression of cat meows and hacking sounds accompanied with sounds of planes and finally topped off with the knight saying "Cats on a Plane." This refers to the movie that opened the week before this performance - Snakes on a Plane.

• The name change once ended with a deep-voiced drawl into the oft-used Brokeback Mountain reference line "Why can't I quit you?"

• One name change ended with a sudden voice change to a very breathy tone a la Napoleon Dynamite, to the line: "Whatever I feel like! GOSH!"

• The name change was once followed by the first verse of The Brady Bunch ("Here's a story of a lovely lady..."). After the first verse, the Knight comments, "There's a second verse about a man named Brady, but..." to which he is met by a dubious stare from King Arthur.

• In another performance of Spamalot, in Saint Louis, Missouri, of November 2006, the name change ended with, "I'm Claire McCaskill and I approve this name change," to reference the U.S. Senate election in Missouri between McCaskill and Senator Jim Talent.

• The name change in the Saint Louis production on November 19, 2006 ended with slow, raspy breathing and "Luke... I am your father," a clear reference to Star Wars.

• The name change the next night, November 20, 2006 went into a string of culture references such as "It's hard out here for a pimp" and "Ain't no Hollaback Girl".

• In the performance on November 22, the new name ended with "Mahna mahna do do, doo doo doo," a reference to a sketch from "The Muppet Show".

• A Performance on January 13 2007, in Fort Lauderdale included a monologue about carrotcake in the style of Fat Bastard from Austin Powers.

• One performance also led to the ending line "We are the Knights who say Ni! (And we are also the Knights who are the father of Anna Nicole's baby...)

• In the MMORPG RuneScape, if one uses a raw herring on any tree, the words 'this is not the mightiest tree in the forest' appear in the text zone. This pays homage to the Knights. It is not known if there is a mightiest tree in the forest; many speculate there may be a reward for finding the mightiest tree. (It may, however, be in an inaccessible area.) Also, if used with the doors of a gnome fortress in the game (which is a massive tree), the text "it cannot be done" appears, a reference to Arthur's response in the film.

• In the Sims 2 video game for the systems there is a gardening item called a nee shrubbery that is a direct reference to the Knights who say Ni's shrubbery.

• In the MMORPG Guild Wars Factions (video game) there was a quest called "The Knights Who Say Nian". This quest was available between February 16 and February 18, 2007 during the Chinese New Year's Eve festival.

• The MMORPG World of Warcraft contains a number of guilds on some servers named after the Knights Who Say Ni, although the spelling of the word is different with some guilds.

World of Warcraft also has a quest in the instance Coilfang Reservoir entitled "Bring Me A Shrubbery!" in which the player must collect plants for an NPC.

[edit] References