Victory Garden Leave

This sketch was inspired by the 1986 “Yes, Prime Minister” episode “One of Us.” It was in that episode that we here at CoBaD first learned of the term “Garden Leave” (also known as “Gardening Leave”). As mentioned in the introduction of the skit, one of the uses of gardening leave is when an employer needs to send an employee home (with pay) pending a disciplinary proceeding and it appears that, due to publicity, their presence at work is counterproductive. We often wondered what someone like General Dwight David Dresden did when he was sent home from the front after one of his numerous egregious human rights violations. Thanks to this skit, we now know he was simply honing his war atrocity skills in his victory garden.

In the drawing at 0:47 in the skit is a picture of a man on a horse. This drawing is taken from Matthew Paris’s “Chronica Majora” (1259), a three part collection telling the story of man from the time of creation through the current time (13th century). The last two parts are of particular use to historians as it allows them to gain insight into the state of affairs in 13th century Europe. The complete illustration (probably drawn by Mr. Perry himself) depicts an event in 1242 where William de Marisco is drawn to his execution behind a horse (presumably to be hung, quartered or both) for his role in attempting to assassinate Henry III. In addition to the dragging, we were particularly drawn (pun intended) to the expression on the horse’s face. To us it looked like the face of an animal about to be hit by a tomato. So we put him in the drawing.

For those of you who can’t read the note in the background at 3:32, it reads “Fireside Chat Inop, Thermocouple on Order.” This was inspired by an actual event. A member of our troupe has a gas fireplace. It was out of order (inoperative, or inop) for two weeks until a replacement part arrived. Gas fireplaces are great if you want to start a fire quickly and don’t want to deal with a messy cleanup, but they’re not really in the same class as a real fireplace (much in the same way that a microwaved meal isn’t the same as a oven cooked meal). This is a jab at FDR’s “fireside chats.” FDR’s “fireside chats” aren’t in the same class as a real chat. While FDR did indeed speak by a fireside (in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House), the “chat” was a one-sided affair (the public couldn’t respond), and FDR read from a prepared script. Furthermore, that script he was reading from had gone through about a dozen redrafts, meaning FDR had about 4-5 days to prepare what he was going to say. On top of that, HE chose the topic, occasionally using this forum to push his bad ideas, like the March 9, 1937 broadcast which he dedicated to his “court packing” plan (see the description in the “Direct and Produce” for more on this). We here at CoBaD don’t know of any chats we have been in that were structured like that. FDR’s “fireside chats” are more like a speeches or lectures than chats. We’ll sit down and eat a microwaved dinner in front of a gas fireplace than passively listen to one of his “chats.”

Dresden (off camera): “Gott im himmel! Oh, sorry, pardon my Vichy French.” - Refers to the Vichy France rump state which collaborated with Nazi Germany.

References:
Greasley, N. (2021, March 15). Revisiting the compilation of Matthew Paris’s Chronica majora: new textual and manuscript evidence. Taylor and Francis Online. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03044181.2021.1897651

Historyguild.org. (2023, November 27). How those found guilty of treason were punished. https://historyguild.org/how-those-found-guilty-of-treason-were-punished/

Jay, A. and Lynn, J. (1986, February 27) Yes, Prime Minister. (Series 1, Episode 8) [TV Series Episode]. One of Us. BBC2.

Wikipedia. Fireside chats. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireside_chats

Wikipedia. Garden Leave. Garden leave - Wikipedia

Wikipedia. Hanged, drawn and quartered - Wikipedia

Wikipedia. Vichy France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France

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Convulsions of Birth and Death (CoBaD) is a comedy sketch troupe founded in September, 2022 that posts skits on social media covering varied topics such as music, history, art, science, sports, literature and events encountered in everyday life. The title was inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” (1849), an essay written as a protest against the U.S. government taking his “gift” (i.e., his taxes), and wasting it in ways in which he did not approve (e.g., war and slavery). CoBaD writes sketches in the spirit of Thoreau, but instead of strictly casting its nets outwards towards governments and figures of authority, it projects its protest inwards by taking a humorous, lightheaded look at humanity and specifically those who take the greatest gift of all, life, and stupidly waste it on greed, narcissism, self-centeredness, petty-mindedness, arrogance, opportunism, power-grabbing, quid pro quo, the status quo, ulterior motives, and the most senseless and horrid waste of all, social media.