Sister Mary Elephant

{{Infobox song | name = Sister Mary Elephant | cover = Sister_Mary_Elephant_Jacket_Scan.png | alt = | type = single | artist = [[Cheech and Chong]] | album = [[Big Bambu]] | B-side = "Wink Dinkerson"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Cheech-Chong-Sister-Mary-Elephant-Wink-Dinkerson/release/2196476|title=Cheech & Chong - Sister Mary Elephant|website=Discogs|year=1972 }}</ref> | released = December 1973 | format = | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = [[Comedy]], [[stoner comedy]], [[spoken word]] | length = 3:38 | label = [[Ode Records|Ode]] | writer = [[Cheech Marin]]<br>[[Tommy Chong]] | producer = [[Lou Adler]] | prev_title = "[[Santa Claus and His Old Lady]]" | prev_year = | next_title = "[[Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces]]" | next_year = }} '''"Sister Mary Elephant"''' is a [[Sketch comedy|comedy sketch]] by [[Cheech and Chong]]. The [[Sound recording|recording]] appeared on the duo's second album, ''[[Big Bambu]]'', released in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/big-bambu-mw0000318416|title=Big Bambu - Cheech & Chong - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic|website=AllMusic}}</ref> It was re-released as a [[Single (music)|single]] in 1973 and peaked at No. 24 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] and No. 50 in [[RPM (magazine)|Canada]] in early 1974.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drgq4g0rmVsC&q=sister+mary+elephant | first=Joel |last=Whitburn | title=The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits | page=124 | publisher=Billboard Books | year=2000 | access-date=December 3, 2019 | edition=7th | isbn=9780823076901 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.4970a.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - January 19, 1974}}</ref> It is one of very few entirely [[spoken-word]] recordings (with no singing or musical accompaniment) to make the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.<ref>It had been preceded by "The Astronaut", an all-spoken comedy sketch performed by [[Bill Dana]] and credited to his character [[José Jiménez (character)|Jose Jimenez]], which reached #19 in 1961. {{cite magazine |title=Hot 100 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard Music Week]] |date=2 October 1961 |page=38}}</ref>

The picture sleeve for the record was illustrated by [[Paul Gruwell]].

==Synopsis==

The title character is an exceedingly prissy [[nun]] [[substitute teacher]] (played by [[Cheech Marin]]) teaching in a [[parochial school]] ("Our Lady of 115th Street") [[classroom]] of exceedingly irreverent, noisy [[Adolescence|teenage]] boys (all played by Cheech and [[Tommy Chong]] through overdubbing). She attempts to teach the class, but the boys totally ignore her. She then tries to get the students' attention by speaking increasingly loudly, to no avail. When she finally screams, "SHUT UP!" at the top of her lungs, in startling contrast to her usually placid manner, dead silence ensues. She follows this with a once again prissy "Thank you". This becomes a running joke throughout the skit.

Sister Mary Elephant announces that she is the substitute for their regular teacher, Sister Rosetta Stone (a pun on both the [[Rosetta Stone]] and [[Gospel music|gospel]] singer [[Sister Rosetta Tharpe]]), who has sent her love and the artwork she is making: [[fingerpaint]]ings and [[Towel|dustcloth]]s, indicating that she has likely been [[involuntary commitment|institutionalized]]. After introducing herself, the class erupts in laughter upon hearing her name, prompting a repetition of the "SHUT UP!"/"Thank you" routine. Sister Mary Elephant then asks a student to give her his [[knife]]. He complies, but not quite the way she had in mind (it is heard flying and sticking in the wall with a twang). She responds with another prissy "Thank you". She continues to try to teach the class, during which they continue talking, necessitating further repetitions of her screaming.

Sister Mary Elephant tells the class that they will read their previously assigned [[essay]]s on "How I Spent My [[Summer vacation|Summer Vacation]]". She chooses one boy (Chong), who stands up and reads in a monotone voice how on the first day he woke up, went downtown to look for a [[Employment|job]], then [[loitering|hung out]] in front of the [[pharmacy|drugstore]]. Another student (voiced by Cheech) asks if it's the one on 13th but gets no answer. Chong repeatedly describes this same daily routine [[wikt:verbatim|verbatim]] for each day of his vacation as well. Sister Mary tries to get the student to stop reading, but he ignores her and continues, finally noting that on the third day he got a job keeping people from hanging out in front of the drugstore. Sister Mary beseeches the boy to "SHUT UP!" before he can continue any further. A student (Chong) had started asking to "go to the can", and does so repeatedly during the students reading but is ignored entirely by Sister Mary. Several times the sound of flatulence is heard implying he has diarrhea or that the students are making fart sounds.

Sister Mary Elephant then reads from a book of excessively flowery [[poetry]]. The class responds with their usual [[Insult|razzing]] then fall silent except for scattered [[snoring]] after a few verses. In a variation on the running joke, she screams for the class to "WAKE UP!" The sketch ends here with Chong declaring "I gotta go to the can, man."

==Sergeant Stadanko==

The character of Sister Mary Elephant reappeared in a later Cheech and Chong skit, "Sergeant Stadanko", on their ''[[Los Cochinos]]'' album. The nun introduces the titular narcotics officer (Chong) as a guest speaker. Her rowdy classroom immediately falls silent at the mention of Stadanko's profession. Later one student (Cheech) [[Informant|rats out]] another student, Billy (Chong), to Stadanko for selling him [[oregano]] packaged as [[marijuana]]. The students begin fighting and Sister Mary beseeches Stadanko to intervene. Stadanko sheepishly informs her that he will call the [[police]].

On the compilation album ''[[Cheech & Chong's Greatest Hit]]'', "Sister Mary Elephant" and "Sergeant Stadanko" appear back-to-back.

==Legacy==

The "SHUT UP!" portion was used as a [[sound bite]] on ''[[Imus in the Morning]]''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:American comedy sketches]] [[Category:Comedy theatre characters]] [[Category:Fictional Christian nuns|Mary Elephant]] [[Category:Fictional schoolteachers|Mary Elephant]] [[Category:American novelty songs]] [[Category:Canadian novelty songs]] [[Category:Fiction about nuns]] [[Category:Cheech and Chong songs]] [[Category:Song recordings produced by Lou Adler]] [[Category:Ode Records singles]] [[Category:Female characters in theatre]] [[Category:Theatre characters introduced in 1972]] [[Category:Rosetta Stone in popular culture]] [[Category:Canadian comedy sketches]]