The Knights who say 'Moji': Skype adds GIF-like Monty Python videos to its app

Skype has introduced a new selection of 'Mojis' for its chat app for PC and mobile that celebrates 'Biggus Dickus', the dead parrot sketch and calling someone's mother a hamster. Yes, the idiosyncratic and distinctly British brand of Monty Python comedy now graces Microsoft's videoconferencing and instant-messaging application.

Users who have updated the app since Thursday (14 July 2016) will find an 'exclusive' selection of 37 short Monty Python videos that can be sent to friends, family and business partners from the emoticon picker to tell everyone that you are Brian, and so is your wife.

The batch of Python Mojis – Skype's own version of animated, GIF-like clips – comes from the minds at Microsoft Garage, a project lab that experiments with different apps and add-ons of varying degrees of usefulness.

Its latest irreverent project appears to have been approved by the Pythons, with Michael Palin commenting: "We welcome Moji Python's magic moments. It's easy to forget how gown-breaking and auspicious Monty Python was and how well, millions of years later, these ice-cream culinary moments stand up. Unlike most of the team. Please help us. Thank you."

A blog post from the Skype team invites fans to take to social media with the hashtag #PythonMojis and note that it plans to add more classic clips in the future. The team certainly has plenty of material to choose from, as The Holy Grail, The Life of Brain, Flying Circus and the rest of the Python catalogue is rife infinitely quotable lines so you can taunt IM peers for a second time.

Skype's 'official' Moji selection is in tough competition when it comes to the subject of expressive clip-sharing, with Slack's direct integration of Giphy already plummeting important office chats into a sea of GIF sharing. The IBTimes UK tech team does not do this, of course. Never.