 The "Dead Parrot Sketch" was based, in part, on a drama school  exercise/game in which two actors improvised dialogue, the object of  which was for one participant to try to get the other to repeat a  line without himself repeating. The first person to repeat is the  "loser" of the game. Tom Stoppard (qv), in his  _Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)_ (qv) featured a more  elaborate version of this exercise which is cited in the quotes  section for that movie.