Tag Archives: Michael Palin

Terry Jones Progress

The latest news is that Terry Jones’ new film, Absolutely Anything, is coming along very well. Kate Beckinsale has now signed on to the sci-fi comedy, which will star Simon Pegg and the voice of Robin Williams, along with Eddie Izzard and the voices of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam. Shooting is set to begin in London on March 24, and there’s more information available here…

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And after he wraps, he should have just enough time to head over to the O2 Arena for the Monty Python reunion!

Python Rarities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2OESt7Tnn8

Here’s another selection of outtakes from MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS. These are from Episode 39, the final episode with John Cleese in the cast. Lots of Michael Palin hosting “Grandstand,” a few cricketers, and “wifeswapping,” with Michael Palin in bed with John Cleese. Enjoy.

Early Pre-Python

This is one of the sketches I may be showing my iO class in the coming weeks. Known variously as “The History of Slapstick,” “The History of the Joke,” “The Custard Pie Sketch,” and probably by a few other names as well, this is probably the oldest sketch that ever made it into any of the Monty Python shows (the runner-up: probably “Four Yorkshiremen”). Written by Terry Jones and, I think, Michael Palin, long before the Pythons ever got together, it was eventually incorporated into the Python stage show, in part because the Pythons wanted to include some sketches that most of their fans hadn’t seen before. We’ll find out in July if they will include it in the O2 shows…
This version is from one of the Amnesty International Benefits. Enjoy.

No Idle Hands for Palin

It looks like 2014 is going to be a busy year for Michael Palin. The Hollywood Reporter notes that he will be starring in a three-part drama for the BBC. It sounds great, though I’m having trouble picturing him as a resident of a nursing home. If he was that old, he wouldn’t be doing ten Python shows at the O2 this summer, right?
No air date yet–I will post when more details are available.
3:18 AM PST 1/16/2014 by Georg Szalai
Michael Palin - P 2013
Jo Hal/Getty Images

In his first TV drama lead role in more than 20 years, he will star opposite “Game of Thrones” actor Mark Addy.

LONDON – Monty Python’s Michael Palin will star in a three-part BBC supernatural thriller in his first lead role in a TV drama in more than 20 years.

Remember Me will see him play a “mysterious” resident of a nursing home who becomes the only witness to a violent death. Palin will star opposite Game of Thrones and The Full Monty actor Mark Addy, who will portray a detective.

Palin, mostly known for his comedic work, last had a lead role in a TV drama in 1991 when he played a principal in GBH on Britain’s Channel 4.

“It’s also a return to Yorkshire [where the mini-series is shooting now], where I was born, brought up and learned my acting in amateur dramatics,” Palin told the Guardian. “I was attracted to Remember Me not only by the Northern setting, but also by a good, strong, challenging role, something I could really get what remains of my teeth into.”

The show will air on BBC One, the U.K. public broadcaster’s flagship channel. Said BBC One controller Charlotte Moore: “It’s a real coup for us that Michael Palin has chosen to make his return to a leading role for the first time in over 20 years on BBC One.”

Palin will reunite with the other surviving members of comedy troupe Monty Python for a series of sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena in July.

How to Irritate People

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9igQ18GIqvc

Before John Cleese and Graham Chapman wrote the Dead Parrot sketch, they wrote this sketch for a special called “How to Irritate People.” When they started doing Monty Python, Graham Chapman suggested substituting a parrot instead of a car, and the rest is history. But here’s what the original sketch was like.
I’ll be showing this sketch at a writing workshop I’m conducting this week at the iO Theatre in Chicago, and thought I’d give you a peek. Enjoy.

More good news for Python fans

I’m always delighted when I can pass along some great news about another Python-related project, following in the wake of the Python Reunion shows in London next summer. I’m even happier when it involves a long gestating project that my pal Terry Jones has been trying to put together for a while. There have been various announcements over the past couple of years, but it looks like it’s official: Terry Jones’ Absolutely Anything is set to begin filming next March in London, with Simon Pegg (Star Trek, The World’s End, Mission Impossible 4) in the lead. There are more details here, but most people here will be especially interested to know that John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, and Michael Palin will be lending their voices to the aliens who give Neil Clarke (Pegg’s character) his magical powers. Robin Williams will be voicing Neil’s dog in the comedy. Terry and Gavin Scott penned the script, and this is going to be great. And, after principal photograph wraps, Terry will be climbing on stage at the O2 Arena in London with the other Pythons. Yes, 2014 should be a good year… 

 

Behind the Python Trivia

Monty Python seems to have take over my blog this week, but I suppose it can’t be helped. After all, this is the first time in 30 years that they’ve performed together. If you tuned in here looking for chatter about improvisation, Mystery Science Theatre/Cinematic Titanic, or anything about comedy in general, things will return to normal soon…

But in the meantime, as I’ve just re-released my second-ever Python book as an e-book, I thought I’d explain how it all came about.

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No one was more amazed than I was (unless it was my agent or my publisher) when my first book was released in late 1989. The First 200 Years of Monty Python sold amazingly well. Graham Chapman had passed away a few weeks before, the day before the Pythons had observed their 20th anniversary (in what Terry Jones had called “the worst case of party-pooping I’ve ever heard of”), so perhaps Python was on peoples’ minds more than usual.

And so, my editor and agent both approached me, basically saying “So what else have you got, Python-wise?” The problem was that I had thrown just about everything but the kitchen sink into the first book. John Cleese suggested I write a book on the solo projects of the various Pythons, but my editor and my agent weren’t terribly excited at the idea. I knew that a book like that would take a while to do right, so I tried to come up with an idea for something I could write rather quickly and painlessly. I thought about a quiz book, and I thought about a trivia book. There probably wasn’t enough material for either idea, so I thought I could combine the two and have a very nice, informative volume that I could turn out quickly and easily.

Boy, was I wrong.

I asked the surviving Pythons and they gave me their blessings. Michael Palin gave me a quote that I loved so much I insisted it go on the back cover: “Our forte was trivia.”

But I soon came to realize that if I was going to put together a list of each time one of them appeared as a Gumby, or performed in drag, or named a character Ken or Arthur, I was going to have to go back and watch every show several times, in great detail, stopping and starting the VHS copies that were all that existed then. It was not quick and easy.

But by the time I had finished, I had a compilation of Python data that amazed even me. Of course, it took nearly as long to write as did my first book, but it was well worth it.

It sold respectably well, well enough for my editor to ask for another Python book. And I went on to write a third book, on the solo projects of the Pythons, just as John had very wisely suggested.

But And Now For Something Completely Trivial was allowed to go out of print after that one printing. Seemed kind of a shame, and over the years I always thought it’d be nice to bring it back into print. And so now, over twenty years later, it’s back. If you buy it, I think you’ll enjoy reading it even more than I enjoyed writing it.

In fact, I’m sure of it.

Dead Parrots

My pal Mark Evanier and I have been trading comments about the Python reunion on our respective blogs. Here’s his latest.

I point this out in particular not because I disagree with him, because I very much agree with him. [Although I do disagree with Mark about something: the Hollywood Bowl shows were Sept. 26-29, 1980, not ’81.]

The Python reunion will inevitably be less of a performance and more of a rock concert, with people showing up to see the legends performing their legendary sketches. John Cleese always talks about how he was unnerved when they first performed the Dead Parrot Sketch live at the City Center in New York, because the audience was so quiet. He thought it has bombed, until he saw the audience members all mouthing the words.

On another occasion, performing the same sketch, Michael Palin had broken his concentration so badly that John had completely forgotten the words. He leaned over into the audience and said “What’s the next line?” And about a dozen people shouted it at him. He began conducting the audience, who knew all the lines as well as he did, for the rest of the sketch. Those are the kinds of moments that will be special for the audiences who see them live.

The guys are trying to satisfy both segments of the audience–those who want a “Greatest Hits” performance, and those who want to see something–well, something completely different. Which may be impossible. But it’s safe to say that there will be new spins on some of the old favorites, as well as some bits that have never been performed live, and several surprises.

A live show had been under serious discussion in 1999, to be held in Las Vegas. The opening number would have featured an over-the-top Vegas-style musical production, with showgirls pushing around Graham Chapman’s coffin. I doubt they’ll be taking the Vegas approach this time, but that gives you an idea of the sort of thinking they’re doing.

One thing is certain: whether audiences are going for the entertainment or the history, they’ll be getting both.

I’ll be posting ticket information here soon, along with some Python book information.