Monty Python

Terry Jones threw typewriter at John Cleese during Monty Python row, says Sir Michael Palin

by

Sir Michael Palin has revealed that his fellow ‘Monty Python’ star Terry Jones once threw a typewriter at John Cleese during a row.

By Chris Edwards

Sir Michael Palin has revealed that his fellow Monty Python star Terry Jones once threw a typewriter at John Cleese during a row.

In a new interview with the Radio Times, Palin opened up about the “huge” arguments that occurred within the comedy group, which consisted of himself, Cleese, Jones, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Graham Chapman.

“Since Python split up, and even in our time together, we have all had huge arguments,” said Palin.

“The great thing is that we don’t all agree. I remember Terry Jones once threw a typewriter across the room at John.”

The troupe split up in 1999 before briefly reuniting in 2014 for the variety show Monty Python Live (Mostly).  However, a row between Idle and Cleese and Gilliam over the way the group’s finances have been handled emerged earlier this year.

Palin, who has become known for his various travel programmes, said he wasn’t surprised to see the remaining group members fight over finances.

“What’s happening with Python now doesn’t surprise me greatly. It’s just a pity it’s not to do with comedy any more. It’s to do with people’s lifestyles,” he said.

In February, Idle claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that the finances of the troupe, founded in 1969, were still a “disaster”.

He blamed their financial issues on Holly Gilliam, daughter of fellow Python Terry and manager of the troupe, saying: “We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously.

“But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.”

In a series of subsequent posts, the actor and comedian said he had to keep working into his 80s to make up for his losses, and that his fellow Pythons have had to do the same. Cleese is currently working on a reboot of Fawlty Towers, Palin continues to make travel shows, and Gilliam is directing films.

The group made their debut on television with the BBC sketch series Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which ran from 1969 to 1974. They later turned their attention to the big screen, making Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1975, Monty Python’s Life of Brian in 1979, and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life in 1983.

Elsewhere in the Radio Times interview, Palin dismissed the idea of another Python reunion, saying that the one they did in 2014 allowed them to “bow out gracefully”.

Jones passed away in January 2020, with Palin leading the tributes. Chapman died in 1989 at the age of 48.

Source: Terry Jones threw typewriter at John Cleese during Monty Python row, says Sir Michael Palin

Michael Palin “Nights in Belfast”

by

Ken Branagh’s film Belfast is an overwhelming and moving experience. It reminds us that the human spirit is resilient. That there is a flame of goodness and decency and compassion in all of us that can flicker and fade but will never be blown out.

Because of the events that Branagh deals with, the vicious sectarian violence and the heavy handed military response which followed, Belfast became a city to avoid. A city synonymous with grief and anger, with lives and hopes cut short.

The Arts Theatre, Botanic Avenue, Belfast, birthplace of my first-ever one-man show. It doesn’t look much, but it meant a lot to me. The end of the railway bridge can be seen rising on the left. Noise from passing trains could kill a joke. It’s not there any more. – Photo credit: Northern Ireland Historical Photographical Society

 

In 1981, when I was asked to put on a one-man show at the Arts Theatre Belfast during the Festival, I readily agreed. Friends were guarded about my decision. There were bombs going off, and killings and reprisal killings were still a regular feature of life in the city. But the rationale for my travels has always been see it for yourself. If you want to know what people think you have to meet them.

This was the first time I’d ever done a one-man show, and I’d loaded myself with a paraphernalia of costume and prop changes which I knew had to be done fast otherwise I’d lose my audience. So well-rehearsed was I that I ran out of material after 35 minutes. I threw myself on the audience, announcing an early interval (‘ Drink as much as you like’) and a whole second half of Q and A.

The response was fantastic, including a suggestion I try and break the Arts Theatre record for running from the stage, round the auditorium and back onto the stage again which I was told had been set by Sir John Gielgud at 19.5 seconds. ( I beat it by three seconds !) I learnt a valuable lesson in Belfast that night. Listen to the audience. Hear what they say about where they live.

I returned to the Festival two years later with a show called More Than Thirty Five Minutes with Michael Palin. I went back there throughout the 80’s. Though I was offered the Grand Opera House I always preferred the shabby intimacy of the Arts Theatre. It was twenty years before I ever felt the need to do my one-man show anywhere else.

Thank you Belfast.

Source: Nights in Belfast – The Official Michael Palin Website