This love can also be measured. Last November, when Palin and the other surviving members of the troupe announced there would be a historic live reunion, the first in 34 years, it quickly became front page news on both sides of the Atlantic.
20 thousand tickets for the first concert to be held in July, at London’s O2 Arena, were sold out in 43 seconds. Then, when nine additional shows were added on at the same venue, these also sold out in record time.
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Thank you.
– Did this longstanding admiration for the troupe surprise you?
“This is a very intriguing process. Individuals probably liked our sketches as constituting part of something they could relate to, being part of a group of people you would want to be associated with. It is also related to collectibles. Collecting materials relating to Monty Python gives people a kind of joy, for some reason. And the more bizarre the elements happen to be, the better.”
Palin was born in Sheffield, and by the age of 10 he began performing comic monologues in front of his mother, and his parents were actually supportive of his talent. Later on he admired the radio comedy series ‘The Goon Show’, which starred Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan.
While studying history at Oxford University, Palin met Terry Jones and together they began to make sketches for the “Oxford Revue, ” a comedy group at the university. In 1965 he was invited to appear on a television show called ‘Now!’. Then, along with Jones, he began writing for David Frost’s satirical show ‘The Frost Report’. On that show, the two met a pair of writers, John Cleese and Graham Chapman, and screenwriter Eric Idle. When Cleese called him and suggested they should all form one group, Palin agreed happily. They were joined by the American animator Terry Gilliam, and thus, Monty Python was born.
Michael Palin: “The beginning was not easy. I remember that after the first program of Monty Pythons’s Flying Circus aired, I thought I had probably made a terrible mistake. If you look at the recording, you can hear there were not a lot of laughs. The BBC had thought it would be just another form of classic comedy and invited ladies in their 40s and 50s into the audience. There was a terrible silence; even some of our closest friends were embarrassed. I remember I invited a friend for a drink afterwards and he waved me off with the excuse that he had no time.”
– When did you realize that it was working?
“After two or three programs I started to think that maybe there’s an audience. We heard students were watching us, that pubs were screening the show. We learned that Paul McCartney even stopped his rehearsals to watch our programme. And George Harrison even sent us a very nice note. Once journalists started praising us, then I realized that it was starting to catch on.”
– Still, the BBC did not make your life easy.
“True, they were not happy with the first season. Apparently they said to themselves, though, ‘Well, it’s on Saturday night, no one really watches, let’s let them continue’.”
– So you were very lucky.
“Sure. Today, for example, I do not think that the program would be created at all. Then there was just one person responsible for the whole comedy department, who loved and understood the job. If your idea pleased him, you got a programme.”
“Today, every proposal goes through careful analysis by producers who interfere with the script and worry over every word and phrase. I think this is a real problem for comedians now. It is hard if you are a creative person to explain on paper exactly what you are going to do just to get approval. Those who control the industry today understand financial calculations better than humour – they have no sense of humour.”
