Sir Michael Palin has said there are “very few” people who still remember Monty Python.
The actor and comedian, 81, appeared on Good Morning Britain on ITV on Monday alongside presenters Susanna Reid and Adil Ray.
Sir Michael was part of cult favorite comedy group Monty Python, which formed in 1969 and also consisted of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Terry Jones.
The award-winning group greatly influenced British and American comedy for many years, including the early editions of Saturday Night Live.
But despite being a staple of British humour, Sir Michael admitted he now reckons there are still “very few people” who remember the Pythons.
Sir Michael Palin has said there are “very few” people who still remember Monty Python
Susanna said: ‘You’ve had great success. Of course, we say you’re best known for Monty Python, but I wonder if that’s true now.
“I mean, I was watching your documentary about travel to North Korea and you really are a travel journalist and an explorer.”
Sir Michael joked: ‘Well, I think there are still very few people who remember Monty Python.
‘Actually, John Cleese is still around. But I have been very lucky because I have the opportunity to enjoy one of my favorite passions: traveling.
“And to be able to travel and travel with a team and bring back a story and a series from all extraordinary parts of the world – the most extraordinary being North Korea – was something of a real privilege.”
Palin has been making travel documentaries since the 1980s, visiting North Korea in 2018 and also visiting the North and South Poles, the Sahara and the Himalayas, among others.
But his rise to fame was with the comedy group Monty Python, who rose to fame for their sketch series Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which aired on the BBC from 1969 to 1974.
Three films followed: Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975), The Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983).
Eric Idle, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones in The Meaning of Life by Monty Python – 1983
Sir Michael also spoke about his travels in North Korea and spoke about the death of his wife Helen last year.
Palin appeared in one of Python’s most famous sketches: The Spanish Inquisition
Palin starred in some of Python’s most iconic sketches, including The Lumberjack Song and The Spanish Inquisition. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
Jones and Palin met at Oxford University, where they performed with The Oxford Revue. Meanwhile, Chapman, Cleese and Gilliam met at Cambridge University and were members of Footlights.
Elsewhere in the interview, Sir Michael admitted that he skipped his university studies to focus on the comedy group.
He told Susanna and Adil: “I read history at university, but the only thing I did in the end with my degree was do comedy with Terry Jones and join the Monty Pythons.”
The Monty Python star began writing comedy while enrolled at Oxford’s Brasenose College, where he read modern history, in the early 1960s.
Last week Sir Michael returned to Oxford to take an honorary degree, 59 years after studying modern history in the city.
He was one of six people to receive honorary degrees during Oxford University’s annual Encaenia ceremony.
Sir Michael married his wife Helen Gibbins in 1966 and was devastated when she died of kidney failure in May 2023. The couple have three children and four grandchildren.
Michael Palin reunited with his friends and Monty Python co-stars John Cleese and Terry Gilliam while celebrating his 81st birthday in May.
The comedy legend joined his old friends John, 84, and Terry, 83. The trio are part of the iconic comedy group formed in 1969, with Graham Chapman, Eric Idle and Terry Jones (pictured in 2015, LR Terry Gilliam). , Michael Palin, John Cleese, Eric Idle, John Oliver and Terry Jones)
Speaking about the loss of his wife of 57 years, Sir Michael heartbreakingly admitted that her loss was like “losing a bit of a limb”.
He said, ‘It’s like you’re a unit and then you’re not.’
“It’s a big part of my life that can’t really be accessed in the same way.”
She went on to describe the sweet and funny story of how they met on a Suffolk beach and said she threw him a ball to get his attention.
He joked: “So she looked at me and then had to look at me for the next 63 years!”
In May, Sir Michael reunited with his friends and Monty Python co-stars John Cleese and Terry Gilliam as he celebrated his 81st birthday.
The comedy legend was joined by old friends John, 84, and Terry, 83. The trio are part of the iconic comedy group formed in 1969, with Graham Chapman, Eric Idle and Terry Jones.
The three friends seemed to be having the time of their lives laughing and laughing as they celebrated their friend’s special day.
Michael with his late wife Helen, in 2015, at the launch of the Magna Carta show in London.
John shared a snap from his lunch where he and Terry are seen flashing cheerful smiles.
Meanwhile, the birthday boy looked up at the moon as he was seen holding a dessert plate with chocolate frosting that read: ‘Happy Birthday.’
Captioning the photo, John wrote: ‘An 18ft python celebrates Pallin’s 181st birthday and his 195th travel book. Photo taken at a cafe on top of Mount Kilimanjaro.’
Longtime fans of the British comedy group were thrilled by the trio’s reunion.
‘My dad introduced me to Monty Python when I was just a kid in the 70s and told me I’d love them because they have “silly humour” and I was already in the Carry-On Gang. Dad is gone, but I still look at you whenever I can. Much love and respect’;
‘The 2,000th book and TV series will be just as good! Legends. Absolute legends. We have had the honor of being entertained by “you” for the last 50 years or so!’; ‘Silly gentlemen… you are responsible for many laughs and giggles in my life. Happy birthday Michael’;
‘It looks good Michael’; ‘Charming Gentlemen’; ‘Happy birthday Michael!’;
John has recently claimed that “literally-minded” people have ruined comedy by not understanding “metaphor, irony and exaggeration” and missing the punchline.
Speaking ahead of the release of his stage adaptation of the classic British comedy Fawlty Towers, he revealed the difficulties he had getting the script off the ground due to concerns about how viewers would receive some of the language.
John explained that some of the original dialogue used in the two-hour play, which merges three popular episodes into one overarching story, has been edited to remove “racial slurs” due to changing perceptions within society.
“I think there was a scene where Major (Gowen) used a couple of words that you can’t use now, racial slurs that they would fall for, so we cut it,” he told reporters last week.
John has recently claimed that “literally-minded” people have ruined comedy by not understanding “metaphor, irony and exaggeration” and missing the punchline.
“You see, there’s always a problem with comedy that you deal with literal-minded people.”
The play is based on episodes of the two comedy series entitled The Hotel Inspector, Communication Problems and The Germans, which originally features a scene in which the character Major Gowen uses offensive language about the West Indies cricket team. .
In 2020, the episode was briefly removed from the UKTV streaming service, which is owned by BBC Studios, due to ‘racial slurs’ before it was later reinstated with additional guidance and warnings highlighting ‘potentially offensive content and language’. presented.
Speaking about the challenges of writing comedy, John said: “Every time you do comedy, you’re dealing with literal-minded people, and literal-minded people don’t understand irony.
“And that means that if you take them seriously, you get rid of a lot of comedy because literal-minded people don’t understand metaphors, they don’t understand irony, and they don’t understand comic exaggeration.
“The result is that, if you listen to them, they are people who, in terms of understanding what other human beings say and do, are not playing around with everything.”