A Nest of Pythons

[steepholm]

I switched on the radio this afternoon to hear someone paying a very nice tribute to Jan Morris, who has just died, aged 94. (A good age - the same as my mother - but still.) It turned out to be Michael Palin.

It got me to thinking about the Pythons. I can't pretend to any great expertise on their personalities, but of course they've been part of my life for more than 50 years, so I have mental images of each of them, somewhat informed by occasional evidence.

Palin has always seemed the most straightforwardly nice of the bunch. Chapman I have little idea about - except that he drank too much. Was that because he had demons, or did he just like alcohol? Terry Jones is equally a cipher: I can only judge his character from the regard in which he was held by many others, although I suppose a little bubble reading "don manqué" always floated above his head. Gilliam always struck me as a dick; nothing I've seen of him has changed that impression. Cleese, once my favourite, has become an entitled bore. Idle I've never quite been able to divorce from the George Cole-ish Flash Harry persona he used in some of the sketches, and his ability to monetise the brand in Spamalot reinforced that association. Not that I mind him doing it - not at all.

How far does that roll call line up with your mental image, or - better yet - your actual knowledge?

Comments

[sovay]

How far does that roll call line up with your mental image, or - better yet - your actual knowledge?

I have very little biographical information about any of the Pythons, but every book I have read by Michael Palin has reinforced the idea that he is an essentially nice person as well as an interesting and intelligent writer and I really appreciate it.

[ashlyme]

This pretty much ties in with my image of the Pythons. Palin just seems like a Good Egg. Idle I don't mind too much, especially when he's been on Infinite Monkey Cage. I liked Gillam's animations for the series, but never been much bothered by his films. The rest I just shrug at, really.

[sovay]

I liked Gillam's animations for the series, but never been much bothered by his films.

I will argue quite seriously for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and The Fisher King (1991), the latter of which was my introduction to his non-Python work. I don't seem to have formed attachments to any of the others and anti-attached to Time Bandits (1981), actually.

[ashlyme]

*anti-attached to Time Bandits (1981), actually*

What is it about that particular film? That's one I really did want to like.

[calimac]

Aside from the general agreement that yes, Michael Palin is the nicest one (though he too has his prickly side), that matches up very little. Chapman was less a comedy writer than a genius at picking what by others would be funny to an audience or not; consequently they relied on his judgment a lot. He was also, aside perhaps from Palin, the strongest actor, which is why he was leading man in two movies. His seriously alcoholic period was a great drain on everyone, but it was relatively brief: starting at the third season of Flying Circus, he was on the wagon by Life of Brian.

Jones I go by Cleese's description: the two of them got in furious arguments in Flying Circus days, largely because Cleese was English and very reserved while Jones was Welsh and very excitable. But Cleese is full of praise for Jones as a movie director: very organized, very efficient, sure of what he wanted and the ability to get it done, and also aware - unlike Gilliam - that this was a comedy so the best shot was the one with the funniest acting, not the one with best lighting or whatever.

The others respected Gilliam's unique creative genius, but that doesn't mean they understood or agreed with him on very much. Which just means he doesn't fit in, it doesn't make him an outright dick. I found his memoir very sober and clear on expressing his artistic ideas. They just weren't very Pythonesque ideas.

I agree about Cleese: once the finest British comedian of his generation, and with sensitive views on public affairs, he's evolved into a cranky old geezer with appalling ideas. His memoir is still good with a minimum of that, though.

[rushthatspeaks]

Chapman had demons all right: queer and closeted and everything that goes with that, and just a little too early for the gay liberation movement. I have always felt very bad for him.

I highly recommend Terry Jones's children's books. Nicobobinus was a formative text of my childhood, long before I triangulated it with the Pythons in my head, and is IMO staggeringly erudite, very funny, and, bar none, the weirdest fucking children's book I've ever read, which is saying something. His others are also good, although not like that one. Nicobobinus is levels of weird which snuck up on me and clocked me in the face thirty years later when I ran across a random historical reference and discovered that he didn't make up the pirate monks, which were both real and where and when he said they were. If that gives you any idea, which it probably doesn't.

[steepholm]

I've not come across Nicobobinus - I'll check it out!

[tree_and_leaf]

Nicobobinus is a wonderful book, and, as you say, erudite in an entirely unflashy way. I must find my childhood copy.

[cmcmck]

Yes to your view of Gilliam as a dick, but a talented dick.

Cleese seems to have aged decidedly unpleasantly.

[steepholm]

Oh, certainly talented. That said, while I enjoyed his MP animations, I didn't much care for his those of his solo films that I've seen - but I'm happy to assign that to personal taste.

[joyeuce]

I have, very briefly, met four of the Pythons, when taking part in Not the Messiah back in 2009. Palin was lovely and very patient with lots of the performers wanting autographs at rehearsals, and his performance was spot on and hilarious. Idle seemed quite full of himself, but then he was directing as well as performing, and he was good at getting what he wanted out of everyone as well as being funny. Jones was uncommunicative and gave a surprisingly poor performance of his one song (having, annoyingly, refused to rehearse with the choir), but possibly he was already starting to suffer from dementia. Gilliam was the one we saw the least of as he only had one line, but he was friendly enough (to a whole crowd of over-excited singers backstage after the show) and didn't strike me as a dick.

[steepholm]

Of course, I'd be very happy to be wrong about Gilliam. :)