To borrow a phrase from Paddy Chayefsky, Eric Idle is mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore. The founding member of Monty Python, 80, has taken to X in recent days to clear the air on a number of matters regarding the legendary British troupe — whose catalog (four seasons of Monty Python’s Flying Circus plus five feature films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python’s Life of Brian) have elevated them to “Beatles of comedy” status. (Idle, it’s worth noting, is also the mind behind the 1978 Beatles parody The Rutles.) The claims — which many fans say are ruining their cherished Python memories — are as follows:
- Idle is Out of Money — and Blames the Gilliams
Idle — who recently put his Hollywood Hills home on the market for $6.5 million — is referring to Holly Gilliam, daughter of Python member (and Brazil director) Terry Gilliam, who has managed Monty Python finances for a decade. Terry Gilliam, who appeared on THR’s It Happened in Hollywood podcast last year, did not respond to a request for comment, nor did his daughter.
But John Cleese, Idle’s former co-Python (the other members are Michael Palin; Terry Jones, who died in 2020; and Graham Chapman, who died in 1985), retorted on X: “I have worked with Holly for the last ten years and I find her very efficient, clear-minded, hard-working, and pleasant to have dealings with.” He added that Palin “has asked me to to make it clear that he shares this opinion. Terry Gilliam is also in agreement with this.” Neither Cleese nor Palin could be reached for comment.
2. Idle Is Estranged From Cleese
While Cleese, 84, has had his own financial woes to contend with — he embarked upon an Alimony Tour in 2010 to pay for a costly divorce — it’s clear there is no love lost between the two men. Said Cleese on X: “We always loathed and despised each other, but it’s only recently that the truth has begun to emerge.”
3. Idle Spent His Savings on Legal Bills
Idle references an “entitled” “jerk” who pursued the group in court for seven years. He was referring to Mark Forstater, a producer on Holy Grail who christened himself “the 7th Python” and who sued Idle for a portion of the profits from Spamalot, the Broadway musical inspired by the film whose book and music are by Idle. In 2013, a court ruled Idle had to pay Forstater over $1 million.
4. Idle Will Never Return to Monty Python, in Any Form
Sorry, folks. Not even an ABBA-esque holographic reunion is in the cards. Idle is working on a new musical, however. That said, he still has a soft spot for his Python output: “I still love and am proud of what we did as Python. It was a very unique group. I think of us as an ex-Liverpool team. We played together well. Way back in the day. But it was never very supportive of people’s feelings and emotions. Not Brothers. Colleagues.”
5. Idle is No Fan of Streaming
Flying Circus and its library of classic sketches — “Dead Parrot,” “Ministry of Silly Walks,” “The Lumberjack Song,” etc. — has been available to stream on Netflix since 2018, as are Holy Grail, Life of Brian and the 2014 concert reunion The Meaning of Live (the last time Cleese and Idle shared a stage). But for Idle, the revenue that generates isn’t nearly enough. “I dont mind not being wealthy,” he clarified on X. “I prefer being funny. I don’t like being assumed to be wealthy. It’s different.”