Monty Python star Michael Palin reveals rift with John Cleese and Eric Idle

THEY told us to Always Look on the Bright Side of Life but one Monty Python member has slammed his fellow comedians, calling them “very difficult”.

Undated : early photo of actors who formed Monty Python team (L-R) John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Eric Idle & Michael Palin (front). Pic ABC TV

THEY told us to Always Look on the Bright Side of Life but one Monty Python member has slammed his fellow comedians, calling them “very difficult”.

During his A Life in Television BAFTA Q&A in London, Michael Palin, 71, hit out at co-stars John Cleese and Eric Idle.

Palin detailed a split in the group between Cleese and Idle on one side, and himself and Terry Jones on the other.

“John and Eric had lifestyles, how can I say it, they were slightly more complicated. ... They wanted to go on holidays in Barbados and all that, rather more than Terry [Jones] and myself, who were just happy going to have a pint at the pub,” he said. “So they were stars and we weren’t, basically, and the trouble with stars is they can be a bit difficult.”

“So there were difficulties every now and then between those who had higher expectations of life, and those of us at the humbler end of the writing spectrum,” he said.

He says that Cleese was very controlling and that every joke had to be approved by the Fawlty Towers funnyman before it was used.

Monty Python delighted fans last year when the five living members combined for a series of sold-out shows.

However Palin says this is unlikely to happen again, largely because Cleese didn’t love the reunion.

Back together ... Four of the five Monty Python members ... Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin in 2014. Picture: AP

“Having just read (Cleese’s) very attractive if slightly overpriced autobiography, I could tell he wasn’t really keen to do a lot more,” Palin said. “At the very end, he says, “There I found myself at the O2, it was the second night and I was looking out and there were 15,000 people waiting for us to do this thing. Why couldn’t I be more excited?”

“That’s how he ends the book. And so, I know, I could tell that John wasn’t really keen to do a lot more. He said he would be, but you know you’ve got enough money by then,” Palin said.

The group however is expected to be back together at the Tribeca Film Festival in April where they celebrate 40 years of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Originally published as Monty Python star Michael Palin reveals rift with John Cleese and Eric Idle