Product Description

Michael Palin has kept a diary since newly married in the late 1960s, when he was beginning to make a name for himself as a TV scriptwriter (for the Two Ronnies, David Frost etc). Monty Python was just around the corner. This first volume of his diaries reveals how Python emerged and triumphed, how he, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the two Terrys - Jones and Gilliam - and Eric Idle, came together and changed the face of British comedy. But this is but only part of Palin's story. Here is his growing family, his home in a north London Victorian terrace, which grows as he buys the house next door and then a second at the bottom of the garden; here, too, is his solo effort - as an actor, in Three Men in a Boat, his writing endeavours (often in partnership with Terry Jones) that produces Ripping Yarns and even a pantomime. Meanwhile Monty Python refuses to go away: the hugely successful movies that follow the TV (his account of the making of both The Holy Grail and the Life of Brian movies are pager-turners), the at times extraordinary goings on of the many powerful personalities who coalesced to form the Python team, the fight to prevent a American TV network from bleeping out the best jokes on US trasmission, and much more - all this makes perceptive, funny and rivetting reading.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4052 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-03
• Released on: 2006-10-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 696 pages

David Baddiel, THE TIMES
'This combination of niceness, with his natural volubility, creates Palin's expansiveness.'

Review
'This combination of niceness, with his natural volubility, creates Palin's expansiveness.' (David Baddiel THE TIMES )

'Palin's style is so fluid, and his sincerity so palpable, that it is often easy to underestimate just how talented he is as a comedian, a broadcaster and a writer..... they are just too good and his is too modest.' (Ruth Cowen THE SUNDAY EXPRESS )

'a real delight to read;' (SAGA MAGAZINE )

'his showbiz observations are so absorbing..... Palin is an elegant and engaging writer.' (William Cook THE GUARDIAN )

'Palin's steady eye, contemplative bent and instinct for honest appraisal make him the perfect chronicler of a frequently insane period which saw the 'Monty Python' team become the most celebrated comedians in the world.' (John O'Connell TIME OUT )

'a slow burn, revealing its pleasures only gradually, and allowing readers the warm glow of hindsight denied its writer...... this book will be the perfect present.' (Marcus Berkmann THE SPECTATOR )

'the charting of the haphazard and often perilous ascent of the Python phenomenon up the greasy pole of fame makes for delightful and often extraordinarily funny reading.... An entertaining and at times deeply moving read. With nearly two decades of recent dairies still untapped, we may confidently sit back and wait for more.' (Michael Simkins THE MAIL ON SUNDAY )

'a wealth of fascinating stuff about Monty Python.' (William Cook THE INDEPENDENT )

'our favourite TV explorer shows us the workings of an unstoppable machine.' (DAILY EXPRESS )

'a riveting commentary to a remarkably creative decade.' (ACADEMY )

William Cook, THE GUARDIAN
'his showbiz observations are so absorbing..... Palin is an elegant and engaging writer.'

Customer Reviews

Not at all silly
Perhaps the oddest thing about a book written by one of the foremost comedians of a generation is the lack of humour in it. But then, this was never designed to be a funny book. Rather it is the story, the journey, of how one of a group of six men became comedy icons, men who set a comedic standard that 30 years later is still to be transcended.

Comedy, we learn, is HARD WORK, not simply dashing off a sketch with a dead parrot in it and then settling back next to the pool, drinking Chateau de Chasselas and waiting for the bank to send a wheelbarrow full of money around. Rather, this book is about how the Pythons variously loved and hated each other, their doubts and egos, how they fought (and mostly, thankfully, won) their fights against censorship.

This is a diary, not a biography or a hagiography, and so we can take it as honest when Palin relates how, ten years after Python first came upon us, he still drives a Mini and how during a meal Eric Idle `reveals that three of the Pythons are broke` (although John Cleese has a `dirty Rolls`).

If you are looking for belly laughs, get a CD of Python. If you want to know about the egos and the alchoholism, the pain and the pleasure, buy this book. The book won`t make you laugh, but you may learn more about what makes Palin laugh. And what it cost him.

Fascinating
This book is wonderfully vivid and engrossing - unlike so many post-Python retrospectives, which can often seem either lifeless or over-eager to grind certain axes, this takes you back to when it all happened, and also provides all kinds of delightful and insightful anecdotes about Palin, his colleagues and his comedy.

A gentle, pleasant read
The 600 pages were apparently edited from about five times as much original material. I think the amount chosen for inclusion should perhaps have been reduced by about half again as there are many accounts of "Python" meetings and other business meetings. That said, the diaries make a gentle and pleasant read for anyone who was around during the Python years and has an interest in the making of Monty Python and other projects in which Palin was involved. There are some insights into the personalities of the Pythons and the stresses and conflicts which emerged in the years following their initial success. The book becomes more interesting as the years pass and some well-known non-Pythons like George Harrison become part of the story though the analysis of characters and current events never attains any depth. Palin comes across as a thoughtful, likeable man, who clearly makes a great deal of money during these years but for whom money is not the primary motivation. To sum up, the book is an enjoyable bed-time read, though not a book to return to once read.