BREAKING: Monty Python Doing a “Final Reunion” in 2014
After some teases from Terry Jones, one of the five remaining members of the iconic comedy troupe Monty Python, at a press conference yesterday it was announced that a “final reunion” will happen next year.
The remaining five – Jones, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Michael Palin (Graham Chapman, the sixth member, passed away in 1989) – will put on a show at London’s O2 arena on July 1st, with their usual brand of irreverent, often insane comedy sketches and social commentary and parody. It will be the first time they go on stage since the 1998 Aspen Comedy Festival, though over the years they have reunited for assorted side projects (i.e. A Liar’s Autobiography and Almost the Truth – The Lawyer’s Cut)
This isn’t the first time the men have put on live shows, over the years they went on tour back in their heyday and in the midst of their film career – Holy Grail, Life of Brian and the Meaning of Life – they put out a sort of concert film showing off their stage skills (this is where Gilliam especially, usually just the animator-sometimes-director-something-designer of the group, got to shine with “I Got Two Legs”).
Eric Idle said at the press conference the timing was partially due to their collective ages, average being about 70. “If we left it too long, it would be too late,” he said. Cleese was asked about what the material might consist of, new or old? “People really want to see the old hits, but we don’t want to do them in a predictable way.” And although this is a stand-alone concert (possibly, as well, to commemorate their 45th anniversary of Flying Circus, the show that made them a cult sensation), a tour is not completely out of the question.
Tickets go on sale November 25th. As an aside, the conference was moderated by actor Warwick Davis.
(note below is NSFW):
