Eric Idle and Neil Innes [split topic]

[kngen]

None of the Pythons have done anything of any worth for the past 40 years or so, to be fair ( although Michael Palin's quite good at the old serious acting in other people's stuff. He was the second best thing in " Remember Me".)

He was good, and funny, in The Death of Stalin, too.

[TheMonk]

He now looks like a Spitting Image puppet of himself.

[Rizla]

None of the Pythons have done anything of any worth for the past 40 years or so, to be fair ( although Michael Palin's quite good at the old serious acting in other people's stuff. He was the second best thing in " Remember Me".)
Also, Neil Innes, if people * must* refer to him by using an ordinal number and the word " Python" was the eighth Python, if anything ( but, more importantly, he was Neil Innes.)

I say that's a wee bit unfair, especially if that's "Meaning of Life" out the window.
Gilliam's directed some clunkers but "Brazil" and "12 Monkeys" at least have to be considered.  "Time Bandits" is one of the best kids films ever made.
Palin - wrote "Time Bandits", acted in same and "Brazil" and "A Fish Called Wanda" among others. His travel documentaries, whilst not funny, are very good (I like this early effort-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYi1qLUAJJI
Jones did some highly entertaining historical documentaries and wrote some fabulous kids books.
Cleese did Wanda and Clockwise, which is ok if I remember. Other than that, I dunno. I feel I'm forgetting something...
Chapman didn't get much done comedywise but his autobiography, whilst co-written, is a treat. I've still never sat all the way through "Yellowbeard" mind.
Idle's film work has been uniformly, reliably shite. I'm still pissed off that I spent actual money to see "Nuns On The Run" when it came out.

[DrGreggles]

Idle's film work has been uniformly, reliably shite.

'Splitting Heirs' is one of the few films I've walked out of.

And it was an in-flight movie, etc...

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

[Revelator]

Cleese did Wanda and Clockwise, which is ok if I remember. Other than that, I dunno. I feel I'm forgetting something...

As for other work, Fierce Creatures is an underrated little comedy and Cleese's autobiography is excellent.

[Bennett Brauer]

^  Yes, I wrote in the Cleese thread a few months ago that I unexpectedly enjoyed Fierce Creatures more than Wanda.  I should really watch it again to find out whether it was just a case of lowered expectations at the time.

[Jake Thingray]

Revelator, I admire your scholarship as regards Python, but in continuing to defend Cleese and Idle, you really are the American equivalent of daft old British men who still talk in Goon Show voices and catchphrases.

[Revelator]

Revelator, I admire your scholarship as regards Python, but in continuing to defend Cleese and Idle, you really are the American equivalent of daft old British men who still talk in Goon Show voices and catchphrases.

Endless vituperation is no better than endless veneration: I don't think I've indulged in the latter (you won't find me praising Rutles 2 or Idle's memoir or much else from his post-RWT career) but you've been mainlining the former. Otherwise you wouldn't confuse occasional qualified praise for continual wholesale approval.

[Bennett Brauer]

you really are the American equivalent of daft old British men who still talk in Goon Show voices and catchphrases.

Says the man whose personal text is a quote from a 1960s British radio show.

[Autopsy Turvey]

Revelator, I admire your scholarship as regards Python, but in continuing to defend Cleese and Idle,

Defend! From what? Some of their personal behaviour and later work being disapproved of by a few highly-strung folk on the internet?! They're not Burke and Hare man! They've brought more joy to the world than is remotely comprehensible.

you really are the American equivalent of daft old British men who still talk in Goon Show voices and catchphrases.

In the scheme of things, this doesn't seem a bad thing to be.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I'd say Eric Idle's definitely a ' berk' with girly ' hair'.

[Shaky]

I say that's a wee bit unfair, especially if that's "Meaning of Life" out the window.
Gilliam's directed some clunkers but "Brazil" and "12 Monkeys" at least have to be considered.  "Time Bandits" is one of the best kids films ever made.
Palin - wrote "Time Bandits", acted in same and "Brazil" and "A Fish Called Wanda" among others. His travel documentaries, whilst not funny, are very good (I like this early effort-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYi1qLUAJJI
Jones did some highly entertaining historical documentaries and wrote some fabulous kids books.
Cleese did Wanda and Clockwise, which is ok if I remember. Other than that, I dunno. I feel I'm forgetting something...
Chapman didn't get much done comedywise but his autobiography, whilst co-written, is a treat. I've still never sat all the way through "Yellowbeard" mind.
Idle's film work has been uniformly, reliably shite. I'm still pissed off that I spent actual money to see "Nuns On The Run" when it came out.

Yeah, it's really only Cleese and Idle who've been coasting on fumes for decades (and the former's Fierce Creatures from '97 is still about half a very good film). Jones and Palin have done lots of brilliant, non-comedic work and Gilliam's films are still big events, regardless of quality.

[Jake Thingray]

Speaking of Gilliam, oh dear. Wish it was Idle, with his Playboy Mansion-ing, far lesser talent and talk of casting "hot girls", that was behaving like this instead.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/01/new-terry-gilliam-interview-is-a-master-class-in-cringe

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Gilliam manages to mistake being iconoclastic for being boring in that interview, which is a cultural disease a lot of people seem to have now. Almost every interview with any artist is terrible now. Everyone is either too tediously woke or too tediously anti-woke. Sad to see that Gilliam's brain has been completely destroyed by the discourse

[Autopsy Turvey]

Abominably shit article. Some smug prick at Vanity Fair has been paid to string together some out-of-context clauses - quipped by a 79yo man as on-the-hoof replies to no doubt irrelevant and shit questions - and go, all you need to know is, this man has said things that Vanity pissing Fair readers find distasteful. And Gilliam
is meant to be the cunt in that story?

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Well the full interview is here in case anyone is curious: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/terry-gilliam-interview-harvey-weinstein-victims-metoo-race-a9269136.html

[chveik]

he does sound like a boring twat

[Spudgun]

Abominably shit article. Some smug prick at Vanity Fair has been paid to string together some out-of-context clauses - quipped by a 79yo man as on-the-hoof replies to no doubt irrelevant and shit questions - and go, all you need to know is, this man has said things that Vanity pissing Fair readers find distasteful. And Gilliam
is meant to be the cunt in that story?

Yeah, agree 100% - that Vanity Fair article is transparently a hatchet job, no matter what Terry actually said. The headline telling you what to think of the person (rather than something they said) should be the first elephant-sized red flag to any thinking reader, and describing the same person as "once-great" in the strapline the second. It only gets worse from there.

This has been your daily Year 9 Media Studies lesson.

[neveragain]

I ended up more annoyed with the journalist, even if I don't agree with everything Gilliam says. It's a hatchet job and smug as shit. Maybe it's the humourless feeling emanating from her, dismissing pepperpots as offensive and nothing else.

Edit: Jinx on the "hatchet job"!

[Jim Bob]

Yep, another person here who thought the biggest twat there was the journalist themselves.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

At this point, with 3 people chipping in with that, I'm going to have to say that I think that's ridiculous. She definitely has her share of palpable liberal smugness, but considering his comments about #MeToo and his sub-"I  identify as an attack helicopter" schtick, the idea that she exceeds him in embarrassing behaviour is downright odd.

[Jake Thingray]

Not defending her at all, but in moaning about their treatment of women and inclusion of "racial slurs", she's merely keeping up the tradition of the Independent, also the Grauniad and Time Out magazine, in doing so during the 1980's/90's whenever interviewing one of the Pythons, or if MPFC was repeated.

[Glebe]

I've only flipped through/dipped into the book so far, but it certainly seems like a constant stream of name-dropping (and plenty of Idle-with-the-stars photos too).

[Autopsy Turvey]

How is it possible not to name-drop when most of your friends are famous celebrities? What showbiz autobiographies don't involve lots of name-dropping? Barry Cryer's always banging on about the people he's worked with, the shallow glory-hunting cunt.

considering his comments about #MeToo and his sub-"I  identify as an attack helicopter" schtick, the idea that she exceeds him in embarrassing behaviour is downright odd.

Possibly he's sick and tired of the toxic weaponised ideologies that hold sway in modern Hollywood and twitter circles, annoyed by the amount of cant and sanctimony around them, and doesn't just want to trot out the usual celebrity platitudes to curry favour with the sort of shining sacks of shit who write for Vanity pissing Fair.

Or, he's a sad old rich white man baby cunt who doesn't understand the world has changed and it'll be good when he's dead.

Possibly he can say what he likes because he's Terry Gilliam, or, maybe his legacy is stained and Time Bandits will never be quite as enjoyable again knowing that he went on to have such a sadly unprogressive political outlook in his late 70s.

[Glebe]

I dunno, he just seems to focus on the glitzy, more shallow side of things.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Gilliam can say what he wants tbh, I don't really give a fuck. It doesn't change my opinion of his work. The fact that that he'd inspire passionate defence or condemnation is pretty amusing considering how transparently low effort his statements are. But I guess there will always be brainboiled culture warriors champing at the bit, itching to write screeds on internet forums. AT, for someone who likes to present themselves as a common sense man of the people, you are by far this forum's angriest contributor, always frothing with rage at some distant, abstract enemy and the thoughts you imagine that they have, willing to pummel out long sneery posts at the vaguest trace of something you disagree with. You know that there are professionals that can help with this sort of thing, right? It cannot be a healthy use of time

[Autopsy Turvey]

you are by far this forum's angriest contributor,

This is definitely not true! I wish it were for all your sakes. But I certainly relish having a right old go at shit that I think is shit, like the rest of us. You might just notice it more because it's often swimming in the opposite direction from the usual flow of bile.

always frothing with rage at some distant, abstract enemy and the thoughts you imagine that they have,

There's no froth, nor do I consider any of these people/institutions my 'enemy' (though I grant you, I realise Hollywood and twitter are not my friends), nor do I 'imagine' that anyone has a set of views that haven't already been expressed, though I may have interpreted them differently than you.

willing to pummel out long sneery posts at the vaguest trace of something you disagree with.

If that was true I'd never be off this forum! What you're saying here is that I'm prepared to object to statements I disagree with, and I can get a bit fulsome and verbose. Guilty! Generally I'm here when I can't sleep, so this helps with that I'm sure you'll agree, but there's not much point having a discussion in soundbites, which is another reason I'll never take to twitter.

You know that there are professionals that can help with this sort of thing, right? It cannot be a healthy use of time

Ooh I know, you've recommended me for psychiatric treatment before for not agreeing with you, but no I'm just looking to join a discussion in a place where everybody is allowed to be monstrously tedious and hateful about their strongly-worded bugbears.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

not even reading that, just incredibly boring stuff, always, hair trigger talking point spamming then "oh gosh, oh dear, is there no such thing as decorum and rational debate anymore?" when someone responds. tedious schtick

[Autopsy Turvey]

not even reading that, just incredibly boring stuff,

Top work!

always, hair trigger talking point spamming

Not sure what this means, except writing a bit too wordily about the subject being discussed and not shutting up when you want me to.

tedious schtick

Whereas your 'pick apart the person not their argument, then make a point of saying you haven't read the reply' schtick is fucking thrilling son!