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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Michael Palin's diaries begin in the late 1960s when, newly married and struggling to make a name for himself in the world of television comedy, he began writing for hugely popular programmes, such as The Frost Report and The Two Ronnies. But Monty Python was just around the corner ...
In this first volume of his diaries he tells how Python emerged and triumphed. Enjoying an unlikely cult status early on, the group then proceeded to tour in the United States and Canada, appearing, like pop stars, at sold-out stadiums coast to coast and on national chat shows. They even stayed in hotels newly trashed by Led Zeppelin, later investors in Monty Python and the Holy Grail/
With this growing fame in the United States came the move from local public broadcasting to national television there and battles over censorhip followed as up to one line in four was cut from the Python sketches, rendering them incomprehensible. Eventually both Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin took the stand in the Federal Court in New York to defend the Pythons' position.
As their popularity grew, so Palin relates how, individually, the Pythons also went their separate ways. John Cleese wrote and acted in the now classic Fawlty Towers, while Michael Palin acted in an adaptation of the memorable Ripping Yarns series. But at the same time, Michael and the others were working to help keep the group together so they could reform for stage shows and the now celebrated series of films including The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian, many of whose lines are known by heart by a considerable proportion of the English-speaking world.
The birth and childhood of his three children, his father's growing disability, learning to cope as a young man with celebrity, his friendship with George Harrison, living through the three-day week and the minder's strike, and all the trials of a peripateticlife are also essential ingredients of these diaries. A perceptive and funny chronicle, the diaries are a rich portrait of a fascinating period.
With the exception of a number of entries written during a Barbados writing excusion for the Python team on Life of Brian, these diaries were never (according to Palin) intended for publication. Rather, they were an exercise in writing discipline that he was using to help get past his cigarette addiction. Perhaps because of this, there is nothing sensational within the diaries - they do not recount wild arguments, detail the writing process or provide startling revelations about the Pythons or Palin's home life. I think that this is why some of the reviews that I read in the papers were so disappointed.
Saying that, there are some interesting insights into the way in which the Pythons were operating as a group and some of the personalities involved. John Cleese, for example, is very much the elder statesman of the group - the one they all look up to and the one who carries the most weight with the BBC. Eric Idle is a loner and seems to be very changeable in his opinions and attitudes to the Python phenomena. Graham Chapman's alcohol addiction is sad to read and you can see Palin's (and the other Python's) frustration with its effects and yet it's interesting that not one of them is noted as talking to him about it. The two Terries both seem like nice blokes, keen to get on with things, although Gilliam has an incredible energy that leaps from the entries. Palin clearly saw himself as the peacemaker and at times a little put upon with the group - he would often take up the commitments that others had made and broken and he doesn't hide his frustration with it.
Palin comes across as something of an idealistic optimist in the entries - his observations on the politics at the time are interesting and he clearly saw the Labour government as infinitely preferable to the Conservatives. It made me wonder how he now feels about it as he looks back. He talks about the local politics within his own area of London, where residents were opposing plans to build vast tower blocks and it's frustrating that we never get told what happened with this campaign - presumably they lost but it's not explicitly noted.
Whilst he does talk about his home life (and clearly takes a lot of pride in his three children), he doesn't talk about his wife a great deal, which surprised me and I wondered whether there was any self-censorship going on. It is interesting that he describes taking breaks away from the family to remote regions to get his work done (something that I think is common to a lot of writers).
Whilst the Blurb on the Back makes a lot of the drama surrounding the Python court case and the Life of Brian, Palin's diaries don't dwell on these. It is clear that the Pythons were anticipating some form of backlash before making Life of Brian (in fact, the early meetings envisage a film far more closely associated with Jesus and the Gospels) and it's interesting that before that backlash happened, profits were expected to go through the roof. The Pythons clearly felt that they stood for something as a group and there is a certain commonality in terms of what they wanted to achieve - the differences came in the way to do it.
I found the entries about Palin's father to be quite moving. He steadily charts his father's decline from Parkinson's and notes the effects on his mother. There is however a certain standoffishness in his approach to the subject - an almost clinical detachment at times, which seems to be his coping mechanism.
It should be noted that Palin admits that he lost one set of diaries, which is why there is a large gap between entries in one year. But this does not detract from the experience as a whole. He also uses footnotes to explain or give background on certain people or situations, which I found to be useful.
The Verdict:
Interesting, absorbing but not sensational. Palin lives up to his 'nice guy' image in these diaries, but don't go into them expecting new revelations about the Pythons.
Michael Palin's diaries begin in the late 1960s when, newly married and struggling to make a name for himself in the world of television comedy, he began writing for hugely popular programmes, such as The Frost Report and The Two Ronnies. But Monty Python was just around the corner ...
In this first volume of his diaries he tells how Python emerged and triumphed. Enjoying an unlikely cult status early on, the group then proceeded to tour in the United States and Canada, appearing, like pop stars, at sold-out stadiums coast to coast and on national chat shows. They even stayed in hotels newly trashed by Led Zeppelin, later investors in Monty Python and the Holy Grail/
With this growing fame in the United States came the move from local public broadcasting to national television there and battles over censorhip followed as up to one line in four was cut from the Python sketches, rendering them incomprehensible. Eventually both Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin took the stand in the Federal Court in New York to defend the Pythons' position.
As their popularity grew, so Palin relates how, individually, the Pythons also went their separate ways. John Cleese wrote and acted in the now classic Fawlty Towers, while Michael Palin acted in an adaptation of the memorable Ripping Yarns series. But at the same time, Michael and the others were working to help keep the group together so they could reform for stage shows and the now celebrated series of films including The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian, many of whose lines are known by heart by a considerable proportion of the English-speaking world.
The birth and childhood of his three children, his father's growing disability, learning to cope as a young man with celebrity, his friendship with George Harrison, living through the three-day week and the minder's strike, and all the trials of a peripateticlife are also essential ingredients of these diaries. A perceptive and funny chronicle, the diaries are a rich portrait of a fascinating period.
With the exception of a number of entries written during a Barbados writing excusion for the Python team on Life of Brian, these diaries were never (according to Palin) intended for publication. Rather, they were an exercise in writing discipline that he was using to help get past his cigarette addiction. Perhaps because of this, there is nothing sensational within the diaries - they do not recount wild arguments, detail the writing process or provide startling revelations about the Pythons or Palin's home life. I think that this is why some of the reviews that I read in the papers were so disappointed.
Saying that, there are some interesting insights into the way in which the Pythons were operating as a group and some of the personalities involved. John Cleese, for example, is very much the elder statesman of the group - the one they all look up to and the one who carries the most weight with the BBC. Eric Idle is a loner and seems to be very changeable in his opinions and attitudes to the Python phenomena. Graham Chapman's alcohol addiction is sad to read and you can see Palin's (and the other Python's) frustration with its effects and yet it's interesting that not one of them is noted as talking to him about it. The two Terries both seem like nice blokes, keen to get on with things, although Gilliam has an incredible energy that leaps from the entries. Palin clearly saw himself as the peacemaker and at times a little put upon with the group - he would often take up the commitments that others had made and broken and he doesn't hide his frustration with it.
Palin comes across as something of an idealistic optimist in the entries - his observations on the politics at the time are interesting and he clearly saw the Labour government as infinitely preferable to the Conservatives. It made me wonder how he now feels about it as he looks back. He talks about the local politics within his own area of London, where residents were opposing plans to build vast tower blocks and it's frustrating that we never get told what happened with this campaign - presumably they lost but it's not explicitly noted.
Whilst he does talk about his home life (and clearly takes a lot of pride in his three children), he doesn't talk about his wife a great deal, which surprised me and I wondered whether there was any self-censorship going on. It is interesting that he describes taking breaks away from the family to remote regions to get his work done (something that I think is common to a lot of writers).
Whilst the Blurb on the Back makes a lot of the drama surrounding the Python court case and the Life of Brian, Palin's diaries don't dwell on these. It is clear that the Pythons were anticipating some form of backlash before making Life of Brian (in fact, the early meetings envisage a film far more closely associated with Jesus and the Gospels) and it's interesting that before that backlash happened, profits were expected to go through the roof. The Pythons clearly felt that they stood for something as a group and there is a certain commonality in terms of what they wanted to achieve - the differences came in the way to do it.
I found the entries about Palin's father to be quite moving. He steadily charts his father's decline from Parkinson's and notes the effects on his mother. There is however a certain standoffishness in his approach to the subject - an almost clinical detachment at times, which seems to be his coping mechanism.
It should be noted that Palin admits that he lost one set of diaries, which is why there is a large gap between entries in one year. But this does not detract from the experience as a whole. He also uses footnotes to explain or give background on certain people or situations, which I found to be useful.
The Verdict:
Interesting, absorbing but not sensational. Palin lives up to his 'nice guy' image in these diaries, but don't go into them expecting new revelations about the Pythons.
