Monty Python’s
Michael Palin tells his story

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

A scriptwriter, comedian, novelist, actor and playwright, Michael Palin is perhaps best known for his inventive genius as a founding member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
So, enamored by the long list of Python skits, films, TV shows and their smash Broadway hit Spamalot, fans — both old and new — can even recite many of the troupe’s funniest skits verbatim. But what do audiences really know about the men who created them?
Palin decided to do something about that. His Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years, an amazingly insightful and funny record of Palin’s prime years as a member of one of the most popular comedy troupes ever (including John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Eric Idle), is due out in print on Sept. 4. Palin will be on hand to discuss his newest work on Sept. 6 at a Free Author Event at the Central Library, 19th and Vine streets.
The author of many books intended for publication, the 64-year-old Palin said this particular one was not.
"But I decided to publish the Diaries because I wanted to share my thoughts on this period with others who have lived through the same time and shared some of the same experiences," he explained. "I’d also been approached quite regularly from people wanting to write a biography or commission an autobiography. And I felt I’d rather do it this way than let little sections of the diary be used. So I decided I should put them out as a whole."
Writing primarily for his own personal reasons, Palin said now that the book is about to be published, he hopes readers will see his work as a record of daily life, not just the big, dramatic headline moments.
"I hope they see a record of the small stories, as well as the big ones," he said. "Experiences that seem quite insignificant taken by themselves, but put together create a record of a real life rather than one written with headlines and hindsight. I feel that it’s the small detail of someone’s life which makes for a good diary."
And later next year, he said, he will begin work on the next volume of the Diaries — the wild and wacky ’80s.
Palin was born in England and blessed with a highly evolved imagination. He once thought about becoming an airline pilot, he said, but then realized he was no good in math. So that dream went away. It is said that in his early years he played in a school production of A Christmas Carol and promptly fell off the stage.
So while it may never be known whether the lack of math skills or injuring himself by falling off a stage eventually prompted Palin’s entrance into the creative life, here he is today, world-famous for his many accomplishments.
He established his reputation with Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Ripping Yarns. His work also includes several famous films with Monty Python, as well as The Missionary, A Private Function, and an award-winning performance as the hapless Ken in A Fish Called Wanda.
He also has written books to accompany his successful travel series, made the Queen’s 2000 Honors List for services to television, drama and travel, and in 2002 received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Comedy Awards.
With all the many talents Palin has exhibited over the years, he insists that he is "very lucky to have nearly always taken on work that I enjoy, with people I enjoy working with."
"I value the traveling very highly, as it involves both physical adventure and the mental effort of writing it down and trying to make it interesting," Palin said. "But I tend to be rather instinctive and intuitive in my approach to things, so there’s nothing to beat standing on the stage in front of an audience and showing off!" ••
For more information on Palin’s Sept. 6 discussion, call 215-567-4341.