Monty Python at war as John Cleese slams Eric Idle over financial woes claim
John Cleese has hit back at his former Monty Python co-star Eric Idle after he criticised the group’s management over its financial difficulties, saying: “We always loathed and despised each other.”
Over the weekend, Idle blamed manager Holly Gilliam, daughter of Python co-founder Terry Gilliam, for the dwindling finances of the comedy troupe, which was formed in 1969.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.”
John Cleese has furiously hit back at Eric Idle (Getty Images North America)He added: “I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded. Python is a disaster. Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age.” Eric later said he had not seen Cleese in seven years and, after a X user said that upset them, he replied: “Why? It makes me happy."
Comedian and actor Cleese, who founded the troupe alongside Idle, Gilliam, Terry Jones, Sir Michael Palin and Graham Chapman, responded by defending Ms Gilliam in a post on X on Tuesday.
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He wrote: “I have worked with Holly for the last 10 years, and I find her very efficient, clear-minded, hard-working, and pleasant to have dealings with. Michael Palin has asked me to to make it clear that he shares this opinion. Terry Gilliam is also in agreement with this.”
An X user asked Cleese if he had fallen out with Idle, to which he responded: “We always loathed and despised each other, but it’s only recently that the truth has begun to emerge.” Eric labelled John Cleese a bully and said he had not laid eyes on him in seven years.
Eric claimed Python member Terry Jones was picked on in particular. Eric said: “[John] bullied Jonesy. I always felt ashamed we did nothing.” He added: “I still love and am proud of what we did as Python. It was a very unique group. I think of us as an ex-Liverpool team. We played together well, way back in the day. But it was never very supportive of people’s feelings and emotions. Not brothers. Colleagues.”
Eric labelled John as a 'bully' (Getty Images)Another fan queried about whether the troupe makes any money from the classic Python episodes, to which Cleese said: “Not what most people assume, no. Remember, we did our TV shows for my favourite charity – the BBC.”
Monty Python was one of the UK’s best-known comedy troupes, rising to prominence with the sketch series Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which ran on the BBC from 1969 to 1974. The group followed their TV work by making a series of films, including 1975’s Monty Python And The Holy Grail, 1979’s Life Of Brian, and 1983’s The Meaning Of Life.
Idle later created the medieval musical Spamalot, which earned a Tony award for best musical after being on Broadway.
He also appeared in Shrek The Third, and in Monty Python Live (Mostly) in 2014 alongside some of the troupe. Chapman died of tonsil cancer in 1989, aged 48, while Jones died from a rare form of dementia in 2020, aged 77.
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