Latest news with #LifeofBrian
The Irish Sun
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Eric Idle reignites Monty Python feud as he brands co-star ‘a hypocrite' for ‘turning down $30m' reunion
COMEDY royalty Eric Idle appears to have refuelled the financial fire between his former Monty Python co-stars. previously said he is still having to work as he receives only a fraction of the millions the Advertisement 6 Eric Idle has called his Python co-star a hypocrite for his comments about their split Credit: PA 6 Michael Palin, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones in Monty Python's Life of Brian in 1979 Credit: Rex Features The trailblazing Pythons included Idle, The 82-year-old told The Big Issue: "Michael [Palin] said he was sad to see us break up? He was the first to leave! He's such a hypocrite. "I mean in some ways we split up immediately before The Holy Grail. "John didn't want to do a fourth series. After that we decided to just stick to films. Advertisement Read more "After Life of Brian, we actually did The Meaning of Life, which was our last film together. "Graham died shortly after that. Also, I think, when you've done religion and then the meaning of life, there are very few subjects left." He continued: "I can't believe Michael said he was sad. He turned down the opportunity to do it in America, in Australia, in South Africa. He turned down $30 million!" In 2024, Idle revealed the surviving Advertisement Most read in News TV In messages on X, Idle previously wrote: 'I don't know why people always assume we're loaded. "I have to work for my living. I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. 'Like a Monty Python skit' - Incredible jockey running race goes viral as fans hail 'greatest thing ever seen' 'I have been working and earning for Pythons since 1995. And now no more.' He added: 'I guess if you put a Gilliam child [Holly] in as your manager you should not be so surprised. Advertisement 'One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.' Despite the success of 1975's Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian had funding issues and was almost canned - but was saved by a Beatle. In a Letter To My Younger Self for The Big Issue , : ' I got lucky, because I had to. I survived pancreatic cancer. "So I feel that since 2019 I've had a reprieve. I don't know or care what people say about me, I'm lucky every single day.' Advertisement He said: 'For a while we had no money. [Media proprietor] Lew Grade read it and just went nuts. He said, we can't possibly make this. I went to America to find money. 'I had been talking to 'But finally, when everybody turned us down, there was a call from him saying, 'I've got you the money'. 'He had mortgaged his house and his business and raised the cash and put it all on a Python film. The most extraordinary thing to do.' Advertisement 6 Monty Python's Flying Circus star Eric has had issues over the Python's finances Credit: Alamy 6 Michael Palin said he was 'sad' to see the Pythons break up - which Eric has disagreed with Credit: Getty 6 Actor Eric - who is based in LA - has spoken out about the financial inequality he has faced Credit: AFP 6 The Monty Python gang pictured prior to their O2 Arena tour back in 2014 Credit: Getty Advertisement
Scottish Sun
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Eric Idle reignites Monty Python feud as he brands co-star ‘a hypocrite' for ‘turning down $30m' reunion
He previously complained about his co-star's daughter's handling of the Python profit holy fail Eric Idle reignites Monty Python feud as he brands co-star 'a hypocrite' for 'turning down $30m' reunion Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) COMEDY royalty Eric Idle appears to have refuelled the financial fire between his former Monty Python co-stars. LA-based Eric, 82, previously said he is still having to work as he receives only a fraction of the millions the legendary comedy team have made in the past. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 6 Eric Idle has called his Python co-star a hypocrite for his comments about their split Credit: PA 6 Michael Palin, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones in Monty Python's Life of Brian in 1979 Credit: Rex Features The trailblazing Pythons included Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and the late Terry Jones - and were responsible for films Life of Brian, hit stage show Spamalot and the original Flying Circus BBC TV series. The 82-year-old told The Big Issue: "Michael [Palin] said he was sad to see us break up? He was the first to leave! He's such a hypocrite. "I mean in some ways we split up immediately before The Holy Grail. "John didn't want to do a fourth series. After that we decided to just stick to films. "After Life of Brian, we actually did The Meaning of Life, which was our last film together. "Graham died shortly after that. Also, I think, when you've done religion and then the meaning of life, there are very few subjects left." He continued: "I can't believe Michael said he was sad. He turned down the opportunity to do it in America, in Australia, in South Africa. He turned down $30 million!" In 2024, Idle revealed the surviving Pythons were locked in a feud over finances. In messages on X, Idle previously wrote: 'I don't know why people always assume we're loaded. "I have to work for my living. I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. 'Like a Monty Python skit' - Incredible jockey running race goes viral as fans hail 'greatest thing ever seen' 'I have been working and earning for Pythons since 1995. And now no more.' He added: 'I guess if you put a Gilliam child [Holly] in as your manager you should not be so surprised. 'One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.' Despite the success of 1975's Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian had funding issues and was almost canned - but was saved by a Beatle. In a Letter To My Younger Self for The Big Issue, the Monty Python star said: 'I got lucky, because I had to. I survived pancreatic cancer. "So I feel that since 2019 I've had a reprieve. I don't know or care what people say about me, I'm lucky every single day.' He said: 'For a while we had no money. [Media proprietor] Lew Grade read it and just went nuts. He said, we can't possibly make this. I went to America to find money. 'I had been talking to George Harrison who was a huge fan, and he said, 'I'll phone you in the morning, don't worry'. And I thought, well, nobody's got four and a half million dollars. 'But finally, when everybody turned us down, there was a call from him saying, 'I've got you the money'. 'He had mortgaged his house and his business and raised the cash and put it all on a Python film. The most extraordinary thing to do.' 6 Monty Python's Flying Circus star Eric has had issues over the Python's finances Credit: Alamy 6 Michael Palin said he was 'sad' to see the Pythons break up - which Eric has disagreed with Credit: Getty 6 Actor Eric - who is based in LA - has spoken out about the financial inequality he has faced Credit: AFP
Metro
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
'Nobody's got $4,500,000': The moment Beatles legend saved Monty Python
Eric Idle has opened up on how one unlikely music legend saved Monty Python when all hope seemed lost. Idle – alongside John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, and Sir Michael Palin – founded the comedy troupe in 1969, which came to prominence with sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus. Live shows, books, albums, musicals, and hit films followed, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life. Despite the success of 1975's Holy Grail, Life of Brian almost never came to be, with funding issues befalling the project. That's when The Beatles star George Harrison came in, with the musician giving the group around $4.5 million (£3.3M) to make the film a reality. 'For a while, we had no money. Lew Grade read it and just went nuts. He said, we can't possibly make this. I went to America to find money,' Idle told Big Issue, The Standard reported. 'I had been talking to George Harrison, who was a huge fan, and he said, 'I'll phone you in the morning, don't worry.' And I thought, well, nobody's got $4.5million (£3.3m).' But when everybody had turned them down, Harrison called Idle to let him know he had obtained the money for them. 'He had mortgaged his house and his business and raised the cash and put it all on a Python film. The most extraordinary thing to do,' he continued. It's not the first hurdle that Life of Brian faced, a film which follows the titular Brian, who just so happens to be born in a stable on the same night as Jesus Christ. It was immediately labelled blasphemous, both for its portrayal of Christianity as well as its shocking final scenes, which see Brian crucified, something many said 'mocked Jesus' suffering'. It was banned in Norway and Ireland, and screenings were stopped in some parts of the UK. Life of Brian continues to cause controversy due to its themes today, as well as transgender jokes that have become subject to furious debates. Idle's comments come after he revealed he went to hospital 'twice in three days' last month after an unexpected health scare. More Trending He wrote on X: 'I'd like to thank all the doctors, nurses and staff in the Cedars GI ward for their kindness and help to me today. The second time in three days.' Eric is currently based in Los Angeles, California, and he thanked the hospital staff at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre before revealing the extent of his current health problems. 'I think I'm suffering from gastroenteritis,' he tweeted, before signing off with a message for his fans who were worried about him: 'I love you people.' View More » Last year, the comedian said that he probably 'shouldn't be alive' after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019, which left him needing surgery. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: 'Epic' sci-fi series returns to streaming — and four more shows to binge this month MORE: Man arrested after 'disgusting' plot to blackmail beloved TV comedy star uncovered MORE: BBC quietly adds second season of TV series fans hailed 'bizarrely dark'
Scotsman
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Scotsman
New 'Corbynesque' hard-left party plays into hands of Nigel Farage and John Swinney
Former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn, centre, and Zarah Sultana together on a picket line outside London Euston railway station in 2022. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Those activists welcoming Zarah Sultana's scheming are the very definition of 'useful idiots' Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It is always reassuring to check in with the radical left and learn it continues to take its strategy from Monty Python's 'Life of Brian'. Put two Trots in a room together and they'll soon start arguing over whether the People's Front of Judea or the Judean People's Front truly had the interests of the workers at heart. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The narcissism of small differences is a disease that infects extremists, for whom ideological purity matters more than intellect or motivation. We most recently witnessed this phenomenon on Thursday when the MP for Coventry South, Zarah Sultana, announced she had quit Labour and would now proceed to form a new political party alongside former opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Sultana, who has been sitting as an independent since having the Labour whip withdrawn last year, said she and Corbyn would 'co-lead the founding of a new party, with other MPs, campaigners and activists'. Shortly after Sultana issued her statement, Corbyn was said to be 'furious and bewildered'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad By Friday, he had softened a little. Discussions with Sultana were ongoing and she would 'help us build a new alternative'. But the member for Islington North – expelled last year from the party he once led – stopped short of endorsing Sultana as co-leader of anything. This was hardly surprising: Corbyn is a man of considerable ego who has never previously shown much interest in sharing the spotlight with anyone (unless, of course, it's with one of his 'friends' from Hamas or Hezbollah). The same activists who previously declared that Corbyn only failed to become Prime Minister because Labour hadn't been left-wing enough to defeat the Conservatives in 2017 and '19, have been out and about over recent days declaring Sultana's decision to quit the party a disaster for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. At last! Here's a real alternative to the neoliberal/warmongering/genocidal (take your pick) policies of the political establishment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There may well be some Labour voters who follow Sultana's lead but a number of leading MPs on the party's far left have already said thanks but no. If a new party of the left actually emerges, it will not include such Corbyn allies as John McDonnell, Clive Lewis, and Diane Abbott. Shortly after sharing Sultana's statement, one high-profile activist declared that Labour was 'dead'. There's no question that the Prime Minister has had a rough first year in office – with many of the problems he's faced being entirely of his own creation – but the idea that a Sultana-Corbyn dream-ticket stands ready to bury his party is laughable. These are people who could not co-ordinate a simple announcement. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad If Sultana and Corbyn held a party at Tennent's Wellpark brewery, everyone would go home sober. Don't try to tell me they can steward a winning election campaign. That's not to say there is no appetite out there for an alternative to Labour. A recent poll for the More in Common group found that a new party of the left could end up taking as much as 10 per cent of the vote in a future General Election. But only a third of that support would come from Labour supporters with most of the rest coming from those who currently turn to the Green Party for their regular hit of unearned righteousness. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sultana's decision to cancel her Labour membership came days after she claimed 'we are all Palestine Action' in response to plans to proscribe the organisation as a terror group. According to Labour insiders, Sultana's statement had already sealed her fate and she was heading for expulsion. Was the politician's resignation really an act of principle or was it a face-saving jump before a humiliating push? The political right continues to go through a period of turmoil. Nigel Farage's Reform Party has been gutting the Tory vote recently and some pollsters suggest it could win the next General Election. This, one must assume, is a prospect that fills the likes of Corbyn and Sultana with horror (they can't be wrong about everything, after all) yet I can't see a new party of the left doing anything but making it more likely. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad If Farage continues to gorge himself on the Tory vote then Labour will be the only party that can credibly stop him. And, if a new Sultana-Corbyn vehicle nibbles away at Sir Keir Starmer's support – even by the meagre three points suggested by that More in Common polling – then Farage's chances of entering 10 Downing Street will, of course, increase. Like Farage, First Minister John Swinney would be happy to see a new Corbynesque party in the running. The matter of independence remains so potent that the chances of the nationalists losing support to the hard-left seems vanishingly unlikely. On top of that, the Scottish Greens are well established as the home for those who dream of the destruction of Israel and the free distribution of puberty blockers to confused children. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Attacks on Scottish Labour from the left will only strengthen the SNP's narrative that Sir Keir Starmer is the weak leader of a divided party. Sultana's departure from Labour was, I think, a significant step on her journey towards irrelevance. She might help take some votes away from her former colleagues – if she and Corbyn can get a new party up and running and then, crucially maintain some semblance of unity until the next General Election. But, surely, only the most committed ideologue believes that the British electorate currently thirsts for a Government of the hard left? Those left wingers cheering the news that Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn plan a new party are about to improve the chances of Nigel Farage being the next Prime Minister. They are, as is so often the case with those from their political tradition, the very definition of 'useful idiots'.
Spectator
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Corbyn and Sultana's party launch gets off to the worst possible start
There could be no more deliciously appropriate start to the new party supposedly co-led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, than the news that the ex-Labour leader is said to be 'furious and bewildered' that it was launched without him even knowing that he is a member of the party, let alone that he is its leader. Although I'm not sure it is really news that Jeremy Corbyn – who has yet to comment on the new party – is either furious or bewildered, since he has spent his entire career being both. Sultana, whose brief career as a Labour MP was only made possible when her not-at-this-moment-co-leader-of-the-new-party Corbyn was sole leader of the Labour party, had the Labour whip suspended within days of Keir Starmer's election win last July. Reports suggest she was on the verge of expulsion after tweeting 'We are all Palestine Action' last month. She should never have been even considered as a possible Labour candidate, let alone selected, and it is entirely right that she is no longer involved in the party. I am assuming she will now demand that her constituents be allowed to set up a recall petition to remove her as an MP, having voted in 2020 that MPs who voluntarily change their party affiliation should be subject to such a petition. She wouldn't want to be accused of hypocrisy, I'm sure. The new party does not yet have a name. One wag has suggested that with its two leaders (two, one? who knows? who cares?) both so obsessed with Israel it might be the New Anti-Zionist Independent party. I will let you work that one out… Meanwhile, it's good to see the new party start as it will surely go on. Speaking to Robert Peston this week, Corbyn suggested that there would soon be a new group which brought together the many disparate factions which have spun off from Labour after he led the party to its worst result since the 1930s. 'That grouping [of Independents] will come together, there will be an alternative,' he said. In this context, one must turn as always to the most insightful analysis of the left ever penned: Monty Python's Life of Brian. Is this new party the Judean People's Front, or is it the People's Front of Judea? Already George Galloway, who has been a one-man hard left party splitter since being expelled from Labour, is angry. He is, apparently, leader of the Workers Party. Because, yes, there are even more hard left splinter parties as there are former Labour MPs leading them. And the upstart splitters have behaved very badly. Very, very badly. 'There has been no contact with us about this,' he fumes on social media. 'We can't join it due to significant differences on the issues of…' blah, blah, blah. Splitters gonna split and the rest of us gonna grab our beer and popcorn and enjoy the spectacle. But what, you ask, of John McDonnell? The former shadow chancellor, the Mikhail Suslov of the tankies, is the only one of this rabble with a functioning brain. He has presumably realised that even being a Labour member who has had the whip suspended is more worthwhile than throwing in his lot with the Judean People's Front (look, it's all relative). He has said he is 'dreadfully sorry to lose Zarah from the Labour Party.' None of those involved in the new party, whether they eventually include Corbyn or not, ever had any business in a mainstream left of centre party, so Labour is better off without them. As for their relevance: there is clearly a space for opposition to Labour from the left. The problem is that in election after election voters have made clear that space is small and of almost no psephological importance. Where Labour is vulnerable – and has already lost seats in 2024 – is to sectarian Muslim voting. That is where the real story is.
