Eric Idle has set the record straight for anyone who thought he had a comfortable life thanks to his earnings as a member of Monty Python, saying he still has to work for a living.
“I don't know why people always assume we're loaded. “Python is a disaster,” the 80-year-old actor and comedian wrote. Twitter. “Spamalot He made money 20 years ago. I have to work to earn a living. “It's not easy at this age.”
Later inactive clarified that although the British comedy company owns “everything” they made as part of the group, changes in royalty distribution (and what he considers poor management of the company) have had a drastic impact on their profits.
“I never imagined that at this age income streams would decline so disastrously,” he wrote. “But I guess if you put a Gilliam kid as your manager you shouldn't be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can destroy any company.”
To put that into context, Holly Gilliam, the daughter of Python member Terry Gilliam, took on a management role with the comedy group in 2013.
Inactive too shared who thinks of Python as a “very unique group” that worked well together, but clashed on a personal level. “I think of us as an ex-Liverpool team. We played well together,” she said. “But he was never very supportive of people's feelings and emotions. Not brothers. Colleagues.”
He went on to say that he had not seen follower member John Cleese in “seven years,” and wrote, “No thanks” in response to a fan who suggested they “get the band back together for fun and mischief.”
Idle was a Python original alongside Graham Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. After the great success of his comedy sketch series Monty Python's Flying CircusThe collective went on to make a series of films including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python's Life of Brianand The meaning of life by Monty Python.
Last fall, the musical written by Idle Monty Python's Spamalot He returned to Broadway for the first time in 14 years. Get your seats here.
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 to earn a living. It's not easy at this age.
– Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 9, 2024
We own everything we've created in Python and I never dreamed that at this age revenue streams would decline so disastrously. But I guess if you put a Gilliam kid as your manager you shouldn't be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can destroy any company.
– Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 10, 2024
I don't care that I'm not rich. I prefer to be funny.
I don't like to be considered rich. Is different.
I think Python was a gratuitous executive comedy.– Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 11, 2024
A fool and his money are easily parted. Imagine how quickly a group can do it…
– Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 11, 2024
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 play well together. A long time ago. But he was never very supportive of people's feelings and emotions. Not brothers. Colleagues.
– Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 11, 2024
I haven't seen Cleese in seven years.
– Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 12, 2024
– Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 12, 2024
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