Latest news with #Pythons
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Monty Python star rushed to hospital for third time in two days as he reveals health battle
A MONTY Python star has been rushed to hospital for a third time in just two days. Advertisement 3 Eric Idle was taken to hospital three times in two days after falling ill Credit: Getty 3 He was a member of the iconic comedy group Monty Python He wrote: "So 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. I think I'm suffering from Gastroenteritis. I love you people." Gastroenteritis is common and is inflammation inside the stomach which can cause issues like vomiting and diarrhea. Severe cases can lead to dehydration requiring medical treatment. Fans wished him well, with one writing: "Get well soon Eric." Another said: "Praying for healing for you sir. :)" Advertisement READ MORE ON MONTY PYTHON A third commented: "Please take care of yourself. The world would be a less amusing place without you." Last year Idle revealed the surviving He claimed he receives only a fraction of the millions the legendary comedy team have made in the past. And he took aim at Holly Gilliam, the TV lawyer daughter of fellow Python Advertisement Most read in Celebrity Latest Latest In messages on X, Idle 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. Monty Python's John Cleese and Terry Gilliam reunite with Michael Palin for 81st birthday as fans praise the 'silly men' 'I have been working and earning for Pythons since 1995. And now no more.' In a dig at Holly Gilliam, he added: 'I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. Advertisement 'One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.' Daughter Lily Idle backed him, writing online: 'I'm so proud of my dad for finally finally finally starting to share the truth.' The Pythons, who also included They were back in the limelight in 2014 with Monty Python Live (Mostly) — One Down, Five to Go, a reference to former member Graham Chapman who died in 1989 aged just 48. Advertisement It featured interpretations of some of their sketches, and reportedly earned the surviving members at least £2million each. It was a hit in Europe and the US and is still running on Broadway. Idle, who lives in California, dismissed comments suggesting he must still be wealthy, saying he had sold his house. He added: 'We still get something but not enough to keep me on the beaches.' Advertisement Cleese was recently asked about his relationship with Idle by Candis Magazine and said: "We used to be close. But not in recent years.' 3 Last year Idle said he is still having to work as he receives only a fraction of the millions the team have made Credit: AF Archive
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Monty Python star rushed to hospital for third time in two days as he reveals health battle
Last year he had a scathing rant about his co-star's daughter's handling of the Python finances ACTOR'S PAIN Monty Python star rushed to hospital for third time in two days as he reveals health battle Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MONTY Python star has been rushed to hospital for a third time in just two days. LA-based Eric Idle, 82, took to social media platform X to inform fans of his health issue. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 3 Eric Idle was taken to hospital three times in two days after falling ill Credit: Getty 3 He was a member of the iconic comedy group Monty Python He wrote: "So 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. I think I'm suffering from Gastroenteritis. I love you people." Gastroenteritis is common and is inflammation inside the stomach which can cause issues like vomiting and diarrhea. Severe cases can lead to dehydration requiring medical treatment. Fans wished him well, with one writing: "Get well soon Eric." Another said: "Praying for healing for you sir. :)" A third commented: "Please take care of yourself. The world would be a less amusing place without you." Last year Idle revealed the surviving Pythons were locked in a bitter feud over finances. He claimed he receives only a fraction of the millions the legendary comedy team have made in the past. And he took aim at Holly Gilliam, the TV lawyer daughter of fellow Python Terry Gilliam, 84. She took over the Python brand in 2013 as part of HDG Projects Ltd. In messages on X, Idle 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. Monty Python's John Cleese and Terry Gilliam reunite with Michael Palin for 81st birthday as fans praise the 'silly men' 'I have been working and earning for Pythons since 1995. And now no more.' In a dig at Holly Gilliam, he added: '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.' Daughter Lily Idle backed him, writing online: 'I'm so proud of my dad for finally finally finally starting to share the truth.' The Pythons, who also included John Cleese, 85, Michael Palin, 81, and the late Terry Jones — made a mint thanks to films, including Life of Brian, hit stage show Spamalot, which Idle co-wrote, and the original Flying Circus BBC TV series. They were back in the limelight in 2014 with Monty Python Live (Mostly) — One Down, Five to Go, a reference to former member Graham Chapman who died in 1989 aged just 48. It featured interpretations of some of their sketches, and reportedly earned the surviving members at least £2million each. It was a hit in Europe and the US and is still running on Broadway. Idle, who lives in California, dismissed comments suggesting he must still be wealthy, saying he had sold his house. He added: 'We still get something but not enough to keep me on the beaches.' Cleese was recently asked about his relationship with Idle by Candis Magazine and said: "We used to be close. But not in recent years.'
Telegraph
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The Comedy About Spies: This level of stupidity takes real talent
Much as we can say we hanker after chewy state of the nation dramas, sometimes froth can be no less an imperative. Mischief Theatre have taken shrewd stock of the state of the nation and decided we need cheering up. The troupe – probably the most successful UK comedy outfit since the Pythons – struck gold with their send-up of bumbling am-dram The Play That Goes Wrong (2012), which shows no sign of relinquishing its perch at the Duchess (and has enjoyed multiple international iterations). Far from resting on their laurels, the talented gaggle have capitalised on their calling-card hit to the formulaic hilt. There have been glorious '…Goes Wrong' sequels (Peter Pan, Magic, A Christmas Carol). Their latest West End venture follows more in the footsteps of the screwball The Comedy About a Bank Robbery (2016); it's a caper not a knowing car-crash. I sheepishly confessed in my review of the latter show at the Criterion that I had been the odd one out about The Play That Goes Wrong, even goadingly citing it as my worst play experience of 2014. In my defence, I got divorced that year and have (I hope) since recovered my sense of humour. But it's worth observing that if you don't have a penchant for running gags flogged to death, rampant mugging, cheap sight gags and corny word-play then you may not be the ideal audience here. That said, even the most averse spectator will likely marvel at the gag-a-line detail, comic timing and sheer physical bravura of this company of fools, led by Henry Lewis and Henry Shields (co-writers too), directed by Matt DiCarlo. Yes, this is a show – rewinding to the 1960s and every stereotype going about Cold War spying – with next to nothing to tell us. But in that abstention from commentary, and delight in daftness, something is subliminally communicated about the persistence of old-fashioned British comedy; the show carries the flag, quite nobly, for innocent japes. Situated somewhere between Operation Mincemeat (though based on baloney, not actuality) and Fawlty Towers, the tirelessly farcical evening begins with MI6's headquarters being blown to smithereens following a blissfully idiotic sequence of door-slamming misunderstanding built around the agents' alphabetised code-names. The action switches to a hotel lobby then a cross-section of four bedrooms, with two Russians and two US operatives converging in search of a turncoat British agent. In the midst of this invitation to bungle – involving covert bugged radios, overt communication failures and frantic excuses – stand the sweetly hapless figure of Shields's Bernard Wright, a baker, vainly trying to propose to his girlfriend (Adele James's Rosemary) and Lewis's Douglas Woodbead, a loudly roaring failed actor, preparing to audition for James Bond. No less cherishable are Charlie Russell and Chris Leask as the only too conspicuous Russkies, while Dave Hearn and Nancy Zamit impress as the clueless (and, ludicrously, related) Yanks. In a knowingly wearying second half, the plot thickens with spiralling double-crossing guaranteed to have everyone, not just the tourists, struggling to keep up. I'd say it takes near genius to fashion something this incorrigibly goofy.
Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) review — moments of brilliance
The Pythons peaked as film-makers in 1979 with Life of Brian, a brief flowering of narrative storytelling for a troupe defined by sketch comedy. This earlier Arthurian spoof is somewhere in between. There is ostensible dramatic coherence in the quest for the Grail by Graham Chapman's long-suffering King of the Britons. 'Ooooh king, very nice,' says a wonderfully grotty Michael Palin. 'How did you get that? By exploiting the workers!' But these are otherwise loosely related set pieces, held together by Terry Gilliam's animations and frequently punctuated by moments of brilliance. The Knights Who Say 'Ni!' remains ridiculously funny. The Trojan Rabbit is a flawless sight gag. The irritable God (Chapman), depicted with the cartoon head of WG Grace, is an early preview of
Irish Examiner
08-05-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
Bone analysis proves gladiators fought lions in Britain
Wild beast 'hunts' were a 'feature attraction' at Rome's Flavian Amphitheatre, the Colosseum: — Mosaics and pottery decorations depict fights between gladiators and animals. — Convicted prisoners suffered damnatio ad bestias. That the human body, a 'temple of the Holy Spirit', should be devoured by brute beasts was particularly abominable to Christians. "What have the Romans ever done for us," one of the Pythons asked, "apart from providing sanitation, medicine, wine, public order, and roads?" Amphitheatres might have been added to the list; large towns, even in faraway Roman Britain, had arenas, in which spectacles of mindless cruelty were staged for public entertainment. British slaves and social outcasts may have taken the Sacramentum Gladiatorem oath. Paul Mescal as Lucius Verus Aurelius, the exiled Prince of Rome in Gladiator II The Barbary lion roamed deserts and mountains from Morocco to Egypt. Local trappers knew its haunts and watering holes. Pits were dug into which the hapless animals were lured. Soldiers on horseback hounded them into concealed nets. Water laced with alcohol may have been used to stupefy the unfortunate creatures. Captured animals were sent to 'entertainment' arenas around the Mediterranean. Transporting big cats on ships and in horse-drawn wagons must have been a logistical nightmare. Lesion on the right ilium of 6DT19 Rome invaded England in 402AD. Lions had been hunted for centuries by then. Thousands had been slaughtered during the reign of Julius Caesar alone and their numbers had probably become depleted. So, were these now rare animals sent as far as England, more than 1,000 kilometres away at the northern extremity of the Empire? Professor Tim Thompson of Maynooth University is the lead author of a paper which presents the first physical evidence that they were. Marble relief with lion and gladiator. Picture: © The Trustees of the British Museum Burials were not permitted in Roman towns; cemeteries had to be located outside the walls. York, a major Roman settlement, had frequent gladiatorial shows, resulting in many deaths. Archaeologists unearthed 80 skeletons at Driffield Terrace, southwest of the city. Almost all were of young well-built males; gladiators. Each had been beheaded which was the custom in gladiator burials. The victims had lived around 1,800 years ago. Forensic examination revealed the bite marks of a large carnivore on the pelvic bones of one skeleton. Comparing the marks to those found on carcasses eaten by animals in zoos, showed that they had been made by a large cat, probably a lion. The wounds had not healed so they must have caused the victim's death. Lesions on the left iliac spine of 6DT19 [images from That a great civilisation, a cornerstone of western culture, promoted such revolting spectacles is hard to comprehend. Also, the impact on North African big cats must have been considerable. But the Barbary lion survived the Roman onslaught. It did not become extinct until well after the invention of firearms. One was photographed in 1924 and the last wild lion was shot in Morocco in 1942. These cats were once kept in the moat of the Tower of London and some still live in captivity today. I remember seeing a pair in Belfast Zoo. Among the largest of African lions, the Barbary is unusual in that, like the Asiatic sub-species, it doesn't form prides. Prey became so scarce in the Atlas Mountains, where it roamed, that it opted to live in solitary pairs.
