Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years [Paperback]

Michael Palin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2008

“Michael Palin is not just one of Britain’s foremost comedy character actors, he also talks a lot. Yap, yap, yap he goes, all day long and through the night . . . then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary.” —John Cleese

“For Palin it has been one hell of a ride, but he seems to have maintained equilibrium all along the way. . . . In sum, it’s tempting to call him a Renaissance Man. But that, as any Pythonite would be quick to tell you, would be silly.” —Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World

Michael Palin has kept a diary since he was newly married in the late 1960s, when he was beginning to make a name for himself as a TV scriptwriter, and Monty Python was just around the corner.
          This volume of his diaries reveals how Python emerged and triumphed, how he, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the two Terrys—Jones and Gilliam—and Eric Idle came together and changed the face of British comedy. But this is but only part of Palin’s story. Here too is his growing family, his home in a north London Victorian terrace, his solo effort as an actor, and his writing endeavours (often in partnership with Terry Jones) that produce Ripping Yarns and even a pantomime.
          Meanwhile, Monty Python refuses to go away: his account of the making of both The Holy Grail and the Life of Brian movies are page-turners, and the sometimes extraordinary goings-on of the many powerful personalities who coalesced to form the Python team makes for funny and riveting reading.
          A perceptive and witty chronicle, the diaries are a rich portrait of a fascinating period.

“[C]harming and at times revelatory . . . A voice of (relative sanity) in the eye of a comedic storm, Palin paints so vivid a picture that the reader becomes a Python by proxy.” —The New York Times Book Review

“It is terrifically good: funny, astute, and wonderfully written. . . . ”—The Boston Globe

“This combination of niceness, with his natural volubility, creates Palin’s expansiveness.” ---David Baddiel, The Times

“A real delight to read.” ---Saga Magazine (UK)

“His showbiz observations are so absorbing. . . . Palin is an elegant and engaging writer.” ---William Cook, The Guardian (UK)

“A wealth of fascinating stuff about Monty Python.” ---The Independent (UK)

“Our favourite TV explorer shows us the workings of an unstoppable machine.” ---Daily Express (UK)

“A riveting commentary to a remarkably creative decade.” ---Academy (UK)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As one of the six Pythons to have assembled back in the late 1960s, Palin provides insights into the group's dynamics during the decade that brought the Monty Python troupe to international acclaim. This abridgment can be satiating and frustrating, often simultaneously. At face value, it provides many behind-the-scenes moments and explores how and why the comedy troupe went about its business. Yet the mere knowledge that it's an abridgment will have listeners yearning to hear more—especially Python-quoting fans. The short, occasionally abrupt entries feel authentic, as journal entries can often be a mere few sentences. But listeners may constantly question how much has been trimmed. Occasionally, the journal entries read as a mere chronological list of events. As narrator, Palin proves adept at adding life and emotion in his mild-mannered voice to the more pedantic lulls in the audiobook. But given the audiobook's shortcomings, a bonus interview or some other material might have improved the overall enjoyment for listeners.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Michael Palin is not just one of Britain's foremost comedy character actors, he also talks a lot. Yap, yap, yap he goes, all day long and through the night...then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary." --John Cleese

 

"Palin's prose is spry and insightful, identifying the true warmth felt for Hemingway in these locales...Any trout-fishing, bull-running, wing-shooting Hemingway fan worth his martini shaker should wind this book fun."--Library Journal on Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure
 
"Is there anything Michael Palin can't do?" --Washington Post on Hemingway's Chair

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312384882
• ISBN-13: 978-0312384883
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Seventies according to Palin, September 27, 2007

By 

Robin Cramp (Melbourne, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Diaries, 1969-1979: The Python Years (Hardcover)

What a nice man! Michael Palin's diary of Seventies Britain Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Yearsshows that you don't have to be weird or "out there" or even arrogant to create the kind of ground-breaking humor that was Monty Python's Flying Circus. They certainly needed the comic genius of John Cleese to make it come to life, but it is clear that Michael Palin and Terry Jones did much of the writing and then the general tidying up afterwards that made Python at once gloriously offensive and yet globally marketable.

Palin's honest yet self-effacing notes on his life during the 1970's include lots of interesting out-takes on Python writing and performance for Python aficionados, but his attendance to his aging parents and his thoughtful asides on a critical decade in British politics show an Everyman that contrasts wildly with the lunacy of Python. Maybe that's why Python became a global experience - because it connected us to that silly streak we all have inside but seldom allow to show, in a decade when so many accepted social mores were being overturned.

For those of us that lived through that decade (I am English and two months younger than Palin) this is an entertaining and absorbing social history which will make you think "maybe if I had just had the right friends?".

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book - but don't get the Kindle version, January 26, 2009

By 

A. Gunn "taliswoman" (Springfield, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (Kindle Edition)

To be quite honest, I got this on a whim. I was never a huge Python fan, but I have liked Michael Palin's journey series' and thought I would like his humor. I figured it would also give me a "behind the scenes" view of one of the largest comedy moneymakers in history.

I was caught up as much with his family life and watching his children grow up as I was with the spats and tirades from the Python members. I cried when his father slowly faded away, just like my grandmother did. I laughed at the antics of his children, very close in age to myself, doing many of the same things I did, half the world away.

I enjoyed the book immensely, but I have a caviat. I bought it as a Kindle download. I didn't realize that the Kindle version would not include the pictures that were included in the actual book. I know Kindle is black and white, and I would have had no problem with seeing them as such, but there was only one small picture of Michael as a child, and that was it. No other pictures were on the Kindle, no other pictures were available from Amazon. I paid a lot of money for this book, and was very disappointed that I could not FULLY enjoy it. I enjoyed the book, and remembered many of the pictures and scenes that he talked about, but I would really have liked to SEE his children grow up. I would have liked to SEE a picture of his wife. THat's why the pictures were included in the book in the first place.

Buy the book. Enjoy the book. Just don't get the Kindle version.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Palin: The Nice Python, February 4, 2008

By 

S. M Marson (Lumberton, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Diaries, 1969-1979: The Python Years (Hardcover)

I have vivid memories of watching MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS every Saturday evening with group of fellow college students. We packed into the Grand Wazoo's apartment to watch the program on PBS followed by SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. What a hoot!

I was delighted when I opened MICHAEL PALIN DIARIES as a Christmas present. I read it while receiving therapy for my back. The book was a fantastic diversion. As for me, I looked forward to reading Palin's description of the clerical attacks on THE LIFE OF BRIAN.* Well, that part was at the end. Nevertheless, the entire diary was a pleasure and captured my interest.

One unexpected dimension of Palin's life that captured my attention was the unfolding relationship he had with his family including his parents, wife and children. In particular, the progressive decline and death of his father produced a profound portrait of Palin. It was touching. Less touching but still an attention grabber was Palin's portrait of the other Pythons. The personality of each Python was a candid and multidimensional. However, I wasn't surprised by these descriptions and reaffirmed Palin's reputation as being "the nice one."

As for THE LIFE OF BRIAN, my primary interest in reading this diary, the description of the evolution of the leper and crucifixion scenes was a real hoot. The evolution of the leper scene was more complex than imaginable.

* An Episcopalian Bishop asked a close friend (a priest) to discourage his flock to not view THE LIFE OF BRIAN. He and his Bishop never saw the film, but after I explained the storyline, my friend became less concerned. The protest of the film could have easily been included in the film itself. If the Python boys realized a protest would ensue, I am sure they would have done so.