Eric Idle has never been one to mince words, especially about John Cleese and their 'feud'. Over the years, he’s offered plenty of candid insights into the history of British comedy troupe Monty Python. Most recently, he took aim at a particular TV special, which he believes marks the troupe’s creative low point.
A Python fan shared a clip featuring “seventh Python” Carol Cleveland questioning whether the BBC was “dumbing” down its programming, before introducing a panel of brick-wielding Gumbys. The excerpt came from 1999’s Python Night, a special that Idle was quick to dismiss as “unquestionably the worst Python show ever.” Python Night was a BBC Two event celebrating the 30th anniversary of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, featuring documentaries, clip shows, and even new material from (some of) the Pythons.
With Graham Chapman having passed away in 1989, the remaining members were left to carry the torch. However, Idle, already disillusioned after a failed reunion tour and an abandoned Holy Grail sequel, refused to participate. “Eric just didn’t want to have anything to do with it at all,” John Cleese revealed in The Pythons Autobiography by the Pythons.
According to Idle, the script “wasn’t like Python at all, it was like a John Cleese commercial.” Though eventually persuaded to film a solo monologue from home, he later criticised the final product as “too long and very unfunny,” proudly stating that he “had the good taste to avoid it.�.
