Monty Python stars reunite for Sir Michael Palin’s birthday – with one notable absence

Anita Singh
Sir Michael Palin (right) celebrates his birthday with John Cleese (left) and Terry Gilliam
Sir Michael Palin (right) celebrates his birthday with John Cleese (left) and Terry Gilliam - X/Twitter

Sir Michael Palin has marked his 81st birthday with a Monty Python reunion, with John Cleese and Terry Gilliam joining him for a celebratory meal.

Cleese shared a photograph of the occasion on social media, along with the caption: “An 18-foot Python celebrates Pallin’s [sic] 181st Birthday and 195th Travel Book. Photo taken at cafe on peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.”

The actual venue was Fischer’s restaurant in Marylebone, central London.

Asked by a follower on X, formerly Twitter, whether his misspelling of Sir Michael’s name was an in-joke, Cleese mischievously replied: “No, it’s just malice.”

The Monty Python team in 1969. Left to right: Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Sir Michael Palin
The Monty Python team in 1969. Left to right: Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin - Michael Ochs Archives

Eric Idle, the other surviving Python, lives in the US and did not attend.

In February, Cleese and Idle appeared to air grudges against one another.  Idle wrote that he had not seen Cleese for seven years. “Do you want to?” asked a fan. He replied: “No”.

Later, Cleese wrote on X: “We always loathed and despised each other, but it’s only recently that the truth has begun to emerge.”

However, he later clarified that he had been joking, and had been referring to all the members of Monty Python.

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