Michael Palin: Fish-Slapping Funny

Last evening, Mrs. Cowboy and I had the pleasure of seeing Michael Palin chat with Lorne Michaels at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. The event is part of Michael's tour to support his new book, Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years.

The evening's format centered around Lorne asking Michael about his perspectives before, and during, Python. In addition, audience members were given the opportunity to write questions for Michael on index cards, which were handed to Lorne during the course of the evening. I was pleased that one of the submitted questions asked Michael to cover George Harrison's relationship with Python, which manifested into Lorne Michaels recalling his own interaction with George when SNL offered $3000 for a Beatles reunion. It was such a joy listening to Michael recount some hilarious tales, throwing in some funny quips here and there.

Everyone was enjoying what he had to say. Whether it was talking about pressure during the writing of The Frost Report, Python dealing with BBC censors, or donkeys mating on the set of Life Of Brian, there was an enthusiasm in his delivery that left all of us hanging on every word. At times, I missed some follow-up joke because we were all laughing too hard at one he just made, almost like when I watched Python for the first time without any VCRs that I could rewind to catch every single thing!

I heartily recommend to all the Shakers to check and see if Michael Palin will be stopping by your town on his book tour. My only complaint, if any, was that the night was too short. We could've stayed there and listened to him for hours.