-This is very exciting. You're traveling around with
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail,"
a personal favorite of mine.
And so people love this movie now.
It was not a joy to make, though.
Is that accurate?
-Oh, it was miserable. [ Laughter ]
It was Scotland in April,
and the weather in Scotland is really bad
except for two weeks in September.
-Yeah. -And we were just miserable.
We were wet.
We got on the mountainside
with that strange chainmail with knitted string.
And after about 10 minutes, it would start to rain,
and we could afford about three umbrellas.
I mean, the film was made for $400,000.
-That's crazy. -Crazy.
-I mean, the interesting thing is it looks beautiful
because Scotland looks old.
So it looks accurate to what you were doing.
-And the castle --
we were only allowed to film in this one castle, Doune Castle.
And we tried to film everywhere else.
They said, "Oh, no, you can't have comedy here.
There's real history here. You can't do comedy."
It is now a tourist spot. -Really?
The actual Monty Python?
-Doune Castle, the actual Monty Python,
attracts tourists from all over the world.
-That's so funny.
And you did have to come up with some inventive things
that people probably credited as comedy writing,
but were actually done out of necessity for your budget.
Like the actual coconuts for the horses.
-Yeah.
-You guys couldn't afford horses. Is that true?
-No, no, that's -- [ Laughter ]
That is why Michael Palin, bless him,
came up with the idea of the coconuts, you see.
-That's so funny. -You know it is that --
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Sometimes you don't have much and you have to improvise.
That's sometimes when the very best ideas come through.
-Did you ever -- So, "Monty Python,"
you made that for $400,000,
that was your first one of your movies.
Yes? -Yes.
-Did they start giving you more money for the other movies
or were they always shoestring?
-Well, then after that, we did "Life of Brian,"
and this extraordinary -- [ Applause ]
-Yeah, please. -Thank you.
This is an extraordinary story.
We couldn't get anyone to give us ££2 million
to make "Life of Brian."
You know, it took a fortune. -Yeah.
-We couldn't get anyone.
And we went 'round to England and then we came to the studios
here in Hollywood and New York,
and nobody was prepared to put the money up.
-Was it because they didn't -- But was it because about the --
that it was about religion,
or just they didn't think it would work?
-Well, I don't think that at that point
that was so much of a problem. -Oh, funny.
-But then the most extraordinary thing is,
Eric Idle rang us all up.
I'd already made arrangements to do a movie in Vienna
with Peter Sellers
because I thought it wasn't going to happen.
-Yeah.
-And Eric said, "The movie is on."
And we said, "W-W-Why?"
And he said, "George Harrison is putting the money up."
-Wow!
-He knew George -- [ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah. He knew George.
He gave George the script, and George rang him up the next day
and said "I'm putting the money up."
[ Laughter ]
And Eric said, "What are you talking about?"
He said, "I'll put the money up."
-That's amazing. -And Eric said, "Why?"
And dear George said, "I want to see the movie."
[ Laughter ]
Isn't that amazing? [ Applause ]
-That's fantastic. -I know.
So I mean -- you know,
I think it's the best film Python ever made.
-Wouldn't have been made if it wasn't for George Harrison.
-Yeah, oh, my goodness. God bless is right.
[ Cheers and applause ]
You do a Q&A when you show this film.
-Oh, yes.
-And what sort of questions do people ask you?
-That's what I love, is you don't know.
You see, when you do your one-man show
you say pretty much the same as you said the previous night.
And if it's a great audience you have a good time,
and if it's a slow audience like El Paso -- hint, hint --
[ Laughter ]
You wonder at the end whether they're going to kill you.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-And they're very nice and they clap.
So that was their way of enjoying it.
-Yes.
I do like -- It's nice to engage with people.
Do you do your Q&A at the end or --
-Yes. I do it at the end.
You never know what they're gonna ask.
I mean, when I was doing it with Eric a couple of years ago,
one -- one quite young, very attractive woman said to Eric,
"What is your favorite sexual position?"
[ Laughter ]
I thought, "How is he going to get out of that?"
And without batting an eyelid,
Eric said, "Oh, the male marital position.
That's the man flat on his back with his wallet wide open."
[ Laughter and applause ]
But the strangest one, I mean the one that totally broke me up
was in -- It was in Florida,
and a lady, rather smartly dressed, middle-aged lady,
but very smart, got up and said,
"Mr. Idle, Mr. Cleese, may I ask you a serious question?"
"Of course."
She said, "Did the Queen kill Diana?"
[ Laughter ]
2,000 people there all went... [ Gasps ]
[ Laughter ]
And I was the only one laughing.
You know, I was floored.
In the end, I had time to think and I said,
"Well, certainly not with her bare hands."
[ Laughter ]
But it's great when you don't know what's going to happen.
I love that.
-You also -- Every now and then
somebody will walk out of your show.
-Oh, yeah. -And you celebrate that.
-Well, I think it's very brave. -Yeah.
-You know? Because after all, most --
[ Laughs ]
Most Python fans aren't Trump fans.
Let's face it. -Yeah.
That's true. There's not a lot of --
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And if I -- if I do a Trump joke,
sometimes you can see somebody go...
and they get up and they walk out to the aisle.
And I say, "Was it the Trump joke?"
And sometimes they say "Yes!" or sometimes they go...
[ Laughter ] And I think that's great.
I say, "Please, a round of applause
for this very, very brave person."
And they get a nice round of applause.
-Oh, that's nice. -Yeah, it's nice.
-You just don't let that catch on or else people are gonna just
start leaving just for the applause, you know.
You don't want that getting out. -True.
-It's always such a pleasure to see you.
Thank you so much for coming back.
-Thank you for having me. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Come soon. Don't stay away this long.