1982: PALIN and CLEESE on THE MEANING OF LIFE | Film 82 | Classic Movie Interviews | BBC Archive

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  • Опубликовано: 8 май 2022
  • Iain Johnstone is joined by a reluctant John Cleese (who hates interviews, especially ones including Michael Palin) and Michael Palin, who discuss the trials, tribulations and occasional triumphs of shooting their latest film, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
    Like all right-thinking people, they will do anything to get hold of a coveted Film 82 sweatshirt.
    Originally broadcast 20 December, 1982.
    You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of tv to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic tv clips from the BBC vaults.
    Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - ruclips.net/user/BBCArchive?...
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Комментарии • 151

  • @kojombasi506
    @kojombasi506 Год назад +90

    They’re like giggling schoolboys. Two absolute comedy legends.

  • @butcherax
    @butcherax Год назад +36

    "If I can't hyphenate 'dog's breakfast' I can't describe the film in one word" 😂 what a wordsmith

  • @Hysteria98
    @Hysteria98 2 года назад +42

    God, this is a blast from the past. Interviews to this day with these chaps never disappoint, lol.

  • @taragrace2928
    @taragrace2928 Год назад +5

    Michael and John are so delightful!

  • @hilaryepstein6013
    @hilaryepstein6013 2 года назад +37

    Thank you for this and thank goodness for Michael Palin's inability to stop talking.
    Graham Chapman said of Meaning of Life that it was obvious that six different minds had written it.

  • @followtheboat
    @followtheboat 2 года назад +46

    My favourite Python film by a country mile. This was great, another gem from the BBC vaults. Thank you.

    • @A-small-amount-of-peas
      @A-small-amount-of-peas Год назад +1

      I did enjoy it but if did have the whiff of a rushed cash grab

    • @MarcosElMalo2
      @MarcosElMalo2 Год назад +2

      I laughed so hard the first time watching that I felt high midway through. I was euphoric walking out of the theater.

    • @nmeau
      @nmeau Год назад +3

      Absolutely the best - they took it to the edge and no-one has gone further since

    • @gaskellr44
      @gaskellr44 11 месяцев назад +1

      I feel it's a mixed bag, not as solid and flowing as L O B, but some great sketches but also some duds, hence why they feel it is their worst. Possibly H G fares better as more good sketches than M O L. but then again, M O L has 1 or 2 killer sketches.

  • @davidbull7210
    @davidbull7210 2 года назад +21

    John Cleese now wears an "I'm 82" t shirt.

  • @stege9979
    @stege9979 Год назад +7

    Cleese and Palin...what legends.

  • @notreallydavid
    @notreallydavid Год назад +17

    Love this film - their bleakest, nastiest and cleverest. I wish the guys who made it liked it more than they do.

  • @zingzangspillip1
    @zingzangspillip1 Год назад +6

    I love how it's the interviewer who came up with "Jones is Welsh", rather than John or Michael.

  • @78mitch
    @78mitch Год назад +10

    John Cleese has a standup tour across Europe now in 2022 ! I already have the tickets for the show this August in Sundsval (Sweden). I'm so happy to see this legend at the sunset of his career.

    • @mrmaxaxl
      @mrmaxaxl Год назад

      Whaat?? Kommer han till Stockholm?

    • @oskarvikstrom229
      @oskarvikstrom229 Год назад

      @@mrmaxaxl Menar han Sundsvall? Har inte en susning.

    • @coffeecigarettes9422
      @coffeecigarettes9422 Год назад

      I guess he is doing it especially for paying off his bills after several divorces. But anyway I'm sure it will be and I wish you a lovely evening. But don't forget to cheer him up - as you heard during this interview; don't do it like the Icelanders ;-)

    • @jamesdettmann94
      @jamesdettmann94 2 месяца назад

      Well clearly the sunset of his career is just like August sunsets in Sweden, lasts forever.

  • @TheTruthKiwi
    @TheTruthKiwi 2 года назад +13

    I love how they never took interviews seriously. So much dry humour 😁😁😁

  • @sebastianb.1926
    @sebastianb.1926 2 года назад +10

    Recently watched a David Kelly interview about the Icelandic studio audience for The Builders episode of Fawlty Towers. I have no idea if it was the algorithm that recommended me this precise video in which Cleese passingly mentions the same thing or if it was pure serendipity.

    • @jeremyjohnson9817
      @jeremyjohnson9817 Год назад

      Exact same thing happened to me. Must be the algorithm.

  • @wyskass861
    @wyskass861 Год назад +6

    Comedians and engineer are my favorite types of people.

  • @Jalliams
    @Jalliams Год назад +4

    What a delightfully candid interview. Thank you!

  • @deltabilly1
    @deltabilly1 Год назад +29

    Hilarious for Cleese to accuse anyone else of talking too much. He just liked the sound of his own voice! (As do I)

    • @advancelast1740
      @advancelast1740 Год назад +1

      What, like the sound of his voice or yours ?

    • @andydixon2980
      @andydixon2980 Год назад

      @@advancelast1740 I like the sound of Jeremy's voice, more than John's.

    • @planetX15
      @planetX15 2 месяца назад

      ​Clarkson?

  • @Jimfowler82
    @Jimfowler82 2 года назад +9

    I was nearly 2 months old when this was filmed. I still remember people wearing clothes like this deep into the 90s 🤣

  • @DusanPavlicek78
    @DusanPavlicek78 Год назад +3

    This is absolutely delightful 😊

  • @welshlad6427
    @welshlad6427 2 года назад +21

    Great film. Great comedy. Great times ❤️

    • @brendancadogan6235
      @brendancadogan6235 Год назад +7

      Superb but Welsh.

    • @Costa_Conn
      @Costa_Conn Год назад +2

      @@brendancadogan6235 he's not Welsh, he's a very naughty boy

    • @Cortinaman63
      @Cortinaman63 Год назад +2

      Welsh Lad: Thanks for your nice comments about "The Meaning Of Life", As an Actor it is always nice to hear from people that enjoy a Production I have appeared in, together with a fantastic fellow Cast & Crew, I am so pleased you enjoyed the film, it was one of my personal Favourite Productions over many years in the industry to have worked on.

  • @MrJamBluejam
    @MrJamBluejam Год назад +3

    Meaning of Life in one word? John: "If I can't hyphenate dog's breakfast then I can't do it in one word". Lovely stuff.

  • @unchattytwit
    @unchattytwit Год назад +4

    My favourite Python film - brilliant - it was all worth it.

    • @Cortinaman63
      @Cortinaman63 Год назад

      Senkigtully 1 ; It was a lot of fun working on this film as one of the Cast, in Part Two "Growth & Learning" and I am so pleased you enjoyed it, thanks for your kind comment, about The Meaning Of Life, it is very much appreciated by myself, and I am sure by my fellow Cast & Crew,

  • @excelents
    @excelents 2 года назад +8

    2:30 context for the rainfall comment Ripping Yans starring Michael Palin ruclips.net/video/YYpsz2eAKOs/видео.html
    "It were always raining in Denley Moor, except on days when it were fine. And there weren't many of those. not if you include drizzle as rain."

    • @MrSimonmcc
      @MrSimonmcc 2 года назад +1

      I watched that very episode only yesterday.

    • @RodericSpode
      @RodericSpode Год назад

      I have to watch those again. That's a great line.

  • @gus4u2c
    @gus4u2c 2 года назад +7

    Meaning Of Life is my favorite Monty Python film! ❤️

    • @Cortinaman63
      @Cortinaman63 Год назад +2

      gus4u2c: I am so pleased you enjoyed the Film, and thanks for your nice comment, as a member of the Cast, with a small featured part in the Film, it is nice to hear the work all my fellow Cast & Crew put in to making this is appreciated and enjoyed by people like yourself, and many thank for your support of the Film.

    • @planetX15
      @planetX15 2 месяца назад

      Life Of Brian edges it for me, but the Meaning Of Life is a definite second, both very close, great shows!

  • @masercot
    @masercot Год назад +4

    The two were in a movie called "Fierce Creatures" and Palin played a zookeeper who couldn't stop talking...

  • @iwaisman
    @iwaisman Год назад

    Thanks

  • @nowthenzen
    @nowthenzen Год назад +4

    The world was simple then and we were younger and more beautiful

  • @andyloren442
    @andyloren442 2 года назад +1

    Love this film

  • @MoosesValley
    @MoosesValley Год назад

    Brilliant !

  • @andyg208
    @andyg208 2 месяца назад +1

    My grandmother had the exact same tree

  • @theguitardude5613
    @theguitardude5613 2 года назад +2

    My god I love these guys.
    If you could be anybody? A python.

  • @julianaylor4351
    @julianaylor4351 2 года назад +7

    They ate the salmon mousse!!!! John Cleese was brilliant as The Grim Reaper. 😁

  • @andypalin3287
    @andypalin3287 2 года назад +1

    Palin heaven! 🤘🎸😎

  • @chuckselvage3157
    @chuckselvage3157 Год назад +3

    Cleese sarcasm is gold.

  • @MarcosElMalo2
    @MarcosElMalo2 Год назад +5

    It was the dog’s breakfast aspect that I loved. It was a a return to form in a way, sketches loosely tied together thematically and absurdly.

  • @A-small-amount-of-peas
    @A-small-amount-of-peas Год назад +5

    I fear its too late now but I always wanted a 2 man John and Michael movie where it's mainly them. They all had great chemistry but I always thought these 2 had the best

    • @Kasino80
      @Kasino80 Год назад +3

      Considering Terry and Michael had the best writing partnership, it really is quite extraordinary how good these two are together. Most of the Python sketches with them are in the top ten of all their skits.

    • @charlie-obrien
      @charlie-obrien Год назад +1

      The movie "A Fish Called Wanda" had both Cleese and Palin featured in very funny roles.

    • @A-small-amount-of-peas
      @A-small-amount-of-peas Год назад

      @@charlie-obrien yes I know, but they had very little dialogue with each other

  • @wyskass861
    @wyskass861 Год назад +5

    Comedians like these are keen observers of life and can't help be see the many absurdities. Then then point them out in exaggerated fashion in the their comedy. It's a necessary reflection for humans. You can see it when he jokes about the process of making movies. People who perceive can often get tired of th experience but allow us to laugh and notice things we haven't before.

  • @OGRE_HATES_NERDS
    @OGRE_HATES_NERDS 3 месяца назад

    its christmas in heaven theres great films on tv

  • @greenvelvet
    @greenvelvet Год назад +1

    When Palin mentioned the most uncomfortable scene in the movie, I thought he was going to mention the 'schoolmaster' scene

  • @michaeltimothycole
    @michaeltimothycole 2 года назад +2

    Can you upload HangaRRR 17 the complete series.With grandmothers.With the grandmothers corolla forfeits.Uncut.30 minutes.ALL 32 episodes.PLease Paul Leyshon?.

  • @c.m.9369
    @c.m.9369 Год назад

    I‘m so glad to hear Cleese describe it as this incoherent mess of a film, because that‘s how I always saw this movie X-D
    Obviously, it‘s hillerious in so many ways, but damn is it a rambling, meandering piece!

  • @bewareofchild2462
    @bewareofchild2462 6 месяцев назад

    thank god for people like this in this world of.... well it's like that.

  • @CricketEngland
    @CricketEngland 2 года назад +3

    Would love to see what material was left out of the film..

    • @charlie-obrien
      @charlie-obrien Год назад

      There was a bit about Martin Luther being a rather lustful monk, that was cut out of one of the films. You can view it on RUclips and it's classic Python.

  • @ABC-yt1nq
    @ABC-yt1nq Год назад +3

    I think that was the cheapest studio setup I've ever seen. Having said that, Python. Simply awesome.

    • @andrewphippsphillips1455
      @andrewphippsphillips1455 Год назад

      Classic tree. On a par with the Steptoe Christmas tree

    • @charlie-obrien
      @charlie-obrien Год назад

      But those were some quality sweatshirts the host gave out at the end. There's your budget.

    • @ankavoskuilen1725
      @ankavoskuilen1725 Год назад

      Cheap but effectieve, better than meaningless glitter.

  • @ZEUSDAZ
    @ZEUSDAZ 2 года назад +1

    Please put up Rocky III and Rocky IV "Film 82 and Film 85" :-)

  • @emailyclake1706
    @emailyclake1706 2 года назад +5

    Superb but welsh. 🤣🤣🤣Taffy would love that one.🤣🤣

  • @mickeydodds1
    @mickeydodds1 2 года назад +2

    Where's Barry Norman?

    • @mikemorgan7893
      @mikemorgan7893 2 года назад +3

      He left the film show for a couple of years

    • @treadstone1970
      @treadstone1970 Год назад

      @@mikemorgan7893 actually Barry Norman always had other reviewers deputies for him while he took a little break.
      Michael Parkinson and Russell Harty were two who sat in for him on separate occasions.

  • @Nifilheimur
    @Nifilheimur Год назад +2

    As an Icelander im amazed they managed to find 40 Icelanders that were so dry and boring?? They must have been banned from drinking in the studio then!

  • @DJ-bj8ku
    @DJ-bj8ku Год назад

    If I were a network exec, I’d give them total freedom to produce whatever they wanted. Imagine the possibilities.

  • @onlyme219
    @onlyme219 Год назад +1

    Can we talk about that Christmas tree?

  • @postmodernrecycler
    @postmodernrecycler Год назад +5

    Maybe this film is dismissed as a string of comedy sketches, but I prefer to view it like 'The Decameron' or 'The Canterbury Tales': a series of tales told on a journey to the holy of holies. That's right, a tits-out Christmas pageant in Vegas.

  • @reconquista1911
    @reconquista1911 7 месяцев назад

    when saying "Happy Christmas" was still legal ;)

  • @Mojo16011973
    @Mojo16011973 Год назад +2

    I want him to talk about trains

  • @lexvonghoul6996
    @lexvonghoul6996 2 года назад +2

    This is great 😂

  • @gaskellr44
    @gaskellr44 11 месяцев назад

    Can you imagine interviews nowadays? Where have all the Intellectuals gone!

  • @jaybenny7719
    @jaybenny7719 2 года назад +1

    How hilariously dry! Fantastic.

  • @clayz1
    @clayz1 Год назад +1

    Here: The fish slapping dance.

  • @ozzie-sk9dh
    @ozzie-sk9dh Год назад

    It was….. THE SALMON MOUSSE 😂

  • @LordBingham1
    @LordBingham1 Год назад +1

    Have you ever seen a sadder tree?

  • @steveb6103
    @steveb6103 Год назад +3

    Have you confused your cat lately?

  • @user-xd9yo3le7o
    @user-xd9yo3le7o 2 года назад +1

    No expense spared on the Christmas Tree 🤔

    • @paulcallan8714
      @paulcallan8714 Год назад +1

      Just thought the same thing .But maybe we just bling things up to much these days

  • @exessex3522
    @exessex3522 2 года назад +1

    "The Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood of England"? Which one is which? I reckon Cleese could do a Jimmy Carrey-class impersonation of Eastwood's squinting, mouth-contorting tough-guy face. So that leaves Palin as Paul Newman. Well, look at him - doesn't he just ooze Butch Cassidy?

    • @treadstone1970
      @treadstone1970 Год назад

      Well John Cleese has actually appeared in a western before.

  • @ethanblackhurst8593
    @ethanblackhurst8593 Год назад +3

    No expense spared on that Xmas tree. BBC looking after my money.

    • @andrewphippsphillips1455
      @andrewphippsphillips1455 Год назад +1

      Steptoes Christmas tree, they borrowed it.
      In those days it wasn't about how garishly you decorate a studio

  • @simpsonsdiva
    @simpsonsdiva 2 года назад +2

    This is just before I was born...so much brown

    • @mikearchibald744
      @mikearchibald744 2 года назад

      This was after the seventies, have you SEEN what people wore in the seventies? Eighties stepped down to brown and purple except for pop bands and punk, now everybody all wears black and we think we're more individualized.

    • @krashd
      @krashd 2 года назад

      80's grey and brown was preferable to the 70's orange and yellow.

    • @mikearchibald744
      @mikearchibald744 2 года назад +1

      @@krashd Thats a matter of opinion, it was garish, but you ever notice since the vibrant colours of the sixties each decade has gotten increasing drab until there is no colour left at all.

  • @billybronco4223
    @billybronco4223 Год назад +2

    The Christmas tree budget at the BBC was quite low that year.

  • @johnhague5155
    @johnhague5155 Год назад +3

    I sugest we shoulde as refer to john cleese as John Cheese. An immediate referendum should be called for to clear his name of all those dredful women who rob him of his money. Beastful those ladys. 💛🙏 Amen. JMH.

  • @clareswinney1087
    @clareswinney1087 2 года назад +3

    Superb but Welsh! 😂

  • @moaningpheromones
    @moaningpheromones Год назад +2

    What the F is that thing he's sitting behind?
    I witnessed a vandal destroying origami artwork. I saw it all unfold.
    Isn't it odd we've got armpits but not legpits?

  • @themeaningoflifeexpert
    @themeaningoflifeexpert 2 года назад

    My free book has the answer to the meaning of life.

  • @ctcurry1777
    @ctcurry1777 2 года назад +2

    The worst of the python films in my opinion...but still 10x better comedy than 99% of the crap produced today.

    • @mikearchibald744
      @mikearchibald744 2 года назад +2

      Absolutely, when three films are THAT good and for completely different reasons its hard to 'rank' and probably shouldn't even be attempted. The sketch form at least made up for 'and now for somethig completely different". Like they said in the interview, people always say they don't like it til they remember the sketches. Given that MOST comedies have about five good jokes in them, there really needs to be a different name for mel brooks and monty python.

    • @charlie-obrien
      @charlie-obrien Год назад +1

      I rank it the third best Python film, but as you said that still puts it in the top 50 comedies of all time.

  • @Seminal_Ideas
    @Seminal_Ideas Год назад +1

    The BBC at it's best. How I lament the decline of the beeb. Over 40 years ago now. A different country.

  • @advancelast1740
    @advancelast1740 Год назад

    Icons

  • @mikearchibald744
    @mikearchibald744 2 года назад +1

    "superb, but welsh"

    • @Jeff_Vader
      @Jeff_Vader 2 года назад

      I love it. When I was younger one of my brother's friends was being philosophical after he had a bad day in Wales (don't know what happened) and he came out with the wonderful phrase "I think, therefore I am.....not Welsh"

    • @mikearchibald744
      @mikearchibald744 2 года назад +1

      @@Jeff_Vader I'm not laughing at that as its not politically correct:)

    • @jonathanhough2203
      @jonathanhough2203 Год назад

      @@mikearchibald744 I’m not laughing because it’s about as amusing as eating a bowl of dogshit but yknow….each to his own😐

  • @sarahdee374
    @sarahdee374 2 года назад +1

    Love Cleese's work, but always found him kind of a whiny baby in interviews. If being a working comedian and writer is so miserable, maybe he should have quit and went to work digging ditches.

    • @garethhanby
      @garethhanby 2 года назад +2

      It's called the "Sad clown paradox". Many comedians suffer from it.

    • @sarahdee374
      @sarahdee374 2 года назад +1

      @@garethhanby True. I think Basil Fawlty probably voices a of of Cleese's genuine thoughts. As I said, I do love his work and sense of humor.

    • @charlie-obrien
      @charlie-obrien Год назад

      If he hadn't become a comic actor he would have been a lawyer, and lord knows we've enough of that sort.

  • @aum3.146
    @aum3.146 Год назад

    the meaning of life is where they came down from everest. it was a mess

  • @MakeSomeNoiseAgencyPlaylists
    @MakeSomeNoiseAgencyPlaylists Год назад

    and now we got ESSEX......🤮

  • @andypike1234
    @andypike1234 Год назад

    Sweater

  • @jamietrev
    @jamietrev Год назад +1

    Wasn’t that sweet

  • @zogzog1063
    @zogzog1063 2 года назад

    Boring. Impossible? This is like the outtakes of a comedy where instead of all the best bits ...

  • @L_Martin
    @L_Martin 2 года назад

    6:36 that set is absolutely GRIM. why were the 80s so determinedly ugly?

  • @witness1013
    @witness1013 2 года назад +3

    Horrible. This precisely defines why Brits are NOT funny.

    • @jaybenny7719
      @jaybenny7719 2 года назад +10

      We are not funny to you …. 😉

    • @richardmell299
      @richardmell299 2 года назад +13

      I'm flabbergasted, I don't think I'll sleep tonight with that News.

    • @witness1013
      @witness1013 2 года назад +1

      @@jaybenny7719 oh, quite the contrary,as a people, i find you, your love of Royals, and your love if importing welfare takers, very funny!

    • @SpotlessLeopard
      @SpotlessLeopard 2 года назад

      Met us all have you misery arse?

    • @xenomorph6961
      @xenomorph6961 2 года назад +10

      Someone is still sore about the 'Life of Brian"!
      That makes me happy :P