Python stars for one last whirl

Four members of the ‘Monty Python’ comedy team will reunite this year for a one-off show.

Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam will perform ‘Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)’ dubbed a ‘comic oratorio’ based on the team’s 1979 film ‘Life of Brian’.

Idle said: “Only by the scruff of their necks have I got them all performing again."

The performance is scheduled for October 23 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Describing the plot, Idle added: “It tells the tragic tale of Mandy, impregnated by a Roman soldier, giving birth to Brian, a reluctant revolutionary who falls in love with Judith, gets mistaken for a Messiah and is condemned to death.

"It ranges in reference from Handel, through a naughty Mozart duet, to the Festival of Nine Carols, Bob Dylan, and the classic finale ‘Always Look On The Bright Side of Life’."

Fifth member of the ‘Monty Python’ team, John Cleese, is unable to attend the one-off performance due to prior commitments. The sixth and final member of the team, Graham Chapman, died of cancer in 1989.

Idle was previously against the idea of performing with the groundbreaking comic team, who produced the ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ TV show and three films ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’; ‘Life of Brian’ and ‘The Meaning of Life’ during their career.

Idle said the October show is possibly the last time the team would perform together onstage, and is part of Monty Python’s 40 year 'Ruby Jubilee' celebrations.

There will also be a documentary, ‘Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)’ celebrating the comic team broadcast in October.