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| #1 | |||
| Elite Fan   Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 36,311
| Michael Palin #3: Writer, Comic Genius Who Talks Too Much And Everybody's Best Friend Welcome to the 3rd Michael Palin appreciation thread!  John Cleese: "Michael Palin is not just one of Britain's foremost comedy character actors, whose inventive genius and astonishing versatility were vividly demonstrated in his widely acclaimed 'Ripping Yarns' series, he also talks a lot. Yap yap yap he goes, all day long and through the night, twenty three to the dozen, the ground littered with the hind legs of donkeys, till you believe it is not possible, simply not possible for him to go on any longer, but he does. He must be the worst man in the world to take on a commando raid. You might as well take a large radiogram with the volume turned up. On and on, hour after hour, tiring the sun with talking and sending him down the sky. Michael chats, quips, fantasises, reminisces, commiserates, encourages, plans, discusses, and elaborates; then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary"  Some Tiny Facts: Born 5 May 1943 in Sheffield, Yorkshire Education: Birkadale Preparatory School and Oxford Utterly useless fact: The youngest Python, he grew up on a staple diet of The Goons, Tony Hancock and Peter Cook. You want to know more...??: Michael Palin Quotes From The Man Himself: "And of course I learn a lot from my travels. Things I wouldn't learn at home, like how to survive on five hours' sleep a night, how to distinguish yoghurt from mayonnaise in hotel buffets, and how to say sorry in Pashtun" "I have said goodbye to the breakfast chef at least twice and he is now thoroughly confused and a little suspicious of my intentions. Am I really on my way to the South Pole or just trying out Great Mueslis of the Word?" /From the book Pole to Pole "I still wake up every day and feel glad to be alive" "Once the camera goes on, I become a shameless old ham" "I'm visiting countries I didn't know existed. The cultures are fascinating and I've met great characters." And, of course, for the man who has become the nation's best-loved intrepid traveller, he especially enjoys the journeys. "I made one amazing train journey to Dakkar. The train was 10 hours late, it took forever but it was incredible. I met up with a fantastic woman and discussed Muslim attitudes to sex." "People are always looking for leaders, or they're looking for a hero somewhere or someone they could follow whether it's some sort of sportsmen or it's a polititian or it's a popgroup, or you know, some religious fundamentalist. They're always looking for someone like that. And...so alot of it is about gullibility, about the length people will go to sort of be led. Give up their own sort of powers of reason to somebody else's. That's what the film is about. It's "Think for yourself. Don't do something just because someone tells you to do it" /About Life of Brian "Traveling, I feel, is the closest to changing your life utterly as you can get, while still remaining sane" "People often say "You gave up Monty Python to do this? A drastic change in your life, complete turn around" I don't see it that way, you know. Comedy is a way of, sort of, breaking all the rules, but still going back home in the evening. And with travel, it does stimulate you, forces you to test all your reactions, all your sort of stereotypicical views of the world, all your convensional visdom, and you have to deal with different situations with people living in a different way and your own sort of comfortable circle no longer apply. But you can go home at the end of it and there's your own fridge and bed and your own desk with all it's mess and clutter. So I do believe you need the two sides, but it's great to have something where you can just break away from everyday life" "I'm insatiably curious about anywhere, really. I don't have to travel far. Even in London on a good day I'll go round, see somewhere I've not seen before. I find it fascinating. I do have an appetite for different places, diversity, different people, the way they look, the way they eat. It's an observational thing and I like writing more than performing and always have done. And maybe it's just a writers eye, I love going to places where I'm not known. You know, I can sit and watch the world go by rather than the other way around. It's getting very diffcult to find places like that, 'cause I sit and watch the world go by and someone says "Oh, Spanish inquisition!" and there goes my anominity(Laughs)" "People are very friendly. I mean, people shout at me across the street. You know, "Hello, Mike!" or whatever, and pass on. It's rather nice. I suppose that's the legacy of the programs I've done, and very nice too. It's great to be able to do the programs as myself, to not have to take on a role as I go around and also not have to pretend that I'm an expert on anything at all. So theres a certian, you know, payback for humility, which is that people feel "Oh, you're one of us", you know. Most people travel with the exact same kind of information that I have" "Comedy is a way of, sort of, breaking all the rules, but still going back home in the evening. And with travel, it does stimulate you, forces you to test all your reactions, all your sort of stereotypicical views of the world, all your convensional visdom, and you have to deal with different situations with people living in a different way and your own sort of comfortable circle no longer apply. But you can go home at the end of it and t lifehere's your own fridge and bed and your own desk with all it's mess and clutter. So I do believe you need the two sides, but it's great to have something where you can just break away from everyday"  "I suppose I'd have to be corny and say home is where my heart is, the old thing, but it is, really. I think that's just to do with familiarity. There are wonderful places in the world, and I've seen just the most beautiful scenery and been amongst people who are as friendly and welcoming and hospitable and generally good to be with as any I could wish for, but in the end you come back for all its imperfections to home, to London, to busy cities, because that's where I've been brought up not in London, but in a city in the north of England. I'm an English city boy and I can't really get away from that" "I just enjoy learning from other people. I have no real qualifications other than a history degree at Oxford. I am not particularly good at anything. I am not particularly practical. I am not particularly good at languages. What I am quite good at is getting people to trust me fairly quickly. I don't say, "You've got to fit in with the way I am." I just try and say, "Look, tell me what's going on here." "For me, humor always creeps in. I mean, I don't think there's a great difference between something that's essentially comic or serious or people is trying to make that division "Today I'm gonna be serious, today I'm gonna be comic" I've never been able to do that. Everything I try to do serious, the comedy creeps in. Comedy is something that I've always found the best way in dealing with life's problems and it has made me a living" What Other People Say About Him: "Mike is everybody's best friend. There's something about Mike that becomes the cement that always kept us together. He's the one that, no matter how much we hate the others at any given point, everybody likes." /Terry Gilliam “Touch wood,” he says, seamlessly moving into character, “they haven’t found out about my triple murders. And my troupe of Lapp transvestites who come round to my home, when no one’s looking, for orgies.” In faux dismay, his hand covers his mouth, which has formed a perfect “O”, as he notes the running dictaphone. The mock naivety, the charm, the jokes. Michael Palin is not the son of God, he’s just a very funny boy" "With his genuine interest in the people he met, and his joy in exploring, Michael Palin became the benchmark by which all other TV travellers have since been judged. With typical self-depreciation, he claims he was simply "bungling his way around the world." "Michael Palin is a really, really, really, really, really nice man. Everybody says so. Even his wife says so. "Michael," she is reputed to have once said, "if you get any nicer I shall have to leave you." He is, it is also often said, "the nicest living Englishman" "Oh, Michael Palin is so nice. It’s almost disappointing. He’s so famously nice that before the interview I’m half hoping to discover that he’s actually a wife-beater with a secret cocaine habit. Or a bad tipper. Or unkind to kittens, say. Something like that. Anything, really" "He’s always topping polls of the kind that ask who you’d most like to have as a travel companion, and even when he’s not being publicly nice, he’s being privately nice. I went to an awards ceremony once, where he was the host, and the organiser told me of all the presenters they’d ever used he was the only one who’d insisted his fee went to charity (the British Stammering Association)" "We brought two chairs onto the lawn. I moved my chair so Palin wouldn't be looking into the sun. He moved his chair so he'd be closer to the mike. I moved my chair so I could look at his face more directly. He moved his chair so his legs wouldn't hit my legs. Suddenly we looked at each other: "This is a Python skit!" he laughed" "He was cheerful and relaxed, reflective at times and impish at others, easy to laugh and so entirely un-obsessed with himself and curious about the world that sometimes it seemed as if he were interviewing me -- qualities that obviously serve him well in his journeys" "When asked wich luxuary he would take with him on a deserted island, John Cleese said: "Michael Palin, please" When told the object had to be inanimate, Palin therefor had to be stuffed, John Cleese said: "That'll do" /Michael Parkinson Video Links: YouTube - The Frank Skinner Show with Michael Palin (part 1) YouTube - The Frank Skinner Show with Michael Palin (part 2) YouTube - Michael Palin promoting Pole to Pole book (part 1) YouTube - Michael Palin promoting Pole to Pole book (part 2) YouTube - Parkinson 28 September 2002 (Part 1) Michael Palin interview YouTube - Parkinson 28 September 2002 (Part 2) Michael Palin interview YouTube - Clive Anderson All Talk Michael Palin interview (part 1) YouTube - Clive Anderson All Talk Michael Palin interview (part 2) YouTube - Blue Peter with Michael Palin YouTube - Parkinson interview with Michael Palin (part 1) YouTube - Parkinson interview with Michael Palin (part 2) YouTube - Palin discusses Ripping Yarns on Parkinson 1982 Fans: 1. sanna_o75 2. Amy_UK 3. Lady April 4. Ya_Big_Jonesy 5. mrsbeethoven 6. georgina31 7. kisch  Future Titles: Think Different, Think Michael Palin Don't Play With Fire, Play With Michael Palin Michael Palin Is What The World Was Waiting For Michael Palin Empowers You Food Or Michael Palin? I'll Have Michael Palin Michael Palin Is A Never Ending Story The One And Only Michael Palin Michael Palin - One Name, One Legend Michael Palin? Yes, Please Michael Palin Keeps Going, And Going, And Going.... Michael Palin - What More Could You Want? He Is Just As Funny And Pleasant In Real Life As You Would Expect Because He Makes People Laugh Previous Threads: 1. Michael Palin #1: Because he's an ex Python and has traveled around the world 2. Michael Palin #2: Because He's Not The Son Of God, He's Just A Very Funny Boy __________________ "The women may respond mostly to this relationship, I know I did. Are you OK with that that they come back again and again to see what happens with those two?" Alan Ball: “Absolutely. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is a huge love story" Last edited by sanna_o75 : 07-29-2008 at 04:02 AM. | |||
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| #2 | |||
| Elite Fan Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 36,311
| Continue :-) Mike says hello..... :-) I uploaded 2 deleted scenes from Sahara on sendpace.com The first isn't from the beginning since my Windows Movie Makes is weird and shuts down after a certian time in the time line, it's a clip with Mike bying flowers Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem! And the 2nd one is another scene with that guy who says "Thnk you very much" all the time. It's pretty sweet :-) Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem! __________________ "The women may respond mostly to this relationship, I know I did. Are you OK with that that they come back again and again to see what happens with those two?" Alan Ball: “Absolutely. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is a huge love story" Last edited by sanna_o75 : 05-25-2008 at 11:54 AM. | |||
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| #3 | |||
| Part-Time Fan  Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 339
| YAY! I do hope that OTHER thread sinks fast  It looks like FF is speeding up today. About 1/2 hour ago for me. Great links  Thanks sanna!__________________ "You can't expect to weild supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at ya" -Michael Palin's peasant of the collective. | |||
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| #4 | |||
| Elite Fan Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 36,311
| I PMed a moderator and asked her to close the thread so it's no problem :-) I changed a little in the opening, I hope it's OK. I just thought that the waving pic looked good there :-) __________________ "The women may respond mostly to this relationship, I know I did. Are you OK with that that they come back again and again to see what happens with those two?" Alan Ball: “Absolutely. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is a huge love story" Last edited by sanna_o75 : 05-25-2008 at 01:32 PM. | |||
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| #5 | |||
| Part-Time Fan Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 339
| Quote:
I was hoping you wouldn't mind the arrangement of the Title. I liked the Gilliam remark you brought up but I thought while we're at it, thoughts of Mike from other Pythons, I also like what John says about Mikey talking too much then the thus added "comic genius" After you re-posted the thread with the same title I was happy that you liked it  __________________ "You can't expect to weild supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at ya" -Michael Palin's peasant of the collective. | |||
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| #6 | |||
| Elite Fan Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 36,311
| Yeah, I did it for you :-) __________________ "The women may respond mostly to this relationship, I know I did. Are you OK with that that they come back again and again to see what happens with those two?" Alan Ball: “Absolutely. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is a huge love story" | |||
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| #7 | |||
| Part-Time Fan Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 339
| Quote:
 Dude, that was soo cool You are pretty awesome your self   __________________ "You can't expect to weild supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at ya" -Michael Palin's peasant of the collective. | |||
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| #8 | |||
| Elite Fan Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 36,311
| Yeah, I thought it would be pretty mean to change the title :-)            __________________ "The women may respond mostly to this relationship, I know I did. Are you OK with that that they come back again and again to see what happens with those two?" Alan Ball: “Absolutely. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is a huge love story" | |||
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| #9 | |||
| Part-Time Fan  Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 247
| Yay a new Mikey thread! Great pictures. __________________ "I think my favourite comedy is like poetry in a way. Browning said a metaphor is if you take two completely disparate ideas and you put them together and instead of getting a third idea you get a star. And that is what humour can be -- you get ideas together and you make not a star but a laugh." - Terry Jones | |||
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| #10 | |||
| Elite Fan Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 36,311
| Hi :-) Here's aother clip from the deleted scenes. It's obviously staged, but it's very funny anyway. It's also funny to me because I recognice the situation :-) Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem! __________________ "The women may respond mostly to this relationship, I know I did. Are you OK with that that they come back again and again to see what happens with those two?" Alan Ball: “Absolutely. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is a huge love story" | |||
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| #11 | |||
| Part-Time Fan Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 339
| I like the tounge one But, heh, you know me  Those pics are great __________________ "You can't expect to weild supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at ya" -Michael Palin's peasant of the collective. | |||
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| #12 | |||
| Elite Fan Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 36,311
| He's learning words there and they are going through them in that pic so he's saying a word that means tounge :-) Here's a "blooper" clip from the Sahara extra. Or more like 2 clips because I had to split it :-) Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem! Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem! __________________ "The women may respond mostly to this relationship, I know I did. Are you OK with that that they come back again and again to see what happens with those two?" Alan Ball: “Absolutely. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is a huge love story" | |||
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| #13 | |||
| New Fan Joined: May 2008
Posts: 59
| Oi ! New Michael thread ! Thank you for all the piccies Sanna ! | |||
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| #14 | |||
| Elite Fan Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 36,311
| You're welcome :-) More pics from the Full Circle extra       __________________ "The women may respond mostly to this relationship, I know I did. Are you OK with that that they come back again and again to see what happens with those two?" Alan Ball: “Absolutely. Part of the appeal of the story is that it is a huge love story" Last edited by sanna_o75 : 05-26-2008 at 05:13 AM. | |||
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| #15 | |||
| Part-Time Fan Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 247
|  Clearly Michael didnt have enough breakfast on that morning.  Awww a Python in my shrubbery... *sigh* I wish  __________________ "I think my favourite comedy is like poetry in a way. Browning said a metaphor is if you take two completely disparate ideas and you put them together and instead of getting a third idea you get a star. And that is what humour can be -- you get ideas together and you make not a star but a laugh." - Terry Jones | |||
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