Diaries 1969-1979

Publisher's Summary

Michael Palin has kept a diary since newly married in the late 1960s, when he was beginning to make a name for himself as a TV scriptwriter. Monty Python was just around the corner.

This volume of his diaries reveals how Python emerged and triumphed, how he, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the two Terrys (Jones and Gilliam), and Eric Idle came together and changed the face of British comedy. But this is but only part of Palin's story. Here is his growing family, his home in a north London Victorian terrace, which grows as he buys the house next door and then a second at the bottom of the garden; here, too, is his solo effort: as an actor, his writing endeavours (often in partnership with Terry Jones), and even a pantomime.

Meanwhile Monty Python refuses to go away: the hugely successful movies that follow the TV (his account of the making of both The Holy Grail and the Life of Brian movies is riveting), the at times extraordinary goings-on of the many powerful personalities who coalesced to form the Python team, the fight to prevent an American TV network from bleeping out the best jokes on U.S. transmission, and much more: all this makes for funny and captivating listening.

The birth and childhood of his three children, his father's growing disability, learning to cope as a young man with celebrity, his friendship with George Harrison, and all the trials of a peripatetic life are also essential ingredients of these diaries. A perceptive and funny chronicle, the diaries are a rich portrait of a fascinating period.

©2006 Michael Palin (P)2006 Orion Publishing Group Ltd.

Critic Reviews

"Michael Palin is not just one of Britain's foremost comedy character actors, he also talks a lot. Yap, yap, yap he goes, all day long and through the night. Then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary." (John Cleese)
"A wealth of fascinating stuff about Monty Python." ( The Independent, UK)

A great romp.

What a treat to have Michael Palin read his own diary. The audio format of this book adds in another wonderful dimension to a great story of the ascension to fame, and the difficulties of keeping five incredible comedic geniuses focused and from flying apart at the seams.

The telling of his hosting of Saturday Night Live had me crying from laughter in my car. Other things such as John Cleese' apparent desire to branch out, Graham Chapman's alcoholism, and how Michael deals with the death of his father, are deeply touching and show that he is still an ordinary guy that just happens to be an international icon.

A great listen, and a great performance from Palin in the reading.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

The Diary of a Sometime Python

Would you consider the audio edition of Diaries 1969-1979 to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version of Michael Palin's diaries, so I only have the audio version to go on. And that's fine with me. I've always loved Python since my high school days, which of course it the best time of life to discover Python.

I was excited to find Palin's diary on Audible, especially since it deals with the years during which Python came together up through the Life of Brian. The Meaning of Life and their post-Python projects are covered, I'm guessing, in the sequel to this diary, which is not available on Audible. (I'd be glad if Mr. Palin decided to record that diary, by the way.)

This is not a juicy, detail-rich account of Palin's life as a Python. It's a very real diary of those years, though. The story proceeds through journal entries, entries much as anyone would write. Palin references writing sessions with Terry Jones (his usual writing partner), waking up to watch the lunar landing broadcast with his wife Helen, a celebratory picnic lunch with the young Pythons and their significant others, family events.

Because Palin was using his diary as a basis, a lot of the narrative tricks biographers use were missing. There was no foreshadowing. No building up to some climactic moment of Palin's Python years. No elaborate backstories. Rather, Diaries was a restful and--as I got more involved in it--warm and likeable account of the everyday work of comedy.

Palin doesn't give character sketches of his colleagues. Why would he? This was essentially the author writing to himself. But the reader starts to form impressions as the Pythons pass in and out of the story.

John Cleese stood out as being a very tall man, who was interested in psychology and increasingly ambivalent about his role in Python. Occasionally, Cleese would announce he was quitting the group, only to come back.

Eric Idle was almost absent from the first part of the book. As the reader, I was wondering, ew, wonder if those two didn't get along. But it was more a case of whom Palin spent his time with. He seemed to have a strong friendship with Terry Jones, possibly because they were the two who came from Oxford. (Cleese, Chapman and Idle, I believe, met at Cambridge.) But Palin and Jones also seemed to be the two who were strongly attached to home and kids, low-key writing sessions and sessions in the squash court.

If you're a Beatles fan, you'll like the passages that deal with George Harrison, who financed The Life of Brian when no one else would.

Palin's Diaries isn't for you if you're looking for a thorough-going biography of the Pythons or their histories or an analysis of their comic sketches and films. But you'll enjoy the book if you're a Monty Python fan and are interested in a contemporary account of one of the greatest comedy groups of the 20th century.

What other book might you compare Diaries 1969-1979 to and why?

John Cleese has published a memoir, So, Anyway...(2015), which as of today is not available on Audible but probably will be. I haven't read it but I plan to. Graham Chapman published A Liar's Autobiography in the 1980s. In 2013, it was adapted to an animated film, using Graham's own recording of the text (which you can hear on youtube) with additional voices provided by Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese and Michael Palin.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

always wanted to know what he was thinking

I really loved hearing the thoughts of an aspiring Michael Palin. I watched Monty Python's Flying Circus as a kid and loved the movies whenever I could. just hearing his adventures was fantastic, made me feel like I was having a drink with a friend.

I have fallen in love with MP

I had no idea he was such a gentle, thoughtful person and his terse but poetic diary entries provide such contrast and depth to the Python world and priceless anecdotes.

An achingly modest genius

Splendid daily accounts.

I thoroughly enjoyed Michael’s reading of his diary. Not only is he a sharp writer, his voice is so familiar to me that is is though a close friend is confiding in me. Well done.

Very nice.

This was an interesting view of Monty Python from within. Palin's an excellent tour guide.

Loved Loved Loved This (Audio)Book!

I've been a Monty Python fan, and Michael Palin fan for years, so this seemed like a potentially fun book to listen to.

I loved it! It really is laid out like a diary, but a very thorough one. The book takes us through the beginning of Monty Python, with the tv show, and then on through "The Life Of Brian" movie. That's sadly where it ends, leaving me wanting more more more!

Anyway, it's a must-read/listen for anyone that likes Monty Python.

Great Biography Of An ICON

Great Biography of a great actor/comedian/story teller. His life was well told through his own words from his book. This is a great book on an icon's life during a period of time.

Fascinating tales of the Python creative process

If you are a Python fan, you will find this fascinating. Also, Palin seems like a solid guy who loves his family.

Palin on Python and Palin

Just doesn't get any better than this for an inside look at the genius and beauty of their work and the frustrations of working with bright people