The Monty Python team split roughly into four groups when it came to the writing of Flying Circus and their three original feature films: the two pairings of John Cleese and Graham Chapman, and Michael Palin and Terry Jones, and the individual input of Eric Idle and the animations of Terry Gilliam. Yet, when it came to the performance of the sketches, the most striking pairing blurred writers' lines.
John Cleese and Michael Palin together performed some of the most famous sketches in Python folklore: 'The Dead Parrot', 'Cheese Shop', and 'The Ministry of Silly Walks' among them. In various interviews, the theory has been espoused that John Cleese wished to work with Palin, and it was from this desire that Monty Python eventually spawned.
Ministry Of Silly Walks
The reactions to this claim encapsulate the dynamic between the two performers. Cleese asserts that this was very much in his mind, whereas Palin is more humble and uncertain, attempting to deflect this assertion. These natural characteristics are exaggerated in each man's comedic performances, creating a contrast which is essential to good comedy.
'The Ministry of Silly Walks' exemplifies this. Palin plays a reserved, awkward character (a common Palin type, also seen to great effect in 'The Marriage Counsellor'), all ill-fitting suits and unease within his own skin. Cleese, on the other hand, is the authoritative, outlandish half of the equation, marching around in a silly way whilst displaying a commanding voice. The normality of Palin, and the painful lack of ingenuity in his own silly walk, only heightens the manic brilliance of Cleese's performance.
Chapman vs. Palin
The only other member of Python capable of producing awkward characters to any effect was Graham Chapman. As Cleese's writing partner, it would be assumed that he would be the man to fill the same roles as Palin in these sketches, but the key difference is the empathy which Palin can effortlessly create within his performances.
The two sketches 'Vocational Guidance Counsellor' and 'Job Interview' illuminate this. Cleese is the interviewer in both sketches, and is the more dominant character. Yet Palin's mis-directed desire to be a lion tamer is both funny and sad in the former, and as such Cleese is forced to tone down, in order to prevent him from appearing like a monster. Chapman in the latter is more of a caricature, and as such allows Cleese to play with his mind and essentially bully him, whilst remaining funny.
The Dead Parrot Sketch
'Dead Parrot' is perhaps Monty Python's most famous sketch, and it is no surprise to find Palin and Cleese as the performers. The notable difference in this performance is the change in character in both actors. Palin is more of a fraudster, not his usual sweet-natured loser, whilst Cleese is an exasperated customer who, in the instance of being fooled in to thinking he is not in Bolton, is the slower-witted of the pair.
Whilst there is little precedent for this in the Python back catalogue, the sketch had its origins in a TV special Cleese produced for ITV in 1968, How To Irritate People. The show featured a piece - 'Car Salesman' - in which Palin played a salesman who refused to accept the justified claims of his customer (in this case played by Graham Chapman) that the car he had sold was faulty.
In both sketches, however, Palin's humanity shines through. The way in which his salesmen squirm, compulsively smoke, and desperately throw out ever more ludricous reasoning creates the humour needed to prevent him from looking like an unsympathetic crook. Instead they are clearly poor salesmen who are desperately trying to keep afloat via the most desperate of methods (such as the famous palindrome excuse).
Monty Python's Flying Circus is widely regarded as one of the greatest comedy shows of all time, with influence on most British and American comedy since. Less widely appreciated is the superb pairing of Michael Palin and John Cleese, a comedic double act yet to be mentioned with the likes of the Two Ronnies or Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
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