Eric Idle Blasts Monty Python for Taking Away His Veto Power

Unless Frank Sinatra somehow rises from the grave and can convince them all to show up at the same live telethon, the surviving members of Monty Python likely aren’t going to be patching things up anytime soon. And as long as they keep giving interviews, journalists are seemingly going to keep asking them about the group’s perpetually-simmering tension.

Eric Idle, who has a new book out all about the making of Spamalot, recently chatted with the AARP. When asked about his friend, former Beatle and Life of Brian backer George Harrison, Idle shared that the former Beatle once gave him some invaluable life advice. “He cheered me up when my first marriage was breaking up by telling me I was going to die,” Idle explained. “Which is good advice. Fuck it. Every day you’re lucky.”

On the subject of the Beatles, Idle was asked whether or not Monty Python gave “each member the right to veto” material as the Fab Four did. “Yes. All Pythons always had a veto until the last three shamefully removed it from the fourth this last spring,” Idle replied. 

Idle’s comment is presumably a reference to the group’s finances, which are currently managed by Holly Gilliam, daughter of Terry Gilliam — in spite of Idle’s objections. Speaking with The New Yorker last month, Idle made his displeasure very clear, stating, “I don’t think it’s appropriate that somebody’s daughter is managing the company. You can’t be neutral in a situation where your dad is on the board. I think it’s not right, and it leads to dangerous feelings and difficulties.”

During the same interview, he also praised the group’s past use of the veto power, and again, claimed that it has now been scrapped. “I love the veto power. I thought it was the most civilized rule that I’ve ever been part of. They actually got rid of it recently, I’m sad to say — to their shame. You can’t really force someone to be in something if they don’t really want to be in it.”

In his memoir, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, Idle similarly praised the Python veto rule and noted that it actually prevented the group from committing a serious crime. While they were writing The Meaning of Life in Jamaica, the group groused about how Handmade Films co-founder Dennis O’Brien owed them “a million dollars” for the film Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. So Idle, recalling that O’Brien owned a boat that was moored nearby, suggested that they all “seize his yacht.”

Everyone voted in favor of the plan, except for Cleese; the former law student pointed out that the plan amounted to piracy. “Monty Python voted five out of six to become pirates,” Idle wrote, “but the Python veto rule held. Everyone had the right to veto a vote. A surprisingly effective and fair rule, which meant that no one could be forced into doing what they didn’t want to do.”

So in addition to Idle’s current frustrations, without the veto rule, there’s a good chance that Monty Python would have spent their final years in a Caribbean prison cell. 

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