Eric Idle and John Cleese’s Social Media Feud Is Much Older Than You’d Think

It’s no secret that the Monty Python bond isn't super-strong right now. And the reason why it’s no secret is because a lot of the inter-Python bickering has transpired on social media. Eric Idle and John Cleese made headlines for posting snide comments about one another, the result of Idle’s vocal discontentment with the handling of Monty Python’s finances. It’s basically the British comedy equivalent of watching your parents fight.

While the Idle-Cleese feud has certainly garnered a lot of attention recently, it isn’t exactly a fresh phenomenon. Not only is this not the first time that Idle and Cleese have squabbled, it’s not even the first time that they’ve squabbled in front of all their social media followers. 

The two Pythons also beefed way back in 2011. And it will probably come as a shock to precisely no one that it was also about money. Although it all began with a dispute over who would get to play God. Literally. 

When Spamalot, Idle’s musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, first premiered on Broadway, the voice of God was provided by Cleese (via a recording), which meant that he earned an “extra royalty” in addition to what the Pythons earned for creating the original film. 

But when it came time to tour Spamalot, Idle decided to recast the role of the creator of the universe with himself. He defended the decision in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, stating, “I fired John Cleese — surgically removed him. It wasn’t mean — he’s had millions of dollars from it. He charges people a fortune for using his voice. He’s always been in financial crisis.”

If that wasn’t harsh enough, Idle added, “His ex wife was married to him for 20 years. I wouldn’t take £13 million to be married to him. I don’t feel guilty. I gave him a million dollars. Has he sent me a Christmas card? No, he’s too busy on the road.”

Cleese fired back on Twitter, calling his colleague “Yoko Idle” — presumably he was implying that Idle was driving a wedge between the group members, not that he was secretly an accomplished mixed media artist. He also took issue with Idle’s financial claims. Since this was more than a decade ago, Cleese had to split his angry rebuttal into two separate Tweets that maxed out at 140 characters each.

While Idle didn’t directly respond to Cleese’s barbs at the time, when Spamalot was revived on Broadway in 2023, instead of dusting off his old Cleese MP3s, Idle tapped Steve Martin to take on the role of God. He made the casting announcement on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and took the opportunity to remind everyone that he “fired John Cleese” because he’s “getting on a bit” and had “gone a bit strange.”

So it should come as no surprise that these two keep fighting online. If social media had existed in the ‘60s, Monty Python’s Flying Circus would have lasted for like two episodes.

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