Eric Idle Makes Cryptic Accusation Following the Death of Monty Python’s Production Company
Anyone holding their breath that the four surviving members of Monty Python are going to reunite for a new project is probably going to die of oxygen deprivation at this point.
As author and podcaster Kieran Maguire recently pointed out on social media, it seems as though the iconic troupe’s film production company, Python (Monty) Pictures Limited, has a strike-off notice on a U.K. government website, signalling that the company is in the process of dissolving and will soon be no more.
This is obviously sad news for fans to hear, considering that the company was incorporated more than five decades ago, in 1973, shortly before the Pythons released their first-ever original feature film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And the company has also been involved with more recent projects too, such as the 2014 documentary Monty Python: The Meaning of Live, which documented the making of their O2 reunion concert.
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News of Python (Monty) Pictures Limited’s apparent demise sparked countless “Dead Parrot” references, with fans hoping that the company was merely “resting.” But Eric Idle, who is still listed as one of the company’s directors, clarified that it’s definitely dead, confusingly adding that “the parrot is to blame.”
It’s unclear exactly what Idle meant by that last statement, but he has been very critical of the Pythons’ business affairs in recent years, partly blaming the brand’s current manager Holly Gilliam for his current financial problems. So by suggesting that the “parrot is to blame,” presumably he’s using the “Dead Parrot” analogy to suggest that the Python organization is to blame for the death of their longtime production company.
Then again, maybe blaming the “Parrot” is a more specific dig at Idle’s frenemy John Cleese, who was, of course, the guy who complained about receiving a deceased pet in the classic sketch.
This isn’t the first Python business decision that Idle has bemoaned on social media lately. Last month he revealed that he was kept out of the loop about the U.K.’s new line of Royal Mail Monty Python stamps, adding that it would have been nice to have been “told earlier.”
In fairness to Idle, it would suck to only learn that your likeness is on a postage stamp after people are already mailing letters with your face on it.
