The Monty Python team
Monty Python are reuniting for a one-off comedy show at The O2 in London next July and have promised fans the greatest hits of their sketches.
The British comedy act - Terry Jones, 71, John Cleese, 74, Terry Gilliam, 72, Michael Palin, 70, and Eric Idle, 70 - will re-enact sketches from their TV series 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' and scenes and songs from their three films at The O2 in London on July 1.
The group - who last performed live together at the Hollywood Bowl in 1980 and were last on stage in the UK 40 years ago - have been busy selecting highlights from their illustrious career such as the famous 'Dead Parrot Sketch' and have promised a range of material they have never performed live before such as skits from their final movie 'Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'.
Speaking at a press conference hosted by actor Warwick Davis at The Playhouse Theatre in London today (21.11.13), Idle said: "We'll do some of the songs, some of things appeared after we'd done (our last) live show at the Hollywood Bowl - like 'The Meaning of Life'. So we're going to be doing some of the material that we've never done live before ... They'll be a lot of that."
Palin: "I think we'll do 'The Spanish Inquisition' right the way through to comfy chairs and all that torturous stuff."
However, Cleese will not be recreating 'The Ministry of Silly Walks' sketch - first broadcast on TV in 1970, featuring the comedian developing stupid ways of walking for the British government - because his body is not capable of replicating the moves.
Cleese said: "The silly walks are impossible now because I have an artificial knee and an artificial hip, so there's no chance of doing them. We'll certainly be doing some of the sketches I'm very fond of. The 'Crunchy Frog' we might well do, I suppose we'll do some version of the 'Dead Parrot'. The main danger we have is that audience know the scripts better than we do."
The five-piece - who will perform without sixth member Graham Chapman, who died in 1989 aged 48 - will perform some new material as well and some of the old jokes will be updated for a modern audience.
Cleese revealed: "People really do want to see the old hits but we don't want to do them in an exact and predictable way. So it's going to be a mix-up."
However, they won't be incorporating any Miley Cyrus-style twerking into their routines when they take to the stage next year.
When asked if they would trying out the butt-shaking dance craze, Idle quipped: "There will be twerking, or is it tweeting?
"One of the things we are going to do is we're going to be working with Arlene Phillips. She is going to work on the stage show with us. "It's going to be a big show. We're aware we have to put on a big show ... We just want to make it as exciting and as funny as possible ...
"But you have to remember that at a rock concert the most awful noise and the most awful thing you can ever hear is, 'And now we'd like to play a few tracks from our new album.' That's when you go to the bathroom. We're hoping that everyone will have forgotten (the old jokes) so they appear new."
Palin added: "Yes, there is some new material."
Tickets for 'Monty Python Live' go on sale on Monday November 25 at 10am at MontyPythonLive.com
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