LONDON – Less than two weeks after the final performance of Monty Python Live (mostly), its live screening in theaters has been named the third biggest live cinema event of all time in the U.K.
An estimated 570 venues across the U.K. and Ireland – plus more than 1,800 around the world – broadcast Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam take to the stage in front of 15,000 fans at London’s O2 Arena for one last time Sunday July 20.
In a tweet sent Wednesday, the @montypython account revealed, “Numbers just in: #montypythonlive was the third biggest live cinema event in the UK ever.”
Mike Myers, Harry Shearer and U.K. comedian Eddie Izzard were among the special guests for the final three-hour show, which saw the last ever live performance by the comedy troupe of their much-loved dead parrot sketch.
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In an apparent swipe at the Daily Mail newspaper, which had published an unfavorable review suggesting they were “flogging a dead parrot”, John Cleese appeared to forget his lines.
Monty Python Live (mostly) is estimated to have earned each of the surviving Pythons more than $3.7 million, with a portion going to the estate of Graham Chapman, who passed away from cancer in 1989.
A DVD of the show is due for release November and is likely to top Christmas lists for many Monty Python fans who weren’t able to watch it, plus no doubt many who were as well.
