History Creator / MichaelPalin

Michael Edward Palin CBE FRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, character actor and author, most famous for being one of the members of Creator/MontyPython.

His career after Python has included writing and starring in his own films, ''The Missionary'' and ''American Friends'', as well as frequent collaborations with fellow Python alumni: Terry Jones (as creators of the hilarious TV subversion of traditional British adventure stories for boys, ''Series/RippingYarns''), Creator/JohnCleese (as costar of the hugely successful film ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'' and its semisequel ''Film/FierceCreatures'') and Creator/TerryGilliam (as co-writer and -star of ''Film/TimeBandits'' and in a starring role in Gilliam's solo magnum opus ''Film/{{Brazil}}''). Most recently, he has dabbled in Eric Idle's Python stage projects, taking a few cameo roles in ''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)''.

Completely unrelated to former Alaskan governor, one-time Republican Vice Presidential nominee SarahPalin (whom Creator/JohnCleese now considers to be funnier than Michael) or her husband Todd Palin. Also not to be confused with author Michael Pollan, despite similarly pronounced names.

Michael Palin CBE FRGS (born 1943) is an English comedian, character actor and author, most famous for being one of the members of Creator/MontyPython.

* DepravedDentist: In the first episode of ''Himalaya'', Michael visits a town in Pakistan known for their dentistry. When he asks one of the local dentists to see his drill he uses on teeth, he is proudly shown a store-bought Dremel tool.

* OopNorth: Born and raised in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Lots of the Northern stereotypes appeared in his ''Ripping Yarns''.

* HistoryMarchesOn: In ''Eighty Days,'' the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88, which had ended months earlier, is referred to as "the Gulf War."

* HistoricalInJoke: Palin notes while sailing down the Yangtze River in ''80 Days'' that all the villages and waterfronts he's seeing will disappear when the big dam project is completed. 1.3 million people were eventually relocated when the Three Gorges Dam left their homes and towns underwater.

!!Palin himself provides examples of:

* {{Adorkable}}: Along with Eric Idle, the most stereotypically 'cute' Python. You can't help but smile with him.

* DeadpanSnarker: Quite often in his travelogue voiceovers and even a few times live Palin will express a certain dry wit when things start to go wrong. Even more noticeable in the accompanying followup diaries, which of course give him time to reflect at leisure.
* NiceGuy: He loathes the title, considering it personally and creatively patronizing... but by everyone else's accounts it's entirely accurate. The other Pythons consider him the most easy-going and mild-mannered of their number; in fact, Monty Python as we know it came about largely because John Cleese enjoyed working with Palin so much he was willing to take on the three other guys Palin was working with at the time. Of course, this makes the times when he gets angry and vicious (such as in ''Brazil'' or ''A Fish Called Wanda'') even more jarring. Or, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx6w6cCWHHc when you compare him to Judas]], although in that instance it was more a case of TranquilFury meets DeadpanSnarker meets BewareTheNiceOnes.
* OopNorth: Born and raised in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

* ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (1989), re-creating, fairly closely, [[AroundTheWorldInEightyDays Phileas Fogg's fictional journey around the world]]. Was completed with a few hours to spare.

'''Michael Palin''' CBE FRGS (born 1943) is an English comedian, character actor and author, most famous for being one of the members of Creator/MontyPython.

* XMeetsY: A rural Indian coal mine in ''Himalaya'', with an old tank engine still pulling coal cars, is described as "''Film/ApocalypseNow'' meets ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine''".

* TheRomanEmpire: Palin visits Roman ruins in both Libya and Tunisia in ''Sahara''. His little treatise on Roman toilet habits is a highlight.
** In the first episode of ''New Europe'' he sees a castle, first used by the Roman emperor Diocletian, still in use today.

* WorldWarII: In ''Sahara'' Palin hooks up with a British veteran's tour of the war in North Africa.

* StiffUpperLip: Michael Palin attempts to keep one as much as possible, whatever the obstacles that he faces. He does slip up on occasion (when his ship from Suez to Jeddah gets canceled in "80 Days," for instance)
*** Additionally, vast improvements have been made in rail connections and speed in Europe and Asia since the series was made.

* ThrowItIn: ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' was supposed to be six episodes. Palin and his crew got so much material out of his dhow journey from Dubai to India that they built a whole extra episode out of it.

* TechnologyMarchesOn
** Works for and against Palin in ''80 Days''
** Email and the Internet would have made some of Palin's travel problems, like his difficulties finding a way from Suez to India, a lot easier.
** On the other hand, Palin notes that air travel has made passenger trains and boats obsolete in many parts of the world, meaning that in some places, he has fewer travel options than Fogg did. For his ride across the Pacific, Palin has to hitch a ride on a freighter, because there are no cross-Pacific passenger ships any more.
** On the other other hand, that freighter Palin hitched a ride on was quite a bit faster than Fogg's passenger ship and allowed him to make up all his lost time. And he was able to go through China by train, which Fogg couldn't do.

* NiceGuy: He loathes the title, considering it personally and creatively patronizing... but by everyone else's accounts it's entirely accurate. The other Pythons consider him the most easy-going and mild-mannered of their number; in fact, Monty Python as we know it came about lsrgely because John Cleese enjoyed working with Palin so much that he lobbied for Palin's group (the rest of the Pythons) to join him and Graham Chapman at the BBC. Of course, this makes the times when he gets angry and vicious (such as in ''Brazil'' or ''A Fish Called Wanda'') even more jarring. Or, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx6w6cCWHHc when you compare him to Judas]], although in that instance it was more a case of TranquilFury meets DeadpanSnarker meets BewareTheNiceOnes.

* NiceGuy: He loathes the title, considering it personally and creatively patronizing... but by everyone else's accounts it's entirely accurate. but The other Pythons consider him the most easy-going and mild-mannered of their number. In fact, Monty Python came abut because John Cleese enjoyed working with Palin so much that he lobbied for Palin's group (the rest of the Pythons) to join him and Graham Chapman at the BBC. Of course, this makes the times when he gets angry and vicious (such as in ''Brazil'' or ''A Fish Called Wanda'') even more jarring. Or, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx6w6cCWHHc when you compare him to Judas]], although in that instance it was more a case of TranquilFury meets DeadpanSnarker meets BewareTheNiceOnes.

* NiceGuy: The other Pythons consider him the most easy-going and mild-mannered of their number. In fact, Monty Python came abut because John Cleese enjoyed working with Palin so much that he lobbied for Palin's group (the rest of the Pythons) to join him and Graham Chapman at the BBC. Of course, this makes the times when he gets angry and vicious (such as in ''Brazil'' or ''A Fish Called Wanda'') even more jarring. Or, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx6w6cCWHHc when you compare him to Judas]], although in that instance it was more a case of TranquilFury meets DeadpanSnarker meets BewareTheNiceOnes.

* KnightFever: He has a CBE.

* TheYugoslavWars: The Bosnian War is a main topic of conversation in the first episode of ''New Europe'', as Palin travels from Croatia to Bosnia to Serbia.

* ''Brazil'' (2012), no, not [[Film/{{Brazil}} that movie he was in]], but a four-part series in which Palin travels around the fifth-biggest country in the world.

His career after Python has included writing and starring in his own films, ''The Missionary'' and ''American Friends'', as well as frequent collaborations with fellow Python alumni: Terry Jones (as creators of the hilarious TV subversion of traditional British adventure stories for boys, ''Series/RippingYarns''), Creator/JohnCleese (as costar of the hugely successful film ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'' and its semisequel ''Film/FierceCreatures'') and Creator/TerryGilliam (as co-writer and -star of ''Film/TimeBandits'' and in a starring role in Gilliam's solo magnum opus ''Film/{{Brazil}}'').

Palin has also dabbled in Eric Idle's Python stage projects, taking a few cameo roles in ''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)''.

His career after Python has included writing and starring in his own films, ''The Missionary'' and ''American Friends'', as well as frequent collaborations with fellow Python alumni: Terry Jones (as creators of the hilarious TV subversion of traditional British adventure stories for boys, ''RippingYarns''), Creator/JohnCleese (as costar of the hugely successful film ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'' and its semisequel ''Film/FierceCreatures'') and Creator/TerryGilliam (as co-writer and -star of ''Film/TimeBandits'' and in a starring role in Gilliam's solo magnum opus ''Film/{{Brazil}}'').

* TheCameo: In ''Around the World in Eighty Days'', Python alumni Terry Jones and Creator/TerryGilliam show up to send Palin off and greet him on his return. Palin himself has a knack for finding parts in foreign film productions. In ''80 Days'' Palin makes a cameo in an Egyptian movie. In ''Pole to Pole'' he plays "Frogman's Hand" in a Russian documentary about crayfish. In ''Full Circle'', he makes [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=261ugmDCcBU a cameo in an Australian soap opera]]. In ''New Europe'' he's drafted into a Polish theater performance.