Monty Python fans can buy props, including lifelike llama, from last live show
Over 60 of the lots are from Monty Python Live (Mostly) at London's O2 arena in 2014, which is thought to be the last time the troupe will perform together.
Formed in 1969, the group was made up of comics Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Gilliam.
Palin said their 2014 show, which featured all the Pythons except Chapman, who died of cancer in 1989, was 'the show to end all Python shows' – and he hopes some of the costumes and props can be passed on to their 'greatest and most loyal fans'.
None of us had ever experienced an audience reaction on that scale
'Monty Python Live (Mostly) at the O2 was the show to end all Python shows,' the 82-year-old said.
'None of us had ever experienced an audience reaction on that scale, proving conclusively that it is possible to be silly after 70.
'We couldn't better that show and since the sad death of Terry Jones, we must admit that the O2 show was Python's farewell.'
Jones died in 2020 aged 77 from a rare form of dementia.
Palin added: 'But thanks to the auction, the costumes and some of the props can be passed on, hopefully to Python's greatest and most loyal fans.'
Among the outfits up for sale are Gilliam's 'I've Got Two Legs' costume and exploding stomach, Idle's Galaxy Song suit and globe, Cleese's albatross costume and wig and a dress worn by actress Carol Cleveland.
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Props include a spam menu from the 'spam' sketch, a lifelike llama, and a fake dead parrot and bird cage.
From Gilliam's personal collection are five autographed Monty Python and the Holy Grail Funko Pop toys and a Python fruit machine.
Stephen Lane, chief executive of Propstore, which is auctioning the lots, said: 'Monty Python's legacy is truly unrivalled – they've been a comedy touchstone for generations of fans across the globe.
'Propstore's auction gives fans and collectors from around the world an incredible one-of-a-kind opportunity to own a piece of their historic final reunion, along with rare treasures from the personal archive of the brilliant and beloved Python, Terry Gilliam.'
The auction is online here and bidding is open until Sunday, July 20.
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Irish Examiner
27-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Sam Gilliam: IMMA exhibition underlines impact of Irish visits on output of US artist
Sam Gilliam was an American abstract artist who revolutionised the display of work in gallery spaces. Draping unstretched canvases from the ceilings, and arranging industrial fabric on the floor, he blurred the line between painting and sculpture, and helped shape the development of installation art in the 1960s and '70s. Gilliam broke ground also by becoming the first African American artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale in 1972. By the time of his passing, aged 88, in June 2022, he had enjoyed any number of public commissions and major museum shows across the US. Although Gilliam is not as well-known on this side of the Atlantic, he visited Ireland in the early 1990s, and was greatly moved by the experience. His stay is commemorated in Sewing Fields, the new exhibition of his work curated by Mary Cremin and Seán Kissane at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham, Dublin. 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In Gilliam's youth, his family migrated north. He studied art at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and then settled in Washington DC. 'He was part of the colour field movement, with people like Kenneth Noland. They made minimal abstract paintings. But later on, he made works that were much more three-dimensional, or sculptural, and he started really playing around with the paint, scraping, stitching and layering. There was really a lot of improvisation. 'He was very interested in jazz as well. Improvisation is very important in jazz, of course, but it's also very important to the kind of way he worked. There were no limitations in terms of how he worked with paint or with the canvas. He was very liberated.' Gilliam came of age during the Civil Rights Movement in America. 'That was, very obviously, hugely important to everyone,' says Cremin. 'And for Gilliam, being a black artist coming up at that time was a big deal, because it was predominantly white males in the art world. 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RTÉ News
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- RTÉ News
Monty Python's Eric Idle warns performers of AI perils
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Irish Examiner
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