Michael Palin reveals whether there’s any chance of a Monty Python reunion

What is it about Venezuela that made you want to go there?

I seem to have got into making a series of programmes about dysfunctional countries with enormous potential that, for some reason or other, isn’t being realised. It started with North Korea, then Iraq and Nigeria. Venezuela seemed to fit the bill – a country that took over the oil industry and had enormous wealth from the 1950s to the 1980s, and then suddenly it all collapsed.

You don’t shy away from documenting the state’s control. Did you feel intimidated at all?

I learned that people I spoke to wouldn’t necessarily say on camera what they would say to me privately. And one day we were stopped by military intelligence for filming in an area someone said we didn’t have permission. There were seven or eight men in black flak jackets with rifles. They stopped us filming and demanded to see everything that we had with us, so our bags had to be opened up in the middle of the street, and it was all photographed.

Venezuela has incredible natural beauty – what sets it apart?

Venezuela is the size of Spain and France put together, with diverse landscapes from the snow-covered Andes to the Caribbean coast. Some areas are sensationally vast, like the southern rainforest with mountains and waterfalls. Arthur Conan Doyle set his novel The Lost World there, and it does feel like that – silent, huge and very few people, more alligators.

How do you identify yourself these days – as a comedian who likes to travel, or an actor who does a bit of comedy?

Writing comedy was my first job after university and, from then on, it was a case of picking up whatever was around. I have a sense of humour, which I think has kept me going for a long while, and I quite enjoy acting, which I know I can do. Beyond that, it’s just whatever fits those particular qualifications. I’ve never sat down and said, “I want to do this or that.” I’m just hopelessly confused, really.

What is the strangest situation in which you’ve been quoted lines from Monty Python?

I got off the Eurostar in Paris, and the guard said, “We’ll need to look in your bag, I’m afraid”. They started searching my bag and I spotted two or three people giggling. Eventually, the guard said, “Nobody expects the French inquisition” and they all roared with laughter. They really got me there.

What was the special Python sauce?

We were just a group of people with a similar sense of humour. For some, it was the humour of frustration and anger, for others it was being wacky and wonderful. We all stimulated each other, so it was like a fire that burned very brightly from the moment we got together, and then gradually died down two or three years later.

Is there ever talk of reuniting?

No. It was originally six people, and it needed six, both as writers and actors, so it’s now missing elements – we’ve lost Terry [Jones] and Graham [Chapman]. The big shows we did in 2014 were really enjoyable. It felt like the get-together we all needed, but I don’t think we’ll bring it back.

How often do you now meet up?

I see John [Cleese] a fair bit and really enjoy his company. We talk about everything and, whatever made us laugh in the Python days, we just apply to it. John’s critical, while I say, “Just go along with it”. Just like when we were in the Python shop; John was the angry man and I was the shopkeeper. We also talk about getting old…

What do you do when at home?

If I’m writing a book or something like that, I quite enjoy that. My work merges into pleasure. If I took proper time off, I’d probably just sit in the garden with a glass of wine and read a book. I’m happy to re-read things because, as someone once said, you don’t go to Paris once just because you’ve had a good time. You go again!

So where next?

I might go to Paris… but I do like being at home. I just I hope that I’ll be asked. What I need is for someone to say, “Michael, we really want you to go to Tierra del Fuego.”

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