Eric Idle, 80, exposes Monty Python money rift and says he’s now forced to ‘work for a living’ despite his major TV success

Eric Idle has revealed there is a rift in the Monty Python group and confessed the show was a financial ‘disaster’.

The comedian, 80, is the co-creator of the iconic program and has starred in its several spin-off films, including Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.

Monty Python was a British comedy group formed in 1969, consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Eric.

And now Eric has explained that he is struggling financially and has been forced to sell his house and continue working well past retirement age.

He took aim on social media at Holly Gilliam, the daughter of fellow Python TV lawyer Terry Gilliam.

She acquired the Python brand in 2013 as part of HDG Projects Ltd, and iafter another tweet, Eric wrote, “I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded.

‘I have to work for my living. I never dreamed that at this age income streams would decline so disastrously. I have been working and earning for Pythons since 1995. And not anymore.’

Criticizing Holly, he continued: “I think if you appoint a Gilliam kid as manager you shouldn’t be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.”

Eric’s daughter Lily publicly supported her father, writing on X, “I’m so proud of my dad for finally starting to share the truth.”

‘He has always stood up to bullies and narcissists and absolutely deserves reassurance and validation for that.’

The group came to fame through the sketch comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which aired on the BBC from 1969 to 1974.

Last year, Eric denied any involvement in an upcoming stage production of Monty Python’s Life Of Brian.

He contradicted reports that he is teaming up with John Cleese to rework the 1979 comedy.

Idle distanced himself from the project after sharing a tweet from the British Comedy Guide that said: ‘The show version of Monty Python’s Life Of Brian will launch in London in 2024, John Cleese has confirmed. He and Idle have made changes, for example there will be no crucifixion scene.’

He replied: ‘I have nothing to do with this production or editing. Apparently Cleese cut the song. Naturally.’

Idle referred to his song Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life which plays during the crucifixion.

According to reports, the famous scene has been cut from the upcoming production.

Fans were quick to wonder if Idle and Cleese’s relationship had soured. In response to one person, Idle simply tweeted: “Haven’t seen John since the last day of our US tour in New Orleans 2016.”

Another tweet read: “I have no problem with the Pythons. I think they are foolish in business, but I have my say and walk away. What else can I do other than that? Give me a break.’

Last week it was reported that Cleese and Idle, who had recently beaten pancreatic cancer, had ‘devised new scenes and storylines for a blockbuster show’.

Cleese, 83, who is working on the project with veteran director Caroline Ranger, said: ‘I think Life Of Brian is our best film.

“We’re going to do it in London in the second half of next year and I’ve changed a few things.”

He told the audience during his one-man show that he had to delete a scene in which a male character reveals that he wants to be known as ‘Loretta’.

He remembered reading through it and said, “At the end I said to the American actors, ‘What do you think?’ And they said, ‘We love the script, but you can’t do that kind of thing about Loretta these days.’

“So here you have something that I’ve never complained about for forty years, that I’ve heard of, and now suddenly we can’t do it anymore because it offends people.

‘What should one think of that? But I think there were a lot of things that were in some strange way predictive of what would happen later.”

Cleese, who has joined GB News, has openly spoken out against ‘cancel culture’ in recent years – unlike Idle who revealed he struggles to be ‘sympathetic’ to those who complain when their jokes are not well received .

“You shouldn’t complain about the audience,” he told the On With Kara Swisher podcast in November. ‘There is nothing wrong with the audience. If they don’t laugh at your jokes, there’s something wrong with your joke.

“And so… I don’t have much sympathy for that kind of attitude, to be honest.”

Life Of Brian was written by Monty Python comedy troupe founders Cleese, Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

It was banned in some areas for blasphemy and faced accusations of mocking Jesus.

Idle previously wrote the Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot! based on the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail.