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LONDON — U.K. comedy group Monty Python’s famous dead parrot has finally been laid to rest.
A sold-out crowd of 15,000 attended the 10th and final Monty Python Live (mostly): One Down Five to Go show Sunday night, the troupe’s much-feted reunion at London’s O2 Arena.
Mike Myers and Harry Shearer were among the celebrity guests making cameos by joining Eric Idle, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam onstage for an emotional farewell.
The show proved to be a ratings smash-hit for U.K. comedy channel Gold, which aired the final performance live. More than 700,000 individuals tuned in to watch the show, making it the highest rated commission for the channel, partly owned by BBC Worldwide, the network said.
“Last night was not only a defining moment in the history of Monty Python, it was also a defining moment for Gold,” said the channel’s general manager Steve North. “I’m immensely proud that Gold has been able to bring such a momentous occasion to our viewers, live, as it happened.”
Cinemas across the U.K. and Ireland also screened Sunday’s final performance, with 570 venues — and 1,800 more across the world — announced.
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According to media reports, the five remaining Pythons — now with an average age of 71 — are expected to pocket more than $3.7 million (£2.2 million) from Monty Python Live (mostly), with a portion going to the estate of Graham Chapman, who died of cancer in 1989.
More than $34,000 has also been raised for a selection of charities by auctioning off a cameo role each night of the show.
Chances of Monty Python — who reunited for a live performance for the first time in 30 years — coming together again appear slim. In a press conference in June, John Cleese said: “I think the one on the 20th July really will be the last one. We wanted to do it in England and just leave it at that.”
Idle added: “The Beatles didn’t get a chance to say a last goodbye. I think it’s rather a sweet, lovely, gracious thing to take a bow and say goodnight.”
On Monday, Cleese, who joked that one of the motivations behind the reunion was to help pay off his alimony, tweeted “Thank you and goodnight!” The tweet included a link to a mobile phone game based on Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks sketch.
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