In your opinion, the best Monty Python actor

[Oeditpus Rex]

John Cleese and Graham Chapman were brilliant in certain roles — Cleese as the somewhat maniacal, overbearing authority figure (and wonderful at physical comedy), Chapman as the dignified host of an arts programme or some such other who could launch into pure insanity at the drop of a parrot.

I go with Michael Palin, as he could be put into virtually any role and bring it off well. He's also the nicest of the Pythons.

Your pick?

[Awsi Dooger]

1. The girl with the biggest tits

I'll use their own criteria: "Well ladies and gentlemen, I don't think any of our contestants this evening have succeeded in encapsulating the intricacies of Proust's masterwork, so I'm going to award the first prize this evening to the girl with the biggest tits."

[genie_weenie]

2. Were is the love for an Ex-Chapman?

But I voted for Terry Jones, his post-Python Crusades series was fantastic.

[YankeyMCC]

3. You have a point about Michael Palin but

I still vote for Chapman. He might have been put mostly into a certain niche but he could bring an awful lot to what on the surface seemed to be similar characters and in Life of Brian he proved he could stretch even further.

[KitchenWitch]

4. Michael Palin - not even close!

Most versatile of the Pythons.

[deutsey]

5. Tie between Palin and Cleese for me

[Arkham House]

6. It's basically a tie between Cleese and Palin...

...and it's torture to not vote for Palin, because I've met him...but I had to choose Cleese. Silly walks. Need I say more...?

[Anarcho-Socialist]

7. It has to be Palin, with Jones a close second n/t

[RevCheesehead]

8. Sorry, I'm a uniter, not a divider.

So I vote for Monty Python. :P

[asthmaticeog]

9. How is Chapman doing so poorly?

Has anyone SEEN "Life of Brian" or "Holy Grail?" Chapman was the only Python who could properly act in a way that could carry a feature - the rest merely did quickie one-dimensional support roles. One-dimensional support roles that were funny as fuck, yes, but the OP says "actor," and Graham was by far the best actor in the troupe, with Cleese as a distant second. Compare to Palin in "Jabberwocky" and see if you don't get what I mean.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

11. "only Python who could properly act in a way that could carry a feature"

Ever see A Fish Called Wanda?

Cleese pulls that off incredibly well. And it's a role that's vastly different from anything he did in Python and Basil Fawlty; he's the straight man in a romantic comedy and he does it incredibly well. Hence my vote for Cleese. (And Palin's also awfully good in that film.)

[asthmaticeog]

13. I respectfully disagree.

While yes, Cleese did a fine job with a dynamic character, it was an ensemble cast that carried the film, not the lead - and one could make a valid argument that Kevin Kline was the lead in that film, static though the character was. And Palin did a fantastic job, absolutely, but it was with yet another a one-dimensional punchline of a character.

I don't disagree completely, as I said, I think that's a great performance from Cleese and a HILARIOUS film (I'm a Python completist dork, so I have it on VHS and DVD) - but I still think Chapman displayed the best acting chops of all the Pythons.

[genie_weenie]

16. My question exactly!

I think it was because he is bereft of life, he has ceased to be... This is an Ex-Chapman...

Of course they were all excellent and brought the absurdist humour to the forefront of Comedy, which everyone imitates nowadays...

BELGIUM!

[bedazzled]

10. i love them ALL

'cept maybe terry gilliam - he's kind of weird sometimes. obviously, he's the only american!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. They were good for all different reasons.

Nobody did angry like Cleese. He could just stand there in an empty field and shout "OHHH!" in a camera and it would be hilarious.

That said Cleese was the straight man to Chapman's buffoonery. In a TV show that relied so heavily on silliness, Chapman was the silliest.

Idle could do monologues like nobody else I've ever seen. He could prattle on at a dozen words a second, illiterations that you couldn't believed, and was perfect at any given TV show host role.

Jones and Palin were consumate straight men that just don't get enough credit.

[Mutley]

14. Is John Cleese winning because he's more of a household name

or do people really think he was the best?

:popcorn:

[RevolutionaryActs]

15. Plus Michael Palin made the prettiest girl.

:silly: