How Palin’s fish raised a laugh in N Korea
MICHAEL Palin found Monty Python can get a laugh – even in North Korea. The actor, 75, was visiting the reclusive country for a Channel 5 documentary when he put the classic show’s humour to the test.
His North Korean guide had never heard of the comedy programme, so he showed her a clip.
He said: “We had brought along Python clips, including the fish-slapping dance. It’s one of those things where, you either have a sense of humour or you don’t.”
The sketch shows Palin and co-star John Cleese hitting each other with fish to orchestral music.
“You don’t have to know the language, you just look at two grown men hitting each other with fish and falling in a canal. And we played it and [the guide] looked at it, and she just cracked up, she really laughed, she really gets the idea of it.”
Basically to them I was a very old bloke
North Korea is so shut off to western culture that not one person realised Palin was famous.
He said: “I wasn’t recognised, although they knew I was a great British star, or something like that – they didn’t know what, or even what a great star meant.
“Basically to them I was a very old bloke,” he joked.
Palin covered more than 1,300 miles in just over a week for the two-part documentary, which granted him unprecedented access.
The actor interviewed people about life in the reclusive country.
He added: “In all my travels around the world I have never had the same sense of fascination and revelation.”
The documentary will air on Thursday, September 20 at 9pm on Channel 5.