When Tom Hanks performed with Monty Python
Although the American actor Tom Hanks may seem worlds away from the iconic British comedy troupe Monty Python, they were brought together by a rather special mutual friend: George Harrison. As a member of The Beatles, Harrison was known for his sharp wit and his love for comedy was only outshone by a more apparent passion for music.
Harrison’s first interaction with Monty Python was at a screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1975. Here, he bumped into Eric Idle, the most musical of the troupe with whom he made an instant connection, a friendship forged in mutual admiration. In his 2018 memoir, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography, Idle described it as a “love at first sight”.
“I had heard that George wanted to meet me, but I was somewhat shy of meeting him,” Idle added. “I was shy and tried to avoid him, but he snuck up on me in the back of the theatre as the credits began to roll. I hadn’t yet learned he was unstoppable. We began a conversation that would last about twenty-four hours. Who could resist his opening line? ‘We can’t talk here. Let’s go and have a reefer in the projection booth.’ No telling what the startled projectionist felt as a Beatle came in with one of the actors from the movie he had just projected and lit up a joint.”
Detailing further, Idle revealed that, through Harrison, he met a few other big names that night. “He managed eventually to get us to leave, and we went off to dinner with Terry Gilliam and Olivia Harrison,” he recalled. “After dinner, George insisted I go with him to A&M Studios, where he introduced me to Joni Mitchell. Joni fucking Mitchell, for Christ’s sake.”
After that night, Harrison and Idle formed a close friendship, and the former Beatle became acquainted with the rest of Monty Python. A couple of years on, Monty Python were looking to shoot their second movie, Life of Brian. Unfortunately, just as they were due to begin the project, EMI pulled their backing for the production.
Knowing Harrison was a huge fan, Idle thought of asking his good friend for some financial aid; Harrison simply replied, “Done,” as Idle recalled. Life of Brian would become the first movie to be coordinated by Harrison’s HandMade Films production company and even featured the musician in a small cameo role.
In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone, Idle discussed how Harrison had helped the troupe out in one of their most difficult moments. “Nobody wanted Brian except George [Harrison], who put up his money for it,” he said. “We wouldn’t have made it but for him mortgaging his house.”
In the 1980s, following the success of Life of Brian, Tom Hanks began taking considerable strides of his own across the Atlantic with early roles in Splash, Big and League of their Own. By the 1990s, he was a major star following his two ‘Best Actor’ Academy Award wins in consecutive years for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.
While brushing with fellow A-listers, Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, became close friends with Harrison and his wife Olivia. In the late 1990s, both couples enjoyed a break together in Fiji, where Hanks was busy shooting scenes for Cast Away with Robert Zemeckis. Not long before, Harrison had sadly been diagnosed with lung cancer and, despite a lengthy battle, succumbed to the illness on November 29th, 2001.
Exactly a year after Harrison’s death, some of his famous friends organised the Concert for George, an evening of live entertainment at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In one of the evening’s most memorable moments, Tom Hanks took to the stage with members of Monty Python for a splendid rendition of ‘The Lumberjack Song’ from the ninth episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Watch the performance below.
