Michael Edward Palin (born May 5, 1943 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England) is an English comedian, actor and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python, as well as for his travel documentaries.
In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Michael Palin was educated at Birkdale School, Sheffield, and Shrewsbury School. He went on to read history at Brasenose College at The University of Oxford.
While performing onstage at the ETC in Oxford, Palin met Terry Jones, and together they wrote sketches for various BBC comedy shows. He married his wife, Helen Gibbins, in 1966, and they remain together to this day.
He worked with future Pythons on projects such as How to Irritate People with John Cleese, and Do Not Adjust Your Set with Eric Idle and Terry Jones and Twice a Fortnight with Terry Jones, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn. It was during this time when John Cleese called up Michael Palin and wondered whether he was interested in doing a show with him, which would become Monty Python's Flying Circus.
In Monty Python, Palin played various roles, showing the range of his acting abilities. Roles go from manic enthusiasm, (such as the lumberjack of the Lumberjack Song), or unflappable calmness (such as the Dead Parrot vendor or Cheese Shop proprietor). As the latter, he was often the perfect foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese.
Palin frequently wrote with Terry Jones for the sketches, some of the most memorable being the Lumberjack Song and Spam. But some sketches Palin wrote by himself, (or began the sketch by himself) such as the Spanish Inquisition, in which a fairly widespread catchphrase was created- "No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
