Cult comedy act Monty Python will perform live together for the very last time this weekend. Jeananne Craig finds out why it's time for a change once the circus leaves town

THE Monty Python stars have dusted off their dead parrot and are busy strutting their silly walks on stage, but for those who can't make it to London's O2 Arena, there's a chance to catch them on screen before they hang up their lumberjack gear for the very last time.

More than four decades since the Flying Circus first hit screens, the comedy quintet have reunited for 10 Monty Python Live (Mostly) shows, featuring their best-loved surreal sketches and songs, alongside new material.

And the 10th and final gig, featuring the fish-slapping, septuagenarian stars John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Terry Jones, will be shown live on the Gold channel and in cinemas around the world. "Our motto has been, 'Leave them wanting a bit less'," says Idle (71), who directed the extravagant stage show and penned its famous closing number, Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, back in 1979. "It really is a very high-powered, energetic show. Especially for 70-year-old men," adds American-born Gilliam (73). "I like to think of it as a pre-posthumous memorial service, with all the dancing and joy one would hope for at a funeral." Monty Python's Flying Circus aired on TV between 1969 and 1974, and the act performed their last big stage show, a four-night stint at the Hollywood Bowl, in 1980. They also shared a stage at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 1998. Welshman Jones (72), breaks into laughter as he recalls the Hollywood Bowl gig: "All the audience were smoking marijuana, so when John and I went into the audience, we came out pretty high."

These days, Palin jokes, the only drug involved is "some Viagra in our dressing rooms".

The Pythons had originally planned to do one reunion show, but more dates were added as demand grew. The July 20 gig "really is the last show", Cleese (74), insists. "We all feel very content with that now. We weren't sure at one stage. I certainly thought it might be fun to go and do America but, the more I thought about it, I thought, 'I don't really want to'. "I think it's much better to try and do it once, really well, in England, where it started, and just leave it at that."

Almost 45 years since Monty Python's Flying Circus first hit screens, Idle believes the material is still relevant. "We followed a satire boom in England and everything was topical. When we came on, we tried to not do that. "Our humour tends to be just general types and funny things rather than particular, and so it doesn't date as fast."

The team admit it's been hard work performing the high-octane shows at a 20,000-seater venue. "I'm quite worn out, even after the first number," says Palin (71). "A slight madness takes over you and you just leap about at certain points. Well I do, anyway." "It's the next day you realise what you've done to your body," filmmaker Gilliam adds.

* SNAKES ALIVE: The Monty Python high flyers

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