A British comedy legend has revealed the moment he was at held at gunpoint by armed guards in Venezuela.
Sir Michael Palin was detained by the totalitarian country’s intelligence service and held for hours while filming a new Channel 5 travelogue series.
And no, this was not a Monty Python sketch.
Describing the moment, the 82-year-old told the Mirror: ‘Things got quite heavy. It wasn’t just the fact that they stopped us from filming, it was the force with which we were stopped.
‘It started with a couple of policemen, then a couple of the National Guard, and then along came men with rifles, bulletproof vests and helmets.
‘It was the kind of thing you’d expect to encounter if an embassy was being bombed, it was quite alarming.’
True to the funnyman’s nature, it was humour that eventually got Palin out of the situation.
After showing the guards a video of his famous fish slapping skit, extraordinarily, they decided to release him.
He added: ‘The outcome was rather bizarre, because while we were waiting to hear our fate from the headquarters in Caracas, the guards had found my name on Google.
‘Eventually they got on to Monty Python clips and they watched the fish slapping dance, which is always a good thing to show people.
‘Nearly everyone in the world, from North Korea to Venezuela, cracks up when they see that. Once we’d shown them the fish slapping dance, I felt we were OK, and by the end of the day they finally released us.
‘But I did feel we could well be watched from thereon in, given the detention we endured at gunpoint.’
Elsewhere on his trip to Venezuela, Palin found himself eating worms and ants’ bottoms as a meal.
Despite the extreme nature of his travels, the comedian and TV personality – who has filmed in Iraq and North Korea previously – does not intend to stop his dangerous journeys, as he said: ‘I’ve got no plans to retire at all.’
This comes after Palin’s fellow Monty Python star Eric Idle recently told Metro that the group’s ‘spats’ have been a pity.
Speaking ahead of his Always Look On The Bright Side of Life tour in the UK on September 10, Idle insisted that he ‘doesn’t really talk about’ the divisions between the Python stars since their final goodbye show at the O2 in 2014.
‘I think it’s a pity, I think it’s only to do with business,’ he said, adding: ‘I have a saying, “People can either get old and bitter or old and bitter, and there’s your choice.”‘
Michael Palin In Venezuela airs on Tuesday September 16 at 9pm on Channel 5.
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