John Cleese's Eulogy to Graham Chapman

Always Look On The Bright Side of Life - the Youtube video 

Graham Chapman died October 4, 1989. He was one of the six Monty Python members of the infamous British comedy troupe, who worked together from 1969-1983.The members of Monty Python were (listed alphabetically) Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.

John Cleese delivered a memorable memorial speech for Graham Chapman at a memorial service held two months later in the Great Hall at St Bartholomew's Hospital. Cleese delivered a humorous eulogy for his friend Chapman and took advantage of "this glorious opportunity to shock you all on his behalf," which he then went on to do.

Part of the speech is included below:

Graham Chapman, co-author of the 'Parrot Sketch,' is no more.

He has ceased to be, bereft of life, he rests in peace, he has kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and gone to meet the Great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky.

And I guess that we're all thinking how sad it is that a man of such talent, of such capability for kindness, for such unusual intelligence, a man who could overcome his alcoholism with such truly admirable single-mindedness, should now so suddenly be spirited away at the age of only forty-eight before he'd achieved many of the things in which he was capable, and before he'd had enough fun.

Well, I feel that I should say, 'Nonsense! Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard. I hope he fries.' And the reason I feel I should say this is he would never forgive me if I didn't. If I threw away this glorious opportunity to shock you all on his behalf. It's not a funeral, I grant you, but a memorial service is still pretty good.

It is magnificent, isn't it? You see, the thing about shock . . . is not that it upsets some people, I think; I think that it gives others a momentary joy of liberation, as we realized in that instant that the social rules that constrict our lives so terribly are not actually very important.

Well, Gray can't do that for us anymore. He's gone. He is an ex-Chapman. All we have of him now is our memories. But it will be some time before they fade. 

Always look on the bright side of life...

After the eulogy the five remaining members of Monty Python-- Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones and Palin--joined in with other friends as Eric Idle led them all in a rousing, upbeat, rendition of their song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from the Monty Python's film "Life of Brian."

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