The 'Zero Theorem' director recalls how people often mixed him up with the late Terry Jones due to their shared first name, joking that he's 'not dead yet.'
- Jan 26, 2020
AceShowbiz - Terry Gilliam has been hit hard by the death of his Monty Python colleague Terry Jones, as it means a third of the comedy troupe has now passed away.
Jones died at the age of 77 on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 after a battle with dementia - becoming the second star of the group to pass away, after Graham Chapman lost his battle with cancer at just 48 in 1989.
Speaking to U.K. chat show host Graham Norton, Gilliam expressed his sadness at his pal's passing and noted that the Python team is now missing two of its number.
"The Pythons are now even more of an endangered species - a third of us are gone," he says. "He was an extraordinary, unbelievable wonderful human being."
However, the "12 Monkeys" director couldn't resist a joke, revealing that people often mixed him up with Jones due to their shared first names.
"Because we were both called Terry there was confusion and people would mix us up - what Terry had done they would blame me for and vice versa," he continues.
"Now that Terry has left us, I want to make something very clear," he adds, before revealing a T-shirt printed with the words "I'm not dead yet."
The other three remaining Pythons have also paid tribute to Jones, with Michael Palin calling his late friend "one of the funniest writer-performers of his generation," Eric Idle praising him for the "wonderfully funny moments he gave us," and John Cleese calling the comedian, writer and director's work on the Monty Python movie "The Life of Brian" "perfection."
Norton's chat with Gilliam will air on BBC One on Friday, January 24, 2020.
