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INTERVIEW:Monty Python were the Beatles of comedy, reinventing their form with repeated ease, but no one from either troupe has remained as relevant, or as well-regarded, as Michael Palin. He talks to Laurence Mackinabout finding his feet in Hollywood and embarking on his travels.

RUMMAGING AROUND IN the minibar of his hotel room, Michael Palin is half murmuring to himself. “Where’s the ice? Ah, there’s none. Never mind. This’ll do.” Palin is, unsurprisingly, charm and manners personified, a man who could make diplomats and royalty appear abrupt by comparison. When asked a question, he circles around the answer before alighting on it. It’s all terribly intelligent, and all terribly English in an Oxbridge sort of way, and when the responses roll out in that familiar, genial British accent, you can’t help but agree with what’s being said.