Ewan McRobert's verdict: 3.5 stars
Michael Palin started by admitting he was the fourth comedian up from London this week - after Cameron, Clegg and Milliband - but I'm sure he was more welcome than any politician.
The affable Python spent the first half of the show regaling us with his travel adventures. Stories like the hermit monks who liked having their photos taken with tourists seemed like they were straight out of a Python sketch.
There was certainly a touch of the surreal in the Dutch cycling band he encountered in Japan. Dressed in traditional outfits, including clogs, the band's song choice was rather less traditional, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.
A brief slip, describing the British army as the English army, received some booing, but it was the only bum note in an enjoyable first half.
Even when visiting a remote volcanic island off the coast of Alaska, Palin was recognised as a Python, and it will always be what he is first and foremost known for.
The second part of the show covered his career in comedy. We discovered Palin's first ever show was performed for Oxford psychologists' Christmas party, and he "left them with a lot to think about". Palin went on with Terry Jones to create the sketch show "A complete and utter history of Britain".
Informing them that he didn't think they would get another series, John Cleese asked them to come write with him instead and the rest is history. Well most of it is.
Who knew the Knights of Nee was inspired by the noises Palin's teacher made when selecting books ("he was a jolly good egg about it") ?
Or that a young student Iain Banks was one of the Stirling University students to feature in the final battle scene of Monty Python and the Holly Grail?
The reminiscing over his career, whilst amusing, wasn't quite as engaging as the travel stories.
The next section of the show, a question-and-answer session, gave Palin an opportunity to show his quick wit with a string of one liners.
Asked if there was any subject he wouldn't joke about, he answered: "Alex Salmond...well I am only here for a day."
To end the night, Palin read some extracts from Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls. As you'd expect from a Python, his carefully accented delivery of complete whimsical material was superb.
In summary, a somewhat wandering show, but it made for a pleasant and enjoyable evening.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article