I have a feeling this is being done to pay for Cleese’s fourth or five or sixth divorce to an American woman. Will he ever learn?
They didn’t pay the producer of Monty Python and the holy Grail his share of the royalties from Spamalot. He took them to court and won. They appealed and appealed, losing every time and also refusing several offers by him to settle the suit.
In the end, between the back royalties, their legal bills and his (Britain is loser pays) they apparently lost more money on Spamalot than they made and are having to do this recoup their losses.
Ironically, Cleese has been the most adamant over the years about not doing a reunion, but the producer said he thinks Cleese and Idol were the ones who kept pushing the others not to settle and got them into their financial jam.