John Cleese 'was contacted by Graham Chapman's spirit'

John Cleese has claimed he was contacted by Graham Chapman from beyond the grave.

The 84-year-old comedian has revealed he hired a psychic to help him "explore his consciousness" only to receive a message from his late Monty Python co-star, who died aged 48 from tonsil cancer in 1989.

Appearing on Bill Maher's 'Club Random' podcast, he said: "She said, 'Who's Graham?' I said, 'Is he Graham Chapman?' She says, 'He's going on about a pipe.' I said, 'Yes. He always smoked a pipe.' "

The psychic then started making references to iconic Python sketches, one of which Cleese is certain she had never seen.

He recalled: "Then she said, 'He's rolling up his trouser leg.'

"And I said, 'Yes, that's a sketch we did about the Freemasons.' I know she didn't see it. It was broadcast once or twice.

"She said, 'He's waving a parrot at you.' "

Cleese and Chapman were part of the iconic comedy troupe alongside Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry Jones, with the latter passing away aged 77 in 2020.

Meanwhile, Palin revealed while he and his surviving co-stars aren't in touch a lot nowadays, they did get in touch with him after his beloved wife Helen died in May 2023.

Asked if he still talks to John, Eric and Terry, he told the Radio Times magazine: "No, we don't speak to each other very often.

"There's no ex-Pythons WhatsApp group or anything.

"But we are in touch, and their reactions to Helen's death, from all of them, were very touching, very immediate and very sincere. I really appreciated that."

The group formed in 1969 and rose to fame with their BBC sketch show 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', before moving into the world of cinema.

They released 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' in 1975, following it up with 'Life of Brian' four years later, and then 'The Meaning of Life' in 1983.

Their last appearance on stage together came a decade ago with the 'Monty Python Live: One Down, Five To Go' residency at London's O2 arena.