Categories
The Korner

Congratulations Palin…….Michael, That Is

Some twenty years ago, there was a movie that assembled players from the Monty Python TV series along with American actors Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis. A Fish Called Wanda was an entertaining comedy featuring an assortment of odd characters. One of those characters, an animal-loving, people-hating, stutterer named Ken, was played by Michael Palin to great comic affect.

As it turns out the last name of Palin’s character was Pile. Although it was somewhat funny to essentially share the same name as a character in a hit movie, it was sort of embarrassing to be associated with such a flawed character. Fortunately, his last name was not mentioned in the movie.Ken with K-K-Ken (aka Michael Palin) at the 1989 or 1990 Western Cable Show in Anaheim

Fast-forward a year or two and who was to appear at the booth across from the one I was manning at the Western Cable Show, but none other than Michael Palin. As it turns out, Palin was in Anaheim promoting his A&E program, 80 Days Around the World. I casually strolled over to the A&E booth and approached Palin with my business card in hand.

No words from me were needed as I simply handed him my business card. The first words out of his mouth were something about needing to contact his attorney. We shared a laugh over the situation. He autographed his photo by starting it with, “To-to-to, K-K-K en….” He impressed me with his class and down to earth personality.

Palin is in the news again, as he is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his unique video travelogue with a new show, 80 Days Revisited. This one hour show is to debut on BBC1 around Christmas. It promises to be more than just about the places he visited, but is about reuniting with the people who helped get him to those places. Congratulations to Palin for this new installment to his old show.

Author Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

By Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

Ken Pyle is Marketing Director for the Broadband Forum. The mission of this 25+-year-old non-profit “is to unlock the potential for new markets and profitable revenue growth by leveraging new technologies and standards in the home, intelligent small business, and multi-user infrastructure of the broadband network.”

He is also co-founder of Viodi, LLC and Managing Editor of the Viodi View, a publication focused on the rural broadband ecosystem, autonomous vehicles, and electric aviation. He has edited and produced numerous multimedia projects for NTCA, US Telecom and Viodi. Pyle is the producer of Viodi’s Local Content Workshop, the Video Production Crash Course at NAB, as well as ViodiTV. He has been intimately involved in Viodi’s consulting projects and has created processes for clients to use for their PPV and VOD operations, as well authored reports on the independent telco market.

Linked In Profile

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.