The Bonfire Society’s display on the seafront created a World War Three style atmosphere during the second half of Michael Palin’s Eastbourne talk.

But the noise didn’t seem to faze the Monty Python founder as he led his audience through the 30 years of his life where he “did everything” – from travelling the world to changing the face of comedy.

He turned the disruptions to his advantage – encouraging display-style gasps as the explosions began, rather than trying to pretend it wasn’t happening.

Unlike his 2014 tour, which was divided equally between his life as a world traveller and his comedy CV, this newly reworked show took a chronological approach after a brief slideshow of travel shots.

The two and a half hours was broken up by short film clips and readings not only from his diaries, but also Graham Chapman’s Liar’s Autobiography and Python ephemera.

The films themselves were impressive rarities – from his spoof Kerb To Kerb short where he took a suitcase of money from his travel documentaries to the bank, to a clip of pre-Python comedy show The Complete And Utter History Of Britain.

Palin was an engaging, witty and fun speaker – happily running over time to answer submitted questions, and peppering his tale with self-deprecating jokes and cheeky scatological asides.

Five stars