Transcript of Eric Idle Returns

You know what's not refreshing? When your team concedes a last minute equalizer. Or feeling pressured into joining in the Mexican wave. Or when you spot your best friend at the match even though he said he was busy. Kevin. But a cold pint of Heineken brewed with just three natural ingredients, that's refreshing. Get the facts, Be drink aware. Visit Drinkaware ie.

Hi, my name is Eric Idle. And I feel horny about being cognitive.

I only laugh because I don't want to cry. You're always cornering me at some party. Grinding up against me in front of your wife.

That's the closest she gets to sex.

Hear the yell back to school Ring.

The bell Brand new shoes Walk and loose Climb the fence Books and pens. I can tell that we are gonna be friends Yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends hey there. Welcome to Conan O'Brien needs a friend. We're laughing already. And you know when we can laugh, it means we're alive and life is good, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

Would you like to talk about what we were laughing about?

Absol. Absolutely not. Absolutely. Some things are meant for off mic.

Yeah, some things are meant for not even off mic.

Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Listen, I'm happy to be here with you guys. Just had a lovely interaction with your family.

Oh, yeah.

Mr. Gourley, my daughter. Your beautiful wife. Your daughter, she's how old now?

She's three.

She's three.

She's turned three.

She's never to come here again.

I understand.

Without my permission.

I understand.

Yeah, no, she was. Kids love it here because we have this nice office building.

Yeah.

And it has lots of candy and treats and.

Yeah. I mean, Glenn came with a Minnie Mouse on a noose.

Right. And there's a story behind that.

Yeah. That was a little disturbing. She had. She had Minnie Mouse and Minnie Mouse looked like Minnie Mouse was in bondage. Your beautiful daughter. And some of it was kind of around the neck. And it looked like it was frontier. It looked like frontier justice for Minnie Mouse.

There's an explanation.

The Salem witch trial.

Yeah.

Minnie committed manslaughter.

I see. Okay. Well, then Minnie had to pay.

No, we had to get. To get her to go on our bike. We had to tie Minnie onto the bike so that once Minnie was on.

There, Glen would go on the bike.

We don't tie Glen to the bike. She has a seat. But if she doesn't, if she holds Minnie, Minnie will fall somewhere. So we had to tie Minnie the bike seat. And we did it by Hanging her by the neck till she be dead.

Yeah, it was disturbing. It was because Minnie was lifeless and your daughter didn't seem to shout out to the Disney company. Does Disney have any control over how they're. If once they've sold the doll, they have no say over.

I don't think so.

You can do whatever you want to it.

Oh, wow.

Normally Glenn wears a black hood.

Oh, what? What?

No, just take it out for drinks.

Oh, no, I wasn't saying anything like that. I was saying you could, like, stab it or light it on fire. Where did you go?

Drinks. What's wrong with taking Goofy out for a drink and watch the game?

Just you and Goof. A stuffed Goofy sitting in a bar.

I would like to do that and see if anyone came over and said anything. Probably not.

Yeah.

Wait, do you treat him Goofy like he's an actual person?

Sure. Someone walks by and I'm like, hey, Goofy, you know what?

Yeah, what?

I don't know what I'm feeling anymore.

Goofy just sits there with a full drink. And then do you try to surreptitiously drink it to seem like Goofy's drinking or what?

Yes, every now and then I drain a little bit of Goofy's drink.

Oh, my gosh.

So that it looks like. And then I say, excuse me. Hello, Goofies. Goofy's running a little low here. Time for a re up.

And if it's a game playing, do you make him high five you?

I go to high five him, but he just falls off limply. He just falls off the couch. And then I go like, someone's had too much over here. Goofy.

Do you see Goofy back up to his room or does he come to yours?

All right, now we're not getting into that now. You took it too far.

I did?

You did.

That was you.

This is a classy.

I do want to bring up. This is reminding me that one of my sisters I forget was not me. It was not me. I want to say that, but when you were really little. Well, it was me.

You now.

Okay. Someone went in, and I forget which sister it was, but someone went in there, cut off all the hair on, like, three of their dolls, and then wrote carved their name backwards onto the skull, which is so on the forehead.

Your sister's name or the name of the doll?

I think it was the name of my sister backwards.

Are you kidding me?

Yeah. And I remember that being. I don't remember who did it. It was not me. I swear it was not me. But I remembered seeing the results and thinking, this Is like, we're all really young at this point, and whoever did it just wrote the name backwards.

What's the name? Nanok.

No, it was not Nanok. But I just remember that being, like, a chilling, like, oh, this is a grisly crime scene. But it was dolls.

But the backwards thing is what's getting me very devil like.

No, but I think it was because they were trying to spell their sister's name, Neil. And wrote it backwards because they were very young.

Wait, so was someone writing someone else's name, like a frame job? This was you.

No, I didn't do this. I did lots of terrible things. Yeah, I did terrible, terrible things. Mostly to Justin and apologies. Justin, I've told you this, right? I would play very complicated game. He just wanted to play cops and robbers. And I would immediately get lawyers involved. I would say, well, now we have to go see a lawyer because you drew your gun. He'd be like, I didn't even fire my gun. I went. You drew. And in Massachusetts county, you know, like in the. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and I would make him fill out papers.

Insufferable.

Insufferable, awful person.

The absence of.

No. And there was a big gap between us. So he was a very young kid, and I was in my late 40s. But he's fine now. They just released him.

I get it. People do weird things with dolls. I used to do weird things, but.

Yeah, it's a time of life when dolls. It can be a crime scene, and it's acting things out in a safe way.

Y. Okay. I guess that's weird.

Well, did your. Your brother was a bully a little bit. To you?

Yeah. Danny used to beat me up a lot, and I used to always think, hey, I got a chance, and I never did.

I just can't take Danny.

No, you can't. No. He was a football player in high school, and he used to. He was huge, and he would be.

Well, now you're making me feel like I should try and fight Danny.

You would lose. He would beat you up badly. He would badly beat you up.

I could choose my moment. What if he doesn't see me coming? I come up from behind like a sucker punch. Oh, no, I've got. I'm holding sucke. I've got, like, a stick.

What? That's still, like. You're kind of a sucker punch, but he doesn't expect it.

I wouldn't use my real hand. My hands aren't very strong, so I would have, like, a big.

Like a weapon. Yeah, you would probably win, but you'd be a bitch.

But I don't care about that part.

Okay.

You see a scenario where I could take your brother Danny.

Yeah. If he doesn't see.

Yeah.

Danny.

Yeah.

Suck it, Danny.

Oh. Take it easy.

Okay.

Have we accomplished anything here with this opening?

No.

Nothing.

This is awful.

All we've managed to accomplish is we. We've killed five minutes.

Okay.

And so it's time to start the show.

I think we start the show. I'm satisfied.

Are you?

Yes. Satisfied with less the podcast rule. My guest today is a comedy legend, one of the members of the iconic comedy group Monty Python. His new book, the Spamalot Diaries, is out now. I can't even. There are no words. To say I'm honored is just dumb because it's a word way beyond honored. I'm elevated, enervated, filled with light. You're with us today, Eric Idle. I could not be happier that you're here. You've been on the podcast before. You're one of my favorite human beings on Earth. I will say that without reservation. He hates a compliment, but as you know, I've been telling you for years and years and years, in my opinion, there's Python, and then the rest of us are just dicking around. So I mean that, and I love. I want to say this right up top, that you have brought this book in that I adore. It's called the Spamalot Diaries, and it's a joy. It's a real treat, and it's about the process, and that's one of the things that I adore about it. But first, let's talk about how much you admire me. I've allotted 40 minutes.

Well, you know, you should know how I feel about.

I think you're.

I can't even.

Don't nothing yet. I think you're one of the funniest people on the planet.

Oh, that's insanity. We're not doing that.

No, it says I went. And that was a surprise to me because I thought you were hilarious. But then I saw you do standup at the Lago, and you kill me. And I've forgotten that, obviously. You've been doing standup for millions of years when you were.

I had done. I never did classic stand up. But if I'm in front of an audience, I'll try anything. And so.

Well, you're like me. You're shameless in front of an audience.

I am. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It's.

But you're much funnier than me, and I Nope.

But anyway, let's make this about you. I'm cutting it off. I don't like this. This is about Eric Idol and one.

You've just invited me to say something nice about you.

Yeah, but I thought you'd take that.

You guys really are horny friends.

I thought you'd take that up. Opportunity to shit on me and you fucked it up. I've had. One of. One of the best things that's happened to me in my adult life is getting to know Eric on a bunch of occasions. And then, Eric, I know you've moved since then, but you would have me to your home. Your lovely wife Tanya would be there. Your daughter Lily would be there. My wife and I, Eliza would go and you'd put together this salon of really funny, cool, musical people and. But one of the things that always grabbed my attention is I'd walk in the front door and there was a poster and it was from university. It's from 1963, I think it is from 1963.

And it's from the Edinburgh Festival.

Yeah, it's from the Edinburgh Festival.

It's my first public performance and it's.

You as a squeaky young lad. And it's a giant photo.

I'm thinking of a handsome young man with the world ahead of him, you know?

Okay, squeaky might not be the right. I meant you were clean. Squeaky clean, probably, yes. But it's this poster from 1963 and it's when you're getting started. This would be easily six years before Python, but you're just getting started. And I always looked at that. Every time you had me over, I would look at that poster and kind of time travel back to this other time when all of you guys were getting started and finding your way. It's before you all found each other. And it's magical.

And that's not quite true.

You see, oddly, that's true. You had worked together. Yeah.

Quite by chance. I had already met John Cleese. I'd already met Graham Chapman, who was at St. Bart's Hospital studying to become a fully qualified alcoholic.

You know, I like a person who does their. Really does their work.

What's the time in.

Yeah, what's the time?

I met at Edinburgh, Terry Jones and Michael Payne, who were doing the Oxford review. So in 1963, we'd all met.

You'd all.

With the exception of Terry Gilliam.

Right.

Whom no one has yet met.

You can meet him, but you still haven't met him. Yeah, I would look at that and. And just Think about, this is a document. This is a. You know, I'm a history buff and I'm also a comedy buff. And to look at that poster, it was always hard to lure me away from it because I just thought, that's the year I was born. And I just want to. I wanted to put that in, just to accentuate that.

But it's also the year of the Beatles.

So, yeah, it's the year of the Beatles in England, not the year of the Beatles in America. We think 64. But it was 63.

Yeah, yeah, very much so. At the Edinburgh Festival was the first time all the girlies were playing all their records and going, what's all this about? What's all this about?

So, yeah, these guys with this weird hair that are living from Liverpool.

Absolutely. And then they came through Cambridge the year after and everybody changed. The whole world changed. We used to wear little old tweed jackets with leather pads. Yeah. Suddenly we were wearing Beetle jackets and saying, who's your favorite Beetle?

Yeah.

You know, and so they actually did literally change the world after that Edinburgh Festival.

You know, it's funny, you can look at college yearbooks and high school yearbooks from 1963. You could in this in the United States, if you look at a high school yearbook from 1964, everyone's got buzz cuts and horn rim glasses, everybody. And they all look kind of the same. And then you look at the high school yearbook from 1965, there's still the occasional guy with a crew cut who just can't get the message. But everybody else has that hair. It changed everything. But we'll talk about the Beatles another time. I want to talk about the Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones, they took the blues, which is deceptively simple form, and they transformed it.

I have a theory issue that Python, because this was all rock and roll, came in just in those years and everybody's. The band used to be in the pit. And then they came up on the stage, put on tight trousers, started to play loud music and all the girls chased them. And the comedians had to wait in the wings for a while.

Yeah.

But my theory is that Monty Python became the first mock and roll group.

Yes.

Because we did stadiums. We ended up playing the Hollywood bowl. We did O2. We were. We were the first ones. And the second was, of course, Saturday Night Live.

Yeah.

Because they had all. They brought rock and roll into it.

Yeah.

So the comedians were all fighting back then.

Yes, it was. It's funny you say that because. And then. Yeah, I guess I had to be third in that line. Wait, what? Yeah, I came along and people were like, you know, women were like, I gotta fuck that guy.

Oh, no, they were just saying, fuck that guy.

Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, I misheard it. I misheard it. Now you're right. Okay, I gotta get the hearing checked. But you know what?

You're. When I first did snl, the first time I did it, my first guest was Joe Cocker, and Belushi came on and mocked him. So that was actually really mock and roll.

But your. This is an interesting trajectory because your good dear departed friend George Harrison famously said he felt the Beatles break up sort of, I think, technically, in 69, at beginning of 1970. That's right when Python is hitting the air. And George Harrison said he really felt the spirit of the Beatles was passed on and went into Python. And I thought, did you guys ever talk about that? Did you talk about that with George?

We talked about almost everything because when we met, we just talked all night, and we just talked and talked for about two or three weeks. But what was it like being in your group? What was your group like? You know, was your John like? But I. I think that this. The secret of it was that America.

John, everyone's got to have a John.

But what was America? What happened in America was when the. When the Beatles first arrived in America, what made everybody love them was they were funny.

Yes.

And there was this guy called Ringo with a big nose, a funny name, the funny haircuts. And everybody knew Ringo first. That's the first name they knew. But it was their humor at that airport conference that broke them in America. I'm convinced of it.

Yeah.

And so, in a way, they were just as funny as we were. They just were all Liverpool comedians, really. But they, you know, they went the wrong way.

They went the wrong way.

They went on the dark side.

They wasted their time in music when they really could have been a sketch, a sketch troupe. They really could have been a sketch troop. And it's sad when people take the wrong turn, but what are you going to do? What I really wanted to start with, because sometimes people bring their project along and I think, okay, we'll get to that. The thing that's special about the Spamalot Diaries is when you were putting Spamalot together, and this is 2004. 2003, 2004. You kept a diary of the entire process of putting it together. You then set the diary aside, and I remember going to your house when you and Tanya were packing it up to leave to move to a different House. And you were packing everything up. In that process, you find the diary that you had forgotten.

I had completely forgotten I'd written it. I completely forgotten I kept it and I read it and I gave it to, actually, Puddles, you know, Puddles, his wife, to read. And she said, this is great, right? And I gave to my wife and she said, oh, this is fantastic. Because what's interesting about a diary is you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know it's going to be that thing and it's going to be successful. And so it's full of anxieties and arguments and rows and it's the process. Yes, this is what I love saying about it. It's a process, not a miracle.

There's this misconception and maybe it's appropriate it should be this way. People love to think they're going to come in and they see something miraculous and that it just happened, and maybe that's the way an audience should look at it. But what's amazing is you read through this diary because I think, well, oh, yeah, Spamalot, massive hit, sold out forever. So, of course, it just happened. You read this and you see how much work anxiety, rewrites and the creative wrestling between you and the director, Mike Nichols, the famous Mike Nichols. You have emails in here, you have notes back and forth. There's disagreements with other, you know, or sometimes friction with other Pythons. And you're just like, job. You're just going ahead, trying to make this thing happen.

And I think that's what's interesting, because. And I'd forgotten about it. I was just writing every few days what I was feeling. And so it just comes with a direct form of honesty. And I kept in the rows because I thought, no, no, people mustn't believe that the artistic process is just, we'll have a cup of tea and we'll make this thing. There are conflicts. People need to be angry. We used to row in Python about what sort of chair it should be. That's not a funny chair. This is a funny chair. No, no, this is a funny chair, you know, So I think those are important. And so I kept in, particularly the row early on with Mike, because I thought it was very important for people to understand that you must maintain your vision of something. If you were a writer and you're doing a play and the director doesn't have every say. Fortunately for us, we'd been friends for 15 years.

You and Mike Nichols had met, we'd just been pals.

We'd been on holidays, we'd had the best of times, been to the theater, we'd been to places all overseas, and we had never had a crowd. Crossword. And then suddenly we're working together and it's a completely different relationship. Obviously.

Yes.

Now you're the real. You're that person and he's that person. And I thought, well, I'm going to leave that, because I think it's important to know that people establish who they are and then they can move forward.

I guess the part that is most fascinating to me is the statement that one of the themes that comes through in the Spamalot Diaries, and this applies not just to Spamalot, but to Python and I think just to comedy and all work, is that fighting, arguing is an essential part of the process. Turmoil, anxiety is part of the process. And I cannot tell you how many. When someone tells me, oh, I love to write, I just love writing, I think you must be a terrible writer, because I don't. That's not my process. And my wife is a very good writer and she will tell me, oh, I'm just. I hate it. It's miserable. And I'll say, right, exactly. Yes, that's what it is. That's, you know, keep going. But that's what it is.

I think if you're content with what you're writing, you're not very good. And almost all great writers, you know, I think Graham Greene said he'd written one or two sentences he was quite proud of. Yeah, sentences, yeah. You know, I think all writing is like that because you're trying to capture flies in aspect. I mean, it's really a very difficult thing you're doing. You're putting down lies in these code, 26 letter code. How does that possibly even work? And how. Some people have the gift of making you just read any sentence about anything and you just pick up a book and you just read them all the way through because of the way they write. I find that fascinating.

Well, it's also. I read a biography recently, there's a wonderful biography of Mike Nichols. And you find out, I mean, his childhood, in his experience fleeing Nazi Germany, coming to America, kind of remaking himself. He had famously had alopecia. He lost all of his hair, all that, having to wear a wig, not speaking English, not speaking English. And he completely remade himself into the coolest, smartest, most urbane guy doing comedy, along with Elaine May. The sheer, not just talent, but will and the amount of struggle and pain you have to go through to remake yourself as Mike Nichols into that. And then I think you. We've talked about it before in the previous podcast, and you've been very open about it. You have a very difficult childhood in many ways.

Yes. Yes. I think that's an advantage in art, I think. But nobody had a more difficult childhood as Mike. And for me, there's a new book about the making of Virginia Woolf and which he's in, and I'm amazed. It's his first film, and he's standing up to Harry Warner and saying, no, it's going to be in black and white.

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? He wanted to shoot it in black and white. He's got the two biggest stars on Earth, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and he's a young punk who's never directed anything in his life. And he's telling the biggest man in show business to fuck off. And so the ball's on that guy. Absolutely incredible.

Unbelievable. But it's based on some kind of. His perception of what should be was really pure.

Right.

If Mike said something and you said it wasn't quite right, you go, oh, it's not quite right. I never had any doubt that some. You know, sometimes he would. He was. He was the most fabulous friend of hell. He didn't write. But he wrote with you, in a sense that he'd say, well, we need somebody to say this, and I say this, then, you know, and he would encourage it out of you so that you wrote better always with him.

Well, there's a line in the Spamalot Diaries, you and Mike Nichols. There's a lot of correspondence back and forth between you two. And at one point, Mike Nichols writes you, and he says, I've given. I've been thinking a lot about you, Eric, and your childhood. And he's talking about. He acknowledges that he had a crazy, insane childhood, but he's talking about how your childhood was so difficult. And he said this line that really stuck with me, which is, I guess we all inoculate ourselves against our own childhood. And that really stuck with me, that whatever happens to us individually, and this goes to anyone listening, it happens to you. You tend to dismiss it like, well, no, I was fine. Oh, my God, what this other person went through. You know what I mean? And when Mike Nichols says that line, he said, hey, because you're so good. I don't know how much of it is being English and how much of it is your own character as Eric Idle, your own personality, but I could just see how you have a stiff upper lip. You could be very dismissive of any kind of pain in your life.

I'm fine. Oh, this poor other person. But how much is that? How much of that is English? How much of that is you? And you're going to be charged for therapy when this is over.

I don't know. I mean, I think you learn empathy. I mean, you start by being an egotistical shit by going into show business. Look at me, I'm in show business. And then you can behave very badly. And I learned from lots of very good people, like Robin Williams taught me how to be nice to fans. I would just tell them to fuck off and they would laugh and go away, you know, but that was good enough for them to say, oh, you told me to fuck off.

I just was told to fuck off by Eric Idle.

And that became a thing. And then I thought, and then I watched Robin and his empathy and remembering that this is somebody's moment in their life and it's a big moment in their life because they've waited, they love you, they want this moment. So if you are a shit or dismissive, it's a nasty memory. So what I always do is I always say, oh, I'm Eric and I get their name.

Yes.

And then you were on a one to one human basis with them and you're not some kind of God and they're not some abject fan. So I try and I think that works in all sorts of situations where you remind people that they're people and we're just here at this moment.

You know what's not refreshing? When your team concedes a last minute equalizer. Or feeling pressured into joining in the Mexican wave. Or when you spot your best friend at the match even though he said he was busy. Kevin. But a cold pint of Heineken brewed with just three natural ingredients. That's refreshing. Get the facts, be drink aware. Visit drinkaware.

Ie.

It's funny you mentioned Robin, because I didn't realize how close you guys were. You guys were very close. And I was lucky enough to have some great interactions with Robin Williams before he passed. One of the most memorable examples to me of his kindness is when I went through my whole Tonight show debacle and finally the show is done and I don't know if I have a career anymore. What am I going to do next? You remember this part very well, Sona, because Sona was with me during all that. And I'm lying on the floor in the living room of my house and my phone rings and I Pick it up and it's Robin Williams. I don't even know how he got my phone number. And I'll never forget, he goes like, how you holding up, Chief? And I said, oh, Robin, thanks so much for calling. And he said, you know, listen, you know, you're going to be fun. You're going to be great. I know you like to ride bikes. Because he was really into bicycling. And he said, I know you like riding bikes. Go down to this, the bike shop down in Santa Monica.

I want you to go down there and I've set up a bike for you. And I said, what? And he said, no, no, no, just head on down there and so. And ride around. You'll feel better. And I went down and it was a Colgano, which is a very nice bike. And he said, I told him to paint it in all these crazy Irish colors. And I get down there and it's the most. It's the ugliest. I mean, it was just, you know, greens and shamrocks and everything. And I couldn't believe. And he was like, oh, you're going to like that bike, Chief. Don't worry about it. And I just thought I. And I thanked him many, many times. I just couldn't believe that he was thinking about me. You know, how we are in life.

But that's how he was.

Think about someone. Oh, that's too bad. What happened to him? Oh, whatever. Anyway, I'm going to go get a sandwich.

No, no. He reached out. He thought, what might please you? He went and got to a shop and chose. I mean, he would put a lot of effort into making you feel better, which I thought, that's very, very Robin. That's fantastically typical Robin. And that generosity is a. Is something with. Combined with the wit on the man is not a common combination.

Yeah.

You know, I don't think Dr. Johnson was busy sending people. Maybe. I don't know. But I think he had Boswell do it. He had Boswell.

Boswell. Send that fucker a bike. There's so much in the book that I want to make sure I weave in because you hit on so many themes I love. As you're approaching the premiere, of course, now we all know how the story turns out, but when you're reading through the book, it is very much what you say. You're reading these texts, these messages, these diary entries day by day. You don't know what's going to happen. And you can feel the anxiety, you can feel the self loathing, you can feel the gloom and at one point you say, I think the English. There's an English tendency to prefer failure. And I thought that is so fantastic, because in a strange way, I understand how failure can feel more comfortable and a big hit. It's the tall Poppy syndrome, which is very Irish, it's very United Kingdom. It's, what do you do with a big hit? And everywhere you went, people were congratulating you and you're uneasy with it.

I wasn't used to it, but also, I didn't quite expect it. And it takes a while to know what to do with that because you're still trying to understand, have we fixed it? Did it really work? And Mike would always keep on making it better and better. He cut little bits and keep improving it. But I think there is a thing in England that failures is a noble and a wonderful thing. And if you look at, like, Dunkirk and some of their great victories, the English ran away quite a lot, which.

Is often a wise choice, maybe a good choice. If the English don't run away in 1940, they are not there to fight Hitler in 1942.

So, yeah, no, I mean, I think there are many reasons for it. But also I think the tall poppy, which is what the Australians also call it, is also that when you're on a small island, people are envious of people's success. And so people try and either play it down a bit or, oh, yeah, I did happen to climb Everest last week, but I'm also working on some Latin thesis. You know, I mean, people, they tend to try and diminish. It's not a America's great because let's all try and be successful. That's the starting point. And it's fine when in England, if you've been successful, you got a car, people will scrape the car with their knife as they go by. Yeah, bastard. Whereas in America, the reaction would be, one day I'll have one of those. And I think it's completely different attitude.

This is something Bono said. Bono said that, you know, in America, if you see a house on a hill and you walk by and you see a mansion on a hill, you think, someday I'm going to have that mansion. He said, in Ireland, if you see a big mansion on a hill, you think, I'm going to burn that fucker down. I thought, yeah, I understand that. I don't want it for myself. I just don't want that asshole to have it. It's funny, because this leads into my next question, which is that you bring up that you had this realization at one point that the Holy Grail, which is Spamalot, it's really about Python and the members of Python. And this resonated with me right now because all you do, you just said it right now, is there's this tendency to want to run away all throughout Holy Grail. One of the reasons Sir Robin is able to. His only strategy is to run away. Run away, Run away. And I've, you know, always King Arthur says run away.

It's a command.

It's a command.

Yes, yes, Robin does.

You're quite happy.

Robin denies he's running away. He's pissing off and buggering off. No, no, no. You know, brave.

Brave Robin. Yeah, yeah. But. But you talk about. And you go through and you talk about the different members of Python and how they kind of fit their role in the Holy Grail, whether it was.

Intentional or not, because I had to bring. I mean, there were 98 characters in the Holy Grail, so I put that on stage. So what I did was I collapsed as many as I could of the characters played by Michael Palin into one character or aspects of that character. And the same with me, and the same with Lancelot, John Cleese, you know, so that. So that. Then when you do that, you do find more of Michael, who's always like, you know, he really wants a bit of temptation, but he better hadn't, you know. No, no, I gotta go. I gotta go.

No. Yeah. One of my being rescued from all the.

All the girlies, all the girls who are horny.

Oh, oh. And you could tell he's. Yeah, it's.

He made two films about that, too, of his own, which. That's basically the same theme. He's perhaps not. No, Ben, I'm not. I think it's very significant about.

It's so funny. I relate to both your character. I relate to running away and, you know. No, there's some temptation. Oh, well, I should probably go watch my cholesterol. I'll just be over here. But I'm going to think about it a lot and I'm going to hate myself a little bit. But, yeah, you go through. It's very convincing that. Whether it was intentional or not, I.

Think that often writing reveals yourself. I mean, I think good writing is definitely all about yourself in some really bizarre way. And when you're adapting something, a piece of work, it's very nice to come across themes that are just in there. There's one scene when Michael is being led away from Castle Anthrax, you know, and Cleese is getting him out. Come on, let's go. He says, no, couldn't I have a bit of temptation? No, no, don't worry. Temptation at all. And just as in E frame, you hear Michael say, oh, I bet you're gay. And we use that for a whole scene where Lancelot, whole rage and anger is explained by the fact he's repres. You know, he really is. He's repressing something, he's repressing it all. And out he comes and he dances a song going, his name is Lancelot. He likes to dance a lot. There's a huge Peter Allen number. And I. I find that that's really the most exciting thing about adapting work, is finding little things in there which will make it work on stage. Because Mike and Casey there. There was a whole scene we kept trying to write the spanking song.

And, you know, because the girls say, oh, spanking, spanking tonight. And we keep writing, spanking, spanking, there's going to be. And they said, no, no, no, and they would not have it. So the way out was this. Just this hint in the script, which I improvised. And it was fabulous to find because it makes Lancelot's character very much more. He's not just angry, he's angry because he had an angry father. And he stands up for Herbert, saying, this man is your son. And he comes up with the most wonderful. Like it could be Arthur Miller. He comes out and stands up for him, and it's a very nice dramatic twist. In Act 2, which I.

You said in Python, there were disagreements, I know, in my comedy career, I just became, with all my different collaborators and creative partners, arguments and fights. And you'd come down to, if someone else was listening to it, they'd think you were insane. You talked about how you'd all argue in Python about, is this the right chair? No, this isn't the right chair. No, the dead parrot should look like this. It shouldn't look like that, because that's not funny. But this is. And I remembered Robert Smigel, one of the just genius people I've been fortunate to work with over the years. I remembered once us going back and forth, arguing about something forever, and this is maybe 30 years ago, and I said, no, but it got a big laugh. And he went, yes, but that's not the kind of laugh we want at that point. And I was thinking, it's a goddamn laugh. What do you mean? It's not the laugh we want at that point. But I also understand what he's saying. And so but anyone else listening outside the door would think, these two idiots, what is their problem? But I think that is the common thread just in this process, if.

I think, if you're trying to do it right, which is.

I think it's a fascinating process. And I had some very good mentors. We used to write for jokes for David Frost, and I had Barry cry and Dick Vos for people who taught me how to be, what to do and how the ropes. And then you become. You find your own compa. You know, companions who. Who then become argumentative. It really was very argumentative. I mean, sometimes rouse. Huge blazing rouse would break out. But again, I think that's because if you. If you don't care, it's not important.

Yeah.

And I think irony was not very good at standing up, because I was a solo writer in that group. And I remember. And then that's why I think I got on with George. He was a solo between two big forces of Lennon and McCartney. Right. And I was between, you know, Mike and Terry. Mike and Terry wrote and John and Graham wrote. And I remember when George came out to the filming of the Life of Brian, he paid for. He said, how's it going? He said, well, it's all right. It's hard to get on screen, you know, with Michael Palin and John Cleese. He said, imagine how I was trying to get into the studio with Lennon and McCartney. Mic dropped. Okay, you got it? I got it.

You think you have problems? Yeah, exactly. Cry me a river. This is. And we don't have to talk about this, but it's something that, as a lifelong, someone who's been so influenced and odd by Python, I think of it as sort of Santa Claus, like a child. I just want to believe that everyone's getting along. And you and Cleese famously, lately have had your disagreements and that have come out in public. And I know I'll think, oh, I don't want Mommy and Daddy to fight, but that's childlike of me. Because you're human beings that disagree, and you've known each other a long time.

You don't disagree about comedy. This is only about money. This is only about business. And there's no reason. I mean, a fool and his money are easy parted, you know, six of us, you know, much more quickly. I mean, I think there's no right or wrong way to deal with business. And if somebody has one view of it and somebody doesn't and somebody has another, those can lead to very bad arguments.

Yes.

And unfortunately, we don't see each other enough. I haven't seen them in ten years. And if you don't. Ten years since you saw John, Nine says John. Ten says Mike. If you don't sit across the table and know that person and what decade they're in, I think there's a lot of room for disagreement. And we're just old and it's like we never disagreed on the very important things, on what was funny, really. But that was a while ago.

There's a misconception that anyone could have, which is, wait a minute. Monty Python, the most, in my opinion, influential show of all time. And then that led to these movies which are, in my opinion, flawless and beautiful and fantastic, and that you've all gone on to these things. And then, of course, Spamalot, a huge hit. And you talk about how there's this perception that, well, everyone in Python must be driving around in Bentleys with cash, you know, in convertibles with cash just flying out. And that you say, you know, we're all touring at this age to keep it going. And that's. That's a misconception that people can have.

I think so. Because, you know, it sort of depends what sort of deals you have. And nowadays residuals are becoming a thing of the past. You know, they got. They've got rid of all the music residuals. You know, you've got Spotify and YouTube. Everything takes everything, you know. I mean, I think it's very difficult. I don't mind it because I quite like doing what I do. I quite like going out there and making people laugh, see if I can still make them laugh. Because I think that's a sort of little joy that we get. I think it's a secret little, secret little joy. We're all comedy junkies, laugh junkies. And I. And so I'm about to go and do a tour of Australia, New Zealand, and I've got some really wonderful surprises. I like surprising people. I like making my shows about something. So there's like a through line. I was with Professor Brian Cox last week and he said he's doing a show. And he said, what's yours about? And I said, mine's about the meaning of life. And he said, well, so is mine. I said, yeah, but mine will be deep.

You introduced me. You introduced me to him at a part. I mean, again, this is one of the gifts of getting to go to Eric Idle's home is you said, oh, here's Brian Cox. And we chatted and he's this brilliant mind. And the next thing you know, he's. I become somewhat, you know, friendly with him. And I think this is. You have salons, you have. It's nice what you do. You get really smart. It's not just funny people, it's music people, it's people from science, it's people from astrology, it's people who are historians. And I can just see that you have this endless joy for trying to figure it all out.

I like putting people together, I like conversation. But love at the end of the evening is a ding dong. We have a play. And so I love musicians and so I've always got musicians. Anybody I like Brian Cox, if he's going to tell you about Quantum. And that's very nice over dinner, you know, but. And he also plays the piano, so we have gigs. His son George plays guitar. And I've been playing with this group who been playing with the Monkeys and they're really great. And we just sit around and play hit after hit. It's just. That's my happy. That's when I'm happiest. After dinner, out come the guitars. We'll just sing for hours.

It's funny you say this because what is it about. I've love playing guitar. I could never make a dime off of it, but it's, it's, it just. It's my hobby and I really love doing it. And I got to do the Newport Folk Festival a month or two ago and there's footage of it and I'm up there playing with all these amazing people. And Jack White came. But the comment that shows up every time I'm up there is Conan seems. This is the most joyous I've ever seen. Conan, he seems so much happier doing this than comedy. I thought I love comedy, but they're not wrong. I love that.

And just playing and gigging with people and having fun and listening because it's a different part of your brain. You're not thinking, you're not obsessive and where's the next laugh? You know, you're just feeling the next chord. I love that. And I'm doing a show now which is really a one man musical. And I do a couple of songs. One's a tribute to George Harrison I wrote, which I really like because I miss him a lot. And once for Rob, which I wrote for his memorial and it's a very sweet song and I put up pictures of them and it's kind of a nice way of recognizing that people have moved on and gone and say for what? Isn't all like you know, this is normal maudlin. I mean, there's a lot of. There's some good jokes, but.

Well, you've written. First of all, it's the most requested song at funerals, I think in. Certainly in the uk, maybe in the world.

And what's the second? Second?

That's a really good question, actually.

It was my way. It replaced. Which is really a terrible song for when you're dying. Yeah, I did it my way.

I smoked. I smoked and smoked they said I shouldn't, but I did. I ate fatty foods they said I shouldn't buy. You wrote Always look on the Bright side of Life and it's such a great song. I mean, it's an amazing scene in Life of Brian. And at the time, I remember it extremely controversial because people are being. They're dying, they're on a crucifix and singing Always look on the bright side of Life. And I think it's everything. It is the perspective that I completely, 100% agree with, which is this is terrible and ridiculous and silly at the same time. That is sometimes the only way we can go. We can move on. And it's just. And it's got my. One of my life's got a funny plot. You're here and then you're not. Like, it's. That's all there is to it, I think.

Yes. I mean, what's really funny about always looking on the bright side of life is you are being crucified. There's very little to look forward to at that point. Let's face it, if there's any.

Eric, I think you're being overly negative. Yeah.

You're giving it a bad rap.

You're getting a good stretch in the low back.

Oh, God.

Well, you are.

Oh, man.

Between the L4 and L5, you get. Gravity's giving you a little pull.

But it is an ironic song and I think it's a war song. And I think it comes from my father, my. Their generation. Those songs always like, oh, always look on the bright the blue flight Blue skies will open. You know, Bluebirds over the bright. They were always about future optimism because they're in a war.

Yeah.

So I think that that's what that sort of song is. It's just like a war song.

Yeah.

And it was played on the. In the Falklands when HMS Sheffield was hit by an Exocet and they had to wait for rescue for three hours. They sang that for three hours. And so I think there is something recognizing that it is a ridiculous thing. And teams seeing it. When they're losing at football, I mean, they look on the bright side, you know, there's nothing to look forward to at that point. Right, Right.

We're down, it's over. There's not enough time left. I have to ask you this because I know that you've. You talk about playing guitar with these iconic musicians. You played for hours and probably thousands of hours with George Harrison. You also stayed up all night once in Rome playing with Keith Richards. And I'm just curious how you can. Don't you leave your body at some point and say, that's Keith Richards I'm playing guitar with, or that's George Harris I'm playing guitar with? How do you get over that?

Oh, I think pretty quickly because you're playing along, you know, so you're in the moment if you're playing with somebody. And luckily, I had a pretty good back. I had a jazz guitar background, so I knew better chords than they did often. Right. But. But with Keith, you know, I mean, Keith is like the most extraordinary. He's like no coward, you know, he behaves. Oh, dear boy, do come up and have it. What can I get you? I mean, he's looking. Wearing, you know, dressing gowns and very calm. You know, he's not. Where's the lunatic?

You know, that's hilarious. Oh, come in, please. Please do come in. And he's wearing like a calf. He's wearing a captain.

Not a captain and dressing gown.

Dressing gown.

Little, you know, boy. Can I get you a glass of brandy? What would you like? What can you take? You know, I mean, quite. Quite a different world of. Than you'd expect. And what. We did sing all night that night. And, you know, it was in Rome and when in Rome. When in Rome. So I was. Then the next, I turn up at the set and Cherry. I hadn't got any words left. It was my last scene. And then Cherry comes up to me, says, I've written this big new scene for us.

Oh, is this for European vacation?

Yeah, And I went. And he said, fuck.

So you had to lose a scene. I lost in European vacation because you were up all night playing and singing with Keith Richardson.

I'm sorry. Yes.

Well, that's probably as good an excuse as anybody.

Yeah, I think it's worth it.

Yeah. I'm going to miss the next podcast. I'm sorry. I was singing all night with Keith Richardson. No, no, no. He's in love. What are you talking about? You're in the Pacific Palisades.

You were with Richard Keats.

Yeah, we got on this very dark topic of death and everything. You have one of the funniest ideas ever I've heard for an inscription on your tombstone, which I really like. I'll tell you what it is because you've clearly forgotten. Eric Idle. C. Google.

I'm glad to know that still stands up.

Why? Why not? I mean, what are we getting into here exactly? The rest is nonsense. Yeah. Well, I want to thank you. It's a great day for me when I get to spend any time with you. You're one of my all time heroes and you changed my life in so many ways with your work when I was a young lad. And you guys completely, I think, reordered the universe and showed us all what could be done. And I still think you're far ahead of everyone else. My love to your family, Tanya, and of course, Lily, who I adore. The book is the Spamalot Diaries and it is a joyous read. It's a little harrowing at times, but it's great. And it's a great book for anyone to read who's in the process of trying to make something happen. It doesn't have. It could. It could be a Broadway play. It could be anything you're trying to do. It's very inspirational.

Yes.

And so you've given people a real gift here.

Oh, that's very kind. I like that. I'm glad that's so. Because I do think it's a process, not a miracle.

Yeah. And let's end with just explaining our shirts.

Indeed.

You want to explain these?

Well, these shirts to raise money for statue for Terry Jones. And they're going to build a statue statue for him on the promenade in Wales where he comes from, Colwyn Bay. And they're raising money on a Go for Fund Me basis. And so we're here promoting.

I think there should be a statue to Jerry Jones. I think this is a lovely idea and we are hoping it will be.

The nude organist, but we're not sure.

And you said it was a gofundme, is that correct?

It's a GoFundMe. Yes, it is.

People can just. Well, they can see. Google.

Yeah. Very nicely done, sir. Eric Idle. Go. Go forth and do good works.

Thank you. It's been always a joy to talk to you.

You know what's not refreshing? When your team concedes a last minute equalizer. Or feeling pressured into joining in the Mexican wave. Or when you spot your best friend at the match even though he said he was busy. Kevin. But a cold pint of Heineken brewed with just three natural ingredients. That's refreshing. Get the facts. Be drink aware. Visit Drinkaware Ie.

On an episode not too long ago, we talked about your grandma Maude. Maudie, right?

Yeah. Maddie. Yes. This would be my mother's mother, Ruth Reardon. And yet, for reasons we didn't know when we were kids, everyone, we all called her Maddie. And then I asked her once, why do we call you Maddie? And she said that there was a cartoon strip back maybe even before the turn of the century or at the turn of the century. I believe she was born in 1890 and she was on a playground and some kids were harassing her or teasing her, and so she kicked at them and they started calling her Mahdi Maudie. Because there was a well known cartoon at the time about a. I don't know if it's a mule or a horse that kicked people. Oh, my God, here it is.

And this is the mule or the horse kicking someone right there. And her name was Maude.

And her name was Maude. This is it. Oh, my God. I'm trying to see what the date is on this. That would be cool to know. I can't see. I can't make out the date.

I thought it said 1904 somewhere. Would that be too late?

No, I don't think so. You can still kick people when you're 14. This is really cool. This is.

Her classmates sound like dicks. Well, don't they?

I mean, kids don't change.

I know, but they were bugging her so much that she needed to kick them. And then they started calling her a kicking mule.

Well, yeah, but it's not like the name stuck and her grandchildren ended up using it. Oh, no. This is so cool. This is a good. There's a guy who gets kicked by a mule. He's angry, so he takes the mule. He says, I'll fix this pesky critter. He ties the mule up. The mule kicks some more people. It's kicking automobiles. It's kicking everybody. And then the people realize that the owner's the one that caused all this problem, so they go and they kick him. And the mule then gets to laugh at the owner who just got kicked. Hee haw.

Oh, and by the way, you can see this just go to eecocopodcasts on Instagram.

My question is, did they do the same bit every week?

I don't know.

How many of these cartoon strips did they do? At least this is a cartoon strip. That's acceptable today. If you look at a lot of cartoon strips from the turn of the century. They would not past muster anymore. They're incredible.

You find out that mule's politics.

Wow. This is an America first mule. This is a closed border mule. This is so cool to see this. To think that my grandmother would have seen this.

It does say to be continued next Sunday.

Yep.

So I bet there's a whole story.

Yeah, I think this. My guess is this mule just keeps on kicking people info about it.

And her name was Maude is the.

Name of the strip is a comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper.

It first appeared in the Hearst newspapers.

On July 24, 1904. That's it. The rest of the stuff is. Wait. Can I just say, Adam, you approach the mic like I've just got some news. The Hindenburg has exploded at Lakehurst, New Jersey. All souls have been lost.

Even you seem surprised by your own lack of information.

This is less interesting than I thought. Her name is Maude in 1904 newspapers. Yeah.

Although first papers though it probably does have some politics.

Yeah. Well, this is. I don't know, I love that kind of connection to just. I mean, first of all, this is as I've spoken about before. I loved my grandmother and after my grandfather passed, she lived with us for a while. And she was this amazing language to the late 19th, early 20th century. And I remembered her telling me it was once New Year's Day. And she told me she had a very clear memory of New York City because she was staying with relatives in New York City in 1900 on New Year's Day. And she was describing it. She was describing the carriages going by, how cold it was, the snow. She said, I can see it right now like perfectly. And I thought, I'm always fascinated by time trials, that concept that you can have a human connection to somebody. I don't know if you had this with because I know Sona, you lived with.

Oh my. Yeah, your grandparents. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they both lived into their 90s.

Into their 90s. And they came from.

They came from Istanbul.

Yep.

And I mean my. My grandpa started. He was a butcher when he was 12. Like they just put him to work really early.

Right.

So it's like the idea that you are trusting a 12 year old with slaughtering animals is just feels like a completely different world.

But also just the fact that then they come to this country and they're living with you and it's. You're going out to in n out to grab a burger and whatever else you're up To. It's just this amazing clash of cultures. I find that stuff fascinating.

Well, my great grandma also lived with us, and she was old as shit. She was really old.

You don't say Old as shit.

She was really, really old. And I remember she was this old, wrinkly lady, and I was really young. I was maybe, like, 10. And my mom's like, she's gonna sleep in your room. And I. That it. From then on, I was terrified of the dark because I thought she was, like, a old witch lady. And she was just.

Wait, when you say she was. What did you say? Old as shit.

Yeah.

How old is oldest shit?

She was. I mean, when I was 10, she was like, 95.

Because there are young comedians out there that now see me and go, you're old as shit. So it's. It's all relative.

That's right. I was 10 and she was 60.

No, no, seriously, how old do you think she was?

She was 95. Yeah, but she was like an old, wrinkly lady, and I was young, and I was like, why is this old person in my room? And I got terrified of the.

You sound like an awful grandchild.

I was really bad.

I love this. Like, old and wrinkled. Why is that in my room?

I have. We did something else. I don't want to.

I shouldn't.

Well, we got her now.

This is really bad. So she had a son who passed away that no one told her passed away. And then my uncle, who was still in Istanbul, and we'd hold up two fingers and be like, medzi, you know, touch one of them. And we would. She would touch him and be like, oh, that's, you know, Pejo Daydy, who was my uncle. And she'd just instantly start crying. And we thought it was.

So wait, I don't understand what was happening here.

Because we kept reminding her of these people she hadn't seen in a long time, and we'd instantly make her cry. And Dani and I were like, let's go make Menzy cry.

Whoa.

Oh, my God. You're a monster. You're a sociopath. How is that?

We were just fascinated with her instant.

Like, sadness, I thought, her true sociopath. But as you are.

No.

Millie was mad at Twist.

No, no, no. To be fair, I did it to my grandmother, Maddie, too. I used to go, remember that. That loved one that perished. It was fun. We used to call it. It was the old fun. We called it the Parish game. Hey, let's go play Parish. And we'd go into Monty's room, remember the one you love. Loved who pet is. Look at them waterworks. You're an awful, awful person.

No, no joke. That was really bad.

Yeah, you're bad.

It was bad. We would make her laugh just for.

All right, well, listen, let's have some good conversation. I mean, you don't need to clarify. No joke.

We would make her cry just for fun because we were terrible.

Let's have some good come out of this. If you're listening right now and you're tempted to go mock a very, very old relative by reminding them of someone they lost long ago, think twice. Yeah, that's a little word from Conan O'Brien needs a friend Conan O'Brien needs.

A friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Session and Matt Gourlay produced by me, Matt Gourlay executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross and Nick Leo. Theme song by the White Stripes Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino Take it way, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples, Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista and Brit Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up@siriusxm.com Conan and if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O'Brien needs a friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

You know what's not refreshing? When your team concedes a last minute equalizer. Or feeling pressured into joining in the Mexican wave. Or when you spot your best friend at the match even though he said he was busy. Kevin But a cold pint of Heineken brewed with just three natural ingredients? That's refreshing. Get the facts, be drink aware, visit drinkaware.ie.