Monty Python legend Eric Idle looks back on the Bright Side of his Life

SussexWorld

Monty Python on TV, The Life of Brian on film, Spamalot on stage and George Harrison as a pirate… Eric Idle has had the most astonishing career, and he will look back on it all with relish as he embarks on Always Look On the Bright Side of Life LIVE!, a new UK tour which takes in the Brighton Centre on Friday, September 12 (tickets on brightoncentre.co.uk) and also the Bournemouth International Centre on Wednesday, September 24 (bic.co.uk).

Transcript

00:00good afternoon my name is phil hewitt group arts editor at sussex newspapers now what an enormous

00:07career privilege this is to be sitting talking to none other than eric idol with the t-shirt show

00:13the t-shirt the t-shirt yeah the name the name of the tour which brings you back to the uk you're

00:19doing dates including bournemouth and brighton and lots of big cities manchester liverpool etc

00:24wonderful title for the show always look on the bright side of life alive now that song does that

00:32sum up your your approach to life it must do mustn't it is that what you are about personally would you

00:37say i suppose in a way i mean it wasn't written for that reason it was written to end the life of

00:43brian yeah because everybody was being crucified so we didn't know how to end the movie so i said

00:48it should be a song and they said well well what do you mean they said well it should be like a disney

00:53song with a whistle you know cheery uppie song be ridiculous like always looking on the bright side

00:58i mean because if you are being crucified you don't have very long to look on the bright side so

01:03it is a very ironic song so i went away and wrote it and brought it back next day and they and they

01:09liked it and you know and so when you look back on your career you can look on the bright side all

01:14the things that you've achieved goodness i think i think i think that i think there is i am a more

01:20an optimist so i usually say i'm an optimist in the morning and a pessimist at night

01:23when the day is sunk in you know but because i i think you start again every day you've got a fresh

01:30day you know so i i think some people wake up depressed and so others go well well what are we

01:35going to do today you know and i i like to write first thing in the morning and i find out then what's

01:40in my mind or what i'm thinking or i continue to write a book or whatever i'm doing and for the show

01:46you'll be looking back on your fabulous career and obviously monty python now it's what 50 odd 55

01:51years ago plus well i mean why is it still so big do you think monty python still so important now

02:00i don't think i'm not sure it's important i think it's interesting because i don't think comedy is

02:06supposed to last that long comedy is supposed to be about the time you're in and as we were talking

02:11slightly before i i think python is not involved in time because it followed a satire boom and so

02:19most of the sketches are generic they talk about upper class twits of the year i mean they don't

02:25talk about particular people so you're not locked into a time in the 60s and early 70s when it was

02:31written they're generic people they're they're characters uh and they're they're not locked into

02:40time so i think that's one of the reasons that it it has stood up a bit and it's also pretty silly

02:47and it's also i think written by five quite good writers who are at the peak of their that's wonderful

02:53british understatement stood up a bit quite silly written by quite good writers you've excelled yourself

02:58there well i don't know because i don't know how much it's known i mean i know that it's i don't know

03:04how much it's played i mean now it seems to be tying little bits in tiktok you know what i mean

03:09they like funny bits and i like little funny bits too i mean there are some very funny little bits and

03:14i i choose the best ones for my show that i like that aren't necessarily the most popular that have

03:20made me laugh and um i like i like that it's a nice way it's really me talking to an audience about

03:29what it's like to be a comedian and have some memories of people i've met and you talk about the

03:36people you've met let's talk about george harrison a hero of mine that pirate song see you i just

03:42instantly think pirate song that was genius wasn't it i think he was so game wasn't it olivia harrison

03:48said she thought it was the bravest thing he ever did because he comes down and he's singing the

03:54his biggest the hollywood ball and he goes off into a pirate song and you know he loves that he

04:00loved doing that i know he did and uh we wrote it together so it is the only idol harrison song

04:06and i don't i never wrote any song to any of the other beatles i never asked so um

04:11well i didn't write about them i mean i did make the ruttles there's a new eight minute cut of the

04:18ruttles in the show and i say it's by peter jackson uh it isn't really but i say it is and

04:24the ruttles was brilliant it combines such respect but it's taking too didn't it well well it was the

04:30first i think it was a bit like brian when we we fell onto doing religion nobody'd ever done comedy

04:35about religion so you've got a free market you've got plain empty canvas and i think the the beatles

04:41were like that doing a thing on the beatles nobody ever sort of taken the piss out of the beatles

04:46story it wasn't really taking the piss out of them as the way the world saw the newspapers

04:51covered their story you know that's and that that's sort of what it was really about but uh

04:57and george helped me with that he showed me a film called the long and winding road which neil

05:03aspinall had put together and none of them could agree to release it because they didn't

05:07they couldn't agree which bits to cut or be which should be left the path clear for you fortunately

05:12well they did eventually an anthology brings most of those bits out absolutely anyway i'm really

05:21conscious that i've gone way past my time but it has been fabulous to speak to you thank you so much

05:26for your time a real pleasure to meet you and to talk to you next time i think a rutter's picture

05:30on the wall i do think so okay absolutely send me one signed lovely to see you okay so thank you take care

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