Eric Idle - Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

AND FINALLY

Id like to thank everyone Ive forgotten. They know who they are. Without them I would not be half the man I used to be. I particularly want to thank Tania, Carey, and Lily, without whom I wouldnt even be a quarter of the man I used to be. They have taught me the meaning of love and family. So Id also like to thank my extended Chicago family, my large Canadian family, and my London family, Nigel and the Wrays, for their love and kindness. I should thank all the Pythons of course. I know they were lucky to have me, but I learned a lot from them, even though wild horses wouldnt get me to confess it. A big legally binding thank-you to Tom Hoberman, my lawyer and friend of thirty-five years. Simon Green, my new agent, who had the fortitude to persist in encouraging me to write this book. My publishers, Tricia Boczkowski of Crown Archetype and Alan Samson of Orion Books, for listening to him when he asked them for money. Thanks also to Caspian Dennis for aiding in this task. I must thank my two fantastic assistants, the brilliant and hilarious Alana Gospodnetich, and my wonderful photographic assistant Stefanie Estes, who both helped me enormously, while encouragingly laughing at my jokes. Thank you to Kelly Bush and her IDPR team, including Chris Kanarick and Rachel Hunt, who supported this book early on; the photographer Robin von Swank made me look nice, and my dogdaughter Tasha Goldthwait dressed me up to look swanky for her. Michael Gorfaine fed me sushi and giggled at my anecdotes; and Steve Martin gave me forty years of friendship and advice. Thanks to Doctor Kipper for keeping me alive; Danny Ferrington for building me guitars; Kevin Nealon and Susan Yeagley for being simply wonderful; Ed Begley and Rachelle; the magnificent Jim Beach; the adorable Olivia Harrison; Ian Miles; Holly Gilliam; Jane Tani; Ian Miles; John and Linda Goldstone; Tasha and Bobcat Goldthwait; Gavin and Yukimi de Becker; Arlene Phillips and Angus Ion; Adrienne Strong; Charles Wheeler; Salman; Joni; Jim and Annie; Jeff and Camelia, Joe and Margery; the Connollys; the Ashers; the Feigs; the Dysons; the Donners; Les Frenais; the E. Grants; Ruth Teale; Lyn Ashley; Sasha Smith; Sarah Polley; Bill Haber, producer extraordinaire; Steve Spiegel of TRW, who took a punt and turned it into a battleship; and Casey Nicholaw for just about everything. Merci to my summer friends in France: the Hopewells, Les Nicholas, Catriona and Jeremy, the Chaters, Dougie and Sylvie, Frank and Chrissie; my London chums, Brian and Gia, Noel and Birdy, Kathy Lette, the Beetles and Jeffrey Archer, who dine me and encourage me; my lovely shrink Barbara for keeping me relatively sane; and of course, my long-suffering musical partner of forty years, John Du Prez. Thank you all. Its been fun.

About the Author

ERIC IDLE is a comedian, actor, author, and singer-songwriter who found immediate fame on television with the sketch-comedy show Monty Pythons Flying Circus. Following its success, the group began making films that include Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and The Meaning of Life (1983). Eric wrote, directed, and created The Rutles, the worlds first-ever mockumentary, as well as the Tony Awardwinning musical Spamalot (2005). He lives in Los Angeles.

PHOTO CREDITS

Interior Art

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With compliments from Scottish Television LTD Press and Publicity Department, Douglas 9999

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Catherine Nicolson

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Carinthia West

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Catherine Nicolson

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Richard Avedon Avedon Foundation

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Lynn Goldsmith

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Alan Kleinberg

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Alan Kleinberg

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1983 Celadine Films

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Zo Dominic

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NUNS ON THE RUN 1990 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.

1989 Harmony Gold Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN 1989 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

Alan Kleinberg

Alan Kleinberg

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1993 Universal Pictures

Brian Aris

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THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS 1996 Allied Films Limited. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of TriStar Pictures

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Brigitte Lacombe

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Monty Python stamp design Royal Mail Group Limited. Images licensed courtesy of Python (Monty) Pictures Limited. All rights in the underlying images and the name Monty Python are reserved.

Insert

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Victoria Juvrud

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Carinthia West Hanging Out Archive

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Archival Playboy magazine material. Copyright 1974 by Playboy. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

CRUCIFIXION?

Its October 1978 and Im being crucified. Im thirty feet up on a cross in Tunisia singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Beneath me in a troglodyte courtyard, dug out another forty feet below ground level, an Arab woman sweeps her front yard. She never looks up. Weve been here for three days. Its the final scene in Monty Pythons Life of Brian and the song I wrote echoes across the desert to the distant hills. John Cleese has the flu. The rest of the Pythons seem fairly cheery. There are twenty-three of us on crosses and only three ladders, so between takes if you need a pee there is a desperate wait. I suppose if thats the only moan you have about being crucified, you are on the whole lucky

Theres something a little chilling about turning up for work and finding a cross with your name on it. Oh sure, they werent using nails, and we had bicycle seats to perch on, but it makes you think, hanging up there for three days in your underpants, gazing out at the desert. Perhaps everyone should be crucified for a few days, because it does give you a good perspective on life. Especially if you are singing a song that references your own passing: