Posted in: Books, Pop Culture | Tagged: carrie fisher, eric idle, harrison ford, john cleese, london, orson welles, robin williams, sanjeev bhaskar
Eric Idle On Tour… “It’s Not Namedropping If They’re Dead”
Last night in London, Eric Idle on tour… “It’s Not Namedropping If They’re Dead”
Article Summary
- Eric Idle brought his Idle In Provence tour to London, mixing memoir, sharp wit and two hours of big laughs.
- Idle shared stories of Provence, pancreatic cancer survival and famous guests, joking it’s not namedropping if they’re dead.
- In conversation with Sanjeev Bhaskar, Eric Idle reflected on Monty Python, a lifetime in comedy, and how everyone seems to be dying.
- From Robin Williams to Orson Welles to Carrie Fisher, Eric Idle packed the night with cultural history, gossip and Bright Side Of Life singalongs.
Thee’s a a scene in Monty’s Python’s Life Of Brian, where Terry Jones as a cleaner, mopping up after Terry Jones as Mister Creosote’s voluminous explosion of vomit, bile and intestines talks about the meaning of life from her perspective, and how she has found none in all the great halls of learning and now is getting old and facing death, consoles herself that “at least I don’t work for Jews”. Maitre’d John Cleese tips her bucket over her head and apologises to the audience, saying, “I’m so sorry, I had no idea we had a racist working here”. Switch Terry Jones for John Cleese, John Cleese for Eric Idle and Jews for Muslims and welcome to 2026.
Earlier this week, a Birmingham Muslim group called Deenified posted a video on X disapproving of John Cleese performing in the city as part of his as Holy Grail tour. That was it, no threats, no violence, just displeasure expressed by a small group. It was enough fuss for claims of cancellation, threats against John Cleese and security concerns being expressed on social media. Some said that Christians would never object to anything like this, forgetting exactly what happened when the Holy Grail first came out. After the usual suspects had made a huge fuss, John Cleese reported this morning that the screening and Q&A took place without incident.
That can’t be said of Eric Idle who is touring an original show based on his just-published book Idle In Provence: A Brief History Of Thyme, He appeared at the Lyceum Theatre in London last night, as The Lion King has it day off, as part of his own tour, and I regret to say that there were many incidents at his show, as the audfience repeatedly broke out into acts of extreme laughter over the two hours, and ended in a rather violent on the eardrums singalong for “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.”
In conversation with Sanjeev Bhaskar, who, as he reminded us repeatedly, played King Arthur in Spamalot a few years back (I saw him do it; he was great. If he were cast as King Arthur today, the usual suspects above would be condemning it). And we got a history of Eric Idle buying a run-down semi-house in 1971 in Provence and his many trials in making it work, and then all the people he has hosted there over the decades, as he said, “it’s not namedropping if they’re dead” as we got something somewhere between Bill Bryson and Orson Welles (who also turns up, loving Mr Creosote, without realising it may be based on him).
It was rather fun to get two hours of social, cultural and international history, with the locals not treating Eric Idle as a foreigner, because foreigners were from Paris. Or Robin Williams walking around wearing a mosquito net. Or Joni Mitchell deciding she could understand French on magic mushrooms. Or both the decidedly dirty Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford staying with him when filming in London, and burglars stealing Harrison’s hat and whip. And while Eric may have no interest in working with John Cleese these days, he did credit him with writing the very first comedy script he performed, auditioning for Cambridge Footlights for Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. As Eric says, his biggest problem these days is that everyone he knows is dying. But after surviving pancreatic cancer, and a surgeon who recommended Provence over chemotherapy, I’m so glad Eric Idle is still with us, still writing, still taking to the stage and still singing. After all, whatever your views, no one wants to hear John Cleese do that last bit. Eric Idle is at Komedia in Bath tomorrow night, and then off to New York, Illinois and California…
- Sept 19 – G Live, Guildford
- Sept 21 – Lyceum, London
- Sept 23 – Komedia Bath, Bath
- Sept 29 – Symphony Space, New York, NY with Adam Gopnik
- Oct 1 – Universal Preservation Hall, Saratoga Springs, NY
- Oct 4 – Cahn Auditorium, Chicago, IL
- Oct 10 – Arcadia Performing Arts Center, Pasadena, CA
- Oct 13 – Palm Springs Cultural Center, Palm Springs, CA
- Oct 22 – JAMS Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA with Weird Al
- Oct 25 – Dominican University, San Francisco, CA with Dave Eggers
- Oct 27- Revolution Hall, Portland, OR
- Oct 29 – Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
<a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPHflgsw1IauAw?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!
