THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST - EP.259 - ERIC IDLE

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Adam talks with Eric Idle about random stuff including the special relationship between comedians and musicians, his friendships with David Bowie, Peter Cook and George Harrison, how he coped with seismic and alarming world events in the 60s and why Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life became more than just a funny way to end Life Of Brian.Conversation recorded face-to-face in London on 27 June, 2025REGISTER A DECISION TO DONATE ORGANS TO NHSERIC IDLE 2025 TOURTHE ADAM BUXTON BAND LIVE IN NORWICH OTHER FORTHCOMING LIVE SHOWSThanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for additional editingPodcast illustration by Helen GreenListen to Adam's album 'Buckle Up' Order Adam's book 'I Love You Byeee' Sign up for the newsletter on Adam's website (scroll down on homepage)RELATED LINKS (ON ADAM'S WEBSITE) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, Adam Buxton here, with news of some live shows, details of which you'll find on my website, adam dash buxton.co.uk. On the 10th of October, I'll be on stage at the Wimbledon Theatre with Samira Ahmed, talking about my book, I love you, bye, showing clips and signing things afterwards. On the 13th and 14th of October, the Adam Buxton Band is playing two nights at the Norwich Arts Centre. Expect songs from my new album, buckle up, great bants, and afterwards, I'll sign things if you want. And finally, on the 6th of October, I'll be appearing at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the London Literary Festival. Expect humorous readings, videos and music followed by, yep, signing. And then, I think that's it for live shows for the rest of this year.

Tickets and info at adam dash buxton.com.uk. I added one more podcast to the giant podcast bin. Now you have plucked that podcast out and started listening. I took my microphone and found some human folk. then I recorded all the noises while we spoke My name is Adam Buxton I'm a man I want you to enjoy this

That's the plan Hey How are you doing podcasts It's Adam Buxton here I'm joining you from a Norfolk farm track In the second half of September 2025 I'm here with my best dog friend, Rosie. She joined me very willingly for a walk today,

which is out of recent character, but I'm very glad to have her along. She was even scraping at the door with eagerness. Sure, she's walking somewhat gingerly now, but, well, you know, she's a ginger walker these days. She's a mature dog, 12. So everything's a little bit more cautious for us all, I suppose, right, Rosie?

Leave me out of the age shaming and just get on with your waffles, I would. Right, Ope. It's really a very beautiful evening out here in Norfolk. It's a little windy and it's cool. But the light is very beautiful. The fields are very green and it's lovely and quiet. How you doing, though, Podcats? Thanks for joining me again.

Hope you'll enjoy this one. let me tell you about podcast number 259. This features a rambling conversation with actor, comedian, musician and writer, Eric Idle. By the way, before I go any further, Eric is, as I speak, on tour in the UK with a show filled with anecdotes and music from across his career.

He's in Edinburgh on Monday the 22nd of September, Bournemouth on Wednesday the 24th, and he wraps up at the Royal Albert Hall in London next weekend on Saturday the 27th. The tour is called Always Look on the Bright Side of Life with Eric Idle. There's a link in the description for tickets. Now this is going to be another slightly longer intro today. If you'd like to skip the rest of this and get straight to the conversation with Eric,

just skip ahead from this point. Eight minutes and you will find us waffling. For the Remainers, here's some idle facts for you. Idlefax. Eric Idle was born in South Shields, County Durham, in 1943. His mother was a nurse, and his father served in the RAF during World War II, but he died as he was traveling home at the end of the war. Struggling with depression in the years following her husband's death, Eric's mother made the decision to send her son to a boarding school,

known by the inmates as the offney, or the orphanage, because it was a charitable foundation for children whose dads had been killed in the war. The school, where Eric remained until he was 19, was harsh, bullying and corporal punishment were routine, and despite developing an anti-authoritarian disruptive streak, Eric coped by working hard and earned himself a place to study English at Cambridge University, where Eric joined the Footlights Sketch Troop, like last week's guest Emma Ciddy Although it should be noted

that if Emma had been at Cambridge in the mid-60s as a woman She wouldn't have been allowed to join the footlights Until that is Eric became the first president of the club To allow women to join Nevertheless I hear by promise That there will be no more members

of the Footlight Sketch Troop on the podcast this year However if it hadn't been for the footlights Eric may never have met his future fellow Python John Cleese and Graham Chapman. It was while working on Do Not Adjust Your Set, a 1967 TV comedy show ostensibly aimed at kids, that Eric met the other future pythons,

Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam. Gilliam provided animations for the show. Music was supplied by the Bonzo Dog Dudar band, whose members included comedian and musician Neil Innis, and singer-songwriter, poet, celebrated, eccentric and MC on Mike Oldfield's tubular bells, Vivian Stanshall. Monty Python's Flying Circus debuted on BBC One in 1969, with 45 episodes airing over four series until 1974, plus two episodes for German TV.

And of course, there were the films, The Holy Grail in 1975, The Life of Brian in 1979, and The Meaning of Life in 1983. Music always played an important part in Python TV shows and films and many of the songs were composed by Bonzo Dog's Neil Innes but it was one of Eric's many brilliant compositions for the pythons that produced an all-time great cinematic moment as well as providing the soundtrack to countless funerals over the years. Outside of Monty Python, Eric made two series of his sketch show Rutland Weekend Television

between 1975 and 1976. In one sketch, Eric, a passionate rock and roll fan since boyhood, played a version of the Beatles, George Harrison, to Neil Innes's John Lennon in his parody band, The Ruttles, a spoof that was later expanded into the 1978 TV mockumentary. all you need is cash. And then the Ruttles too can't buy me lunch in 2000. The Ruttles even toured and released two albums of music written primarily by Neil Innis. Side note, Innes's 1973 song, How Sweet to Be an Idiot, bore a remarkable similarity to a song that was a huge early Brit pop hit in 1994. Can you guess which one? to be an idiot

as harmness as a cloud when the similarity between how sweet to be an idiot and the opening line of whatever by oasis was pointed out Noel Gallagher, a Ruttle's fan, held up his hands

and settled out of court, handing over a quarter of the royalties from whatever to Innis and his publishers. Back in the mid-70s, Eric Idle had struck up a friendship with real beetle George Harrison, who appeared in the 1975 Rutland Weekend Television Christmas special, singing what starts out as Harrison's 1970 Mega Smash,

My Sweet Lord, but which suddenly becomes the pirate song, a rock and roll sea shanty, written with Eric Idol, their only musical collaboration. Although Eric can be heard screeching in the voice used by characters the pythons referred to as the pepper pots, on George Harrison's 1976 single, This Song.

Post-Flying Circus, Eric Idle hosted Saturday Night Live, four times, and went on to act in films that included National Lampoon's European Vacation in 1985, Terry Gilliams, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in 1988,

Nuns on the Run in 1990, Casper, in 1995, and, way back in 1983, the ill-fated pirate at comedy Yellowbeard, written by and starring Monty Python's Graham Chapman, alongside Peter Cook, Madeline Kahn, and Marty Feldman, with appearances from John Cleese, Cheech and Chong, Michael Horton, James Mason, Spike Milligan, and Eric's friend, David Bowie, uncredited as the Shark. I've put various clips illustrating a lot of this stuff. On the blog post for today's episode,

you'll find a link to my blog, Adam dash buxton.com.com.com. in the description of the podcast. More recently, Eric found himself with a huge international hit on his hands in the form of Spamalot, his musical theatre adaptation of the Holy Grail, which has continued to tour around the world on and off since its Broadway debut in 2005.

My conversation with Eric was recorded face-to-face in London back in June of this year, 2025, and as well as talking about Eric's early years in the footlights and on Do Not Adjust Your Set, we talked about the special relationship between comedians and musicians, as well as Eric's musical friendships with David Bowie, George Harrison, and Viv Stanshaw.

Since 1994, Eric has been based in Los Angeles, but he also spends a lot of time in the house he built in southern France, and by coincidence, there happened to be a painting of a Provensal field filled with poppies hanging in the room where we were recording in London. And as you will hear, it caught Eric's eye, as did various musical instruments in the room. One of these was a device called a cue chord, sometimes likened to a digital auto harp. It's got a pear-shaped body and a neck containing rows of chord buttons.

I wrongly identified it to Eric as an Omnicord and also wrongly claimed that they were originally manufactured by Yamaha. In fact, Suzuki made the Omnicord and the next version, the Q chord, which is the one you'll hear Eric inspecting. I apologise to you, podcats, and to fact-checking Santa for any fact pain caused. Oh, and as I never quite finished telling Eric, the song that Brian Eno used an Omnicord on

was Deep Blue Day from Apollo. You know, the one that plays in train spotting when Renton dives down the toilet to retrieve his bum drugs. began by talking about whether Eric misses life in the UK, specifically London. Back at the end, for a public service announcement and a bit of waffle, but right now with Eric Idol, here we go. Rumble chat, let's have a ramble chat. We'll focus first on this, then concentrate on that. Come on, let's tune the fat, and have a ramble chat. Put on your conversation, note and find your talking. Yes, yes.

La La La La La Would you ever come back to London, do you think? Would you ever live here again? I don't like the weather. Yes. I love the country. I like the people. So I wouldn't necessarily stay in America, but I like Europe.

But unfortunately, the bugger stopped me going there. You know, hate them. Like his hard house in France. Who stopped you going there? Fucking government. Which government? Brexit. Oh, right.

How does that work? What's the technical explanation for that? They just fucking stop you. I didn't even have a vote. But if you've got a house there... Yes. Don't you have the right to go back to that house? No.

Because you left the union. So you can't go anywhere in your... Europe, anywhere after three months. Uh-huh. Don't even get me started on Brexit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but I, you know, England's always been a great place. I mean, London's always been a great place too.

There's an auto harp, a modern auto heart. Yeah, Omnicord. Have you played with one of those? No. Oh, they're pretty great. Yeah? Have we go. This is called a cue chord, but originally they were,

I think they were made by Yamaha or someone like that. Right. the oh wow you've got any old oh great I love that you want and then you can strum sweet

and you've got different voices I've got my glasses on so where do you change the key um so all of these here you can take it down to a minor or a seven or pretty much anything you want You can bend up. Oh, lovely. Oh, that's sweet.

Oh yeah. You know, we have a ding-dong every week. Oh yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I like guitar, but I mean, I love those sorts of things. Yeah, Brian Eno used one on song on Walt. Do you like Brian Eno stuff? I don't really know Brian Eno's stuff.

I met him a couple times, but I don't, I'm not... I only know it's like, you know, from the... I'm in the old days Roxie Yeah yeah And then a bit through Bowie It was at Bowie's wedding They all were

It was Eno Oh no Bono They were all there Anybody called O But I'm You know I don't So I don't actually know his music

No I don't But I know he played a big influence With David He was like very fond of him Yeah that's right Yeah Huge influence Okay

What's that with the poppies Is that France That is France. Yeah, that is near Uzess. Uzez? Yeah. I know Uzes. Do you?

Yes, is it by Tony Daniels? Yes, it is. Oh, fuck off. Yeah. He's a friend of mine. Is he really? He's dead now. I'll recognise the poppies and the country.

Yeah. Yeah, I'll stay with him in Uzess. No way. Yes, of course. Near Neems, that's like a name. That's right, yeah. His sister did up my house. When I bought a house at 71, she made it into a hat.

And that's where I met him. 72. And he won. And we went off there and went to his gallery, you know, his launches. Yeah. He met Jay Daryl there and people like that, all buying and Stephen Spender. But he was wonderful, Tony. Did you ever meet him?

I never met him. He's a friend of my wife's family. Fabulous. He was very funny. Lovely. I know his niece still. But hey, well, bravo, eh? How, how, what are the odds?

What a mad coincidence. We've got so many of his paintings. I love them. Have you? Yes. No, he's good, isn't he? He's nice. And he was a lot.

lovely man right and he went about only four or five years ago yeah he was he was he was good on him very very well it was lovely we're going to stay with him yeah and we go to his you know varnish the gallery opening whereabouts in france are you we're further over to in the var okay but that's beautiful that name and uses and that got you know the beautiful bridge what's it called the pond de garne yeah yeah and so would you just stay in France for like forever if I could but no no to the winter I spend a lot of time now I've written a book about it's coming out this year oh yeah oh yeah about the whole process of having about buying and finding and doing and living and who came to visit yeah Tony's in the book

doing your sort of peter mail bit much more interesting and much before he to mail yeah you know you peter mail I didn't go there to the 80s or 90s I mean I've been five years on it I've been writing a book about where I'll hide away. Yeah. Because I'm getting too old to hide. So, and it's, it's been amazing. It was always my retreat. But it burned at one point, right? Oh yeah, we had

a forest fire. Yeah. Yeah, a couple of times. But we were lucky because we were building, so we cleared the area around the house. It was in a tiny little house. We didn't have electricity for eight years. You know, we had no road, no water. We had to find water. The whole stage of life.

Yeah. The Jean de Florett years. Absolutely, just like that And people say, oh no, no, you can't pass here Oh, no, no It's a very bizarre Wow Yeah, no And so what would you do for like

Electricity and water in the summer You have a little oil lamps Yeah And then you have gas Those butane big blue gas pots That will give you hot water And they give you a fridge And cooking gas

You know, so you had everything You know And then you had batteries for music And a guitar obviously Yeah Oh my God, it's so romantic It was very romantic. It was a, you know, and now we still have it, but it's, it's, I say it's gone from a shack to a shacko.

And it's lovely. And every time we had a bit of money, we'd build a bit more or do a bit more of this and expand a little. Yeah. It's wonderful. It's my, I'm going on Tuesday. It makes me really happy. Yeah. You got your helipad there now.

Oh, yeah, fine. No, no, no, no, it's completely in the forest. It's in the wood, you know, we have 300-dollar trees, so we have our own. an olive oil. Oh, wow. Yeah, so it's really nice. I'd like it. It's idle oil, but I call it ex-virgin olive oil. So it's quite nice. Yeah. And it's very good olive oil from that, that part of the world. I bet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's beautiful. It really is beautiful. When was that that you came to be out there in the first place? Was that mid-70s? That was 71. Okay. And we were doing Python and we'd be doing Python and Python

TV and then film and this and we hadn't had a holiday and we were moaning so we got very fortunate and went to stay in this tiny little cabin on it was beautiful and people in there were there singing and playing it was nice really beautiful and it's a lovely part of the world

yeah and can you speak French? Yeah I learned it yeah I went to the City Institute and did that you know I can speak very badly And so, I thought, what's quite wonderful is I have a provincial accent. So I'm in Paris. It's as weird as somebody speaking in a Yorkshire accent in French, you know.

It's a very strange accent for me. Can you give me an example of a provencelle accent? What kind of word? Yeah, well, my, way, way, way. Wow, wow. But also, I'm very good at body language. Uh-huh. So you do the full French.

yeah it's nice and they're lovely they've been very nice to me they didn't find out what I did for a long time uh-huh it's nice I read in your book you talking about sitting there under the stars and learning about uh astronomy astronomy astronomy not astrology not astrology thought Brian Cox would kill you um yeah yeah yes I did I had a little bit of a retirement it was lovely. I took all books on astrology and biology. And I learned about these things. I thought, I don't know anything about all this shit. So I took these books. And sitting under the Milky Way

and playing guitar, it's really nice, you know. It just moves gently across and it's lovely. Yeah. And then sometimes we'll have six or seven people all playing guitar and do Beatles songs and ding-dongs. It's nice. Ding-dong, that's your phrase for a kind of musical get-together. Yeah, we have a ding-dong every week in California. Oh, wow. That's good for the soul, a bit of music therapy. Saving, saving grace. Yeah. So who's in your province old ding-dongs then in the 17th?

Well, in the ding-dong. I don't think you know the people in, apart from Brian Cox. He came and stayed a couple of times and bought a house in the village nearby. Okay. And he plays a keyboard. And his son, George, is a beautiful guitarist, he's 16. That's what I always forget with Brian Cox. He was in a band. Things can only get better. Things can only get better. Yeah, you're the pop-tomist guy. Always look on the bright side and things can only get better. Because he always complains about my lyrics of the Galaxy song. And I said, well, at least they're more accurate than things can only get better.

And he claimed we did a gig in Cambridge on Monday for Pembroke, for the Master. And he said, I made his career. Yeah. What do you mean? And he said, and he said, things can he play, things can only get better. And claimed to, you know, Lord Smith, Chris, he claimed to have started his career. right yes used by tony blair wasn't it so exactly to launch new labor that's right i think that's when i left the country not it's coincidence yes and you had like i'm a boi obsessive so i'm in awe of the fact that

you were hanging out with him did he ever make it out to france oh yes he came to stay it oh really yeah i got a picture of him bowie at breakfast i took him yeah and i took him into the village and it was You know, people didn't bother anybody. It was nice for people when they came to stay. They weren't bothered. It was suddenly... I remember Robin Williams took him early on. And he just...

It was the height of Mork and Mindy. And he couldn't believe it. Nobody recognized him on a dance floor. He went, I'm Mork! I'm Mork! And carried on dancing. It's very nice for people to get their anonymity back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They can be human beings. again it's nice so Barry came you know we had a lot of time down in Provence and you know we'd like often go to opening of his film I went to see him do the what was it that that one blonde the blonde tour the serious moonlight oh yeah the let's dance era at Fraser's we went we went there see that was fantastic yeah yeah was that around the time that he came to stay with you yeah I was about 83 I think yeah and I met him a little earlier, he came to our wedding, 81, he came.

I think I must have met him in L.A. about 79, because he loved comedians. Right. So Bob Cat Goldthwaite introduced me. And then we were on holiday with Lord Michael, some people, and we were on somewhere on an island. And he was such a great guy. He was an intellectual.

I mean, he turned me on to Ricard Strauss for the four last songs. And then we're going to stay with him in Switzerland. And he was really a great company. yeah i was even his best man at his wedding oh yeah i've said the most awful things what did you i'm not going to tell you i've had to ban it from my mind i go sometimes i blush and go you didn't really say that i think please tell me you didn't say that well yoko ono was there wasn't she yokea was there did you say something spicy about her no i said so i getting smoky about david and a lot of smoking things and then at the end of the thing i look up and yoko standing on the

table going like that giving you the thumbs up yeah you come thumbs up And I thought, of course, you can't live with John Lennon and not have a sense of humor. Right, yeah. And a spicy one at that. Yes. Because I always wondered to take a little tangent into Ruttel World. I always wondered what she would have thought. There's a character.

She loved it. There's a character in the Rutland. They loved the fact that she was Hitler's daughter. Because she was treated that way by the press. She was treated as this horrible monster. So to be portrayed as Hitler's daughter, made them both raw with laughter. They thought it was really funny. And they were, yeah, yes, of course you must have a sense of humour.

You can't live at the Beatles or Liverpool people without having a sense of humour. That's not a joke that people would do now, I don't think. Or at least if they did, it would be so differently positioned and received. Do you know what I mean? Like in those days, though, were you angsty at all about doing a joke like that, having a character that was obviously, well, supposed to be Yoko and she's wearing a Nazi uniform? Were you sort of thinking? Well, they called all sort of awful names.

And, you know, she was Japanese. And, you know, they were quite vile to her. So to be Auntler's daughter, it's kind of like, you know, you've got to take it further on to be funny. Right. Did you write the ruttles all on your own? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Well, I mean, Neil Lynch wrote all the songs.

Yes. Yeah. So you weren't sort of sitting around consulting with people when you were writing jokes like that. You weren't sort of going. Do you think this is going to land right? No, I don't think so. I mean, the only censorship thing where I never had was BBC and they really didn't bother us.

So it wasn't it like everybody said, oh, you can't say that, you can't say that. We didn't live in those times. We wouldn't have been able to do most of what we did. Yeah. I mean, you still can't sing a lot of my songs. You can't sing I like Chinese, for example. Right, right, right.

What are you supposed to say? I hate Chinese, you know, but we didn't have to deal with it. that no you dealt with what you could get on air not what you could were allowed to say privately or publicly yes the first time that things got controversial was life of brian and then suddenly you were in the eye of the kind of mad storm around people willfully misinterpreting the idea but they were assholes you know what was her name malcolm mugridge yeah yeah and what was the name this missed something of light her with a woman oh there's mary white Mary White House.

Yeah. And luckily my mum looked like Mary White House. So we brought her on stage on Michael Palin's birthday and said he's his favorite person, Mary White House, for resent him with the cake. And in the Birmingham Mail, it says, Mary White House came on stage and gave him a cake. I saw her in a Rutland weekend and I thought, oh, it's my mum. But in those days, she was all over the place, you know. And really, you know, it was attacking them. They're quite right to be upset.

Yeah. We were trying to offend them. Okay. And I hope we did. Were you stressed by that? It seems like that famous TV confrontation, which was John Cleese and Michael Palin defending themselves. Michael Palin especially looked stressed.

Yeah, he did that very upset. Because we took it very seriously. I mean, you know, when it started with me, unfortunately, we were in New York opening the Holy Grail. And the journalist said to me, what's your next film going to be? And I said, lust for glory.

Just like that. As a joke. And then we went back and said, well, actually, you know, a religious, it's interesting. And then, you know, we studied it a bit. And then we realized you can't actually make fun of Jesus. Because he's like, the things he's saying, kind of Buddhist and very nice. You know, forgiveness, look after each other, all of that. So the story is actually a tragedy of somebody who's mistaken for a Messiah.

And you can't get rid of them. You mean, that's the farce of it. That's the story, the plot. He isn't pretending to be. These people have decided he's the Messiah, you know. And that's a kind of comic tragedy. Yeah. You know, he gets crucified for it, for God's sake.

You and I were both at boarding school when we were younger. Right. Although I think I had a better time at boarding school than you did. Possibly. Where were you? I was at a place in Sussex that was kind of nice. And this was early 80s, late 70s. And it was co-ed.

You didn't have a uniform. What age did you? I was nine. Oh, I was still quite young. Yeah, quite young. Younger than I would have preferred. I went at seven. Why?

How did you end up? Because you're a boy from a working class family. Well, my father was killed. He was in the RAF, but he was killed hitchhiking home for Christmas. He died on Christmas Eve. So this is at the end. He's made it through the war. Yeah, made it through the war.

And so my education was paid for by the RAF. Okay. And my mother had to work for a living. And she was, you know, health visitor, Wallercy, actually started there. And they paid, you know, they paid for my education. And, you know, I think it was very weird because all of my school were all paid for by the RAF. And so they didn't have any fathers. But you think about it, a whole society growing up don't have fathers.

It's very odd, isn't it? So we were kind of unruly and managed to find our own fun. And it was good because eventually, you know, everybody left and you were 16, 17, and you're reading. You're educating yourself. and I managed to get to Cambridge which was kind of very unlikely nobody went to university at my school I went to prison

but it turned out to be very good for me was it a shock to go there initially though yeah huge shock I thought I was going home you know what do you mean to stay in here it's like yes and it was a junior school I write seven and then 11

the boarding school was a bit rough because it had been an orphanage and now it was like a semi-orphinage So, you know, it was a bit rough Yeah And I think comedy was a help Rough in what way, though? Well, physically, you know

Oh, okay Bullying and the prefects could beat you With slippers And the masters could beat you with canes They had the privilege You know, so it was kind of tough Did you ever sort of enjoy it In a fairly straightforward way or

No, I mean, it was always You know, what it is You have to go back Even if it's in, you're in holiday, you've got to go back. But, you know, the wolves were good. It was nice to find the wolves. They were number one in Europe and the world. This is the football team.

The football team. Yeah, that was good. And, you know, you found your own things. I mean, I got a guitar at 12. My grand gave me a typewriter, which was really interesting. I don't know why she did that. Yes, I became writer and write stories and things. And if you look back, there are lots of benefits from it.

I was thinking of writing a book, everything I know, I learned only at boarding school. But they put you in the army once a week and you get to go to camp and rill and march across Snowdodey. So it was quite a tough life. Yeah. But not in a bad way. It prepared you for filming Monty Python, really.

But do you, if you have any anxieties, do you draw a line between, your experience at boarding school and some of those anxieties. I know I do personally. I think I used to have nightmares about it still. And then, you know, I'm in California, so I had to shrink for a while. It's very useful and puts these things into perspective. And now I think more positively about it because it taught me such a lot about life.

And then suddenly going to Cambridge. And it's a beautiful place. You don't even have to go to lectures if you don't want to. And I got into comedy. And that was just like a whole fabulous new, that I found my way. That's what I did for the rest of my life. Yeah. What were you studying at Cambridge?

English. Okay. You didn't have to go to lectures. You just read the book. Yeah. It was a good thing to do because I could spend much of my time doing comedy. We had our own club, the footlights. You know, with a bar and lunches.

And so you learned by doing, and we put on little shows. Yeah. Who were your contemporaries there in the footlights? Well, I was auditioned in my first term, Pembroke, by Timbrook Taylor and Bill Oddy. Of the goodies. Two of the goodies auditioned me and put me in the show. And then the first script they gave me was written by John Cleese. Okay. Who wasn't a member?

So he couldn't be in the show. So my first public performance is there watching me, do his show, one of his sketches. She said, very bizarre. And then they said, you've got to join the footlights. I said, what's that? Because I've never heard of it. And you had to audition and join. And it was fun.

That was really made it for me, the whole experience. Yeah. What kind of characters were your favourites to play in those days? I'm not entirely sure. I mean, I was very lucky because at the end of my first year, their show was so good with Bill Addy and Cleese and I think Chapman was in it. He came back in it. It was so funny.

they took it to London and it ran in the West End for seven months so I got a telegram saying come back to Cambridge, you're going to Edinburgh so I was in the Edinburgh Festival in 1963, I'm 20 and I'm performing for the public, I was on television

and that's where I met Michael Palin and Terry Jones were doing the Oxford Review. Yeah. What TV stuff were you doing there? Well I mean there was like festival special or something like local Scottish television it wasn't like a big show but it's Still, it's a big deal, you know, come from nowhere to being on television.

Yeah. And it was a great grounding. It was a great learning process. Do you remember any of the sort of things that you did learn at that point? Like, what were the things that you picked up? I think most importantly, I did all the Bill Audi roles. And Bill did all the songs. So I learned about funny songs.

Okay. And I thanked him recently. And I said, you know, Bill, I think I learned how to do that from you by doing some of your very funny songs. songs and he was then went on to do i'm sorry i'll read that again he'd write a funny song every week and uh that's a separate skill that you wouldn't necessarily pick up and i loved doing those you were writing those on the guitar were you well eventually i would or i had a friend called john cameron who he had piano i think we did an early beetle parody called i want to hold your handle and it was like the alleluia chorus ah ah ah and that they took that one on to

Broadway, when they went off to Broadway, the rest of the bigger, the earlier ones. So that was an early Ruttles attempt. And what sort of songs would you write though? Because I mean, you weren't really doing too much kind of news satirey stuff. No. Well, the satire was big because it was on television. But I remember writing a song called I'm too old to be a popular star.

And then I think, I did a song we said a farewell to Cambridge. We're going down from Cambridge where the streets are paid. with gold and it's in somebody's book they put it in as if it was a genuine song but it was a parody song you know we got more into songs when we did do not adjust your set because we had the bonzos suddenly were in our life the bonzo dog doodar band so that's neil innis and was viv stancho and there was lots of them yeah and they were very art school they come out of art school and they were very situationist and it was interesting because it was

more like attitude and I think it influenced our writing because we had a tight little oxford came with sketches you know but they were and David Jason was in that show too was he yeah he played Captain Fantastic right and I wrote that song he's a man he's a super superman nobody can tame him he's a man he's a supermarket Captain, Captain Fantastic Captain, Captain Fantastic With your bowl a hat and your plastic Mac And your umbrella for action

It was every week at 520 And we got an adult audience Came in because we were funny You know And we decided we wouldn't talk down to kids We would just be funny, it would be silly You couldn't be rude but we wouldn't be condescending

and it was fairly silly we did two seasons of that we won awards and things it was amazing did you hang out with Viv Stanchel yeah Vib was extraordinary yeah he was a real genius I sat in for Neil once

he had the flu off pretending to play the piano on one of the songs because they always wanted to be funny and they were always on the road and that was their day off they'd come down to do the TV show but they had a rather a tough life because they play all the northern clubs and things, you know. So

how did they go down in those places? I have no idea because they were very in your face. I mean that stuff is still really, I think very fine. Yeah. Urban Spaceman is the one that most people know. Yeah. Right. I'm the urban spaceman, baby.

I've got speed. I've got everything I need. I'm the urban spaceman. Baby I can fly I'm a supersonic guy Was that the one produced by McCartney? I think he produced it

And they're also in the magical mystery tour They're all in that film Okay Yeah He's a character Viv Stan Sholl That I, in my mind I bracket him with someone like Peter Cook He wasn't as disciplined as Peter

He was funny as how But then he began became a sort of alcoholic, sadly. I think they went to America and it all fell apart. They had a sort of disastrous tour of America. Uh-huh. And I think because they'd had a single, and therefore they could sell it. It must, I think it was McCartney.

He produced it, didn't he? I'm going to Google it. I'm the urban spaceman, baby. Yes, Paul McCartney produced, I'm the urban spaceman. Huh. But he did so under the pseudonym, Apollo C. Vermuth. Apollo C. Vermuth.

Oh, vermouth. Apparently. Oh, interesting. Maybe he was into a martini stage. Yeah, according to AI overview. But when you say that Viv Stenshal was less disciplined than Peter Cook... Well, Peter was brilliant. He was a genius.

And he could improvise at Cambridge an entire cabaret. And that's not what Viv was. Viv was a lead singer. And he could do a brilliant Elvis. And he could sing lead brilliantly. But it was more situationist. comedy he did song comedy and Peter was always you know when I got to Cambridge it was five years after Cook and they were still doing

Peter Cook voices you know what the kind of the ill wistee voice could have been a minor but I never had the Latin you know they'd all do that sort of voice and the I was ill whiskey wasn't it yeah yeah no and he was always extraordinary he was very very funny and right to the end of his life he was funny as can be we went up the Nile with him and he was hilarious. I did a movie with him in Mexico, Yellowbeard, and he was so much fun. Yeah, we'd sit in the pool, bouncing up and down.

He said, I know the speed of light, but what is the speed of darkness? Which I asked Brian Cox, it made him think for a while, Professor. And he said, it's the same. So I think it's a bit of a cheat, don't you? But he was remarkable, really. Yeah. Did you ever watch Peter Cook and Dudley, or get the horn?

I think when they're in a studio and Derek and Clive Oh, it's a Derek and Clive thing, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I never saw a film, but I always heard the tapes. Right, okay. Yeah.

It's quite sort of, I think it was towards the end of their working relationship. Yeah, really rude. They were stoned and pissed and It's quite uncomfortable some of it. Yes. The atmosphere between them

because there was a sort of status in balance at that point. It's a change that swapped over. Yeah. But then a lot of not only but also, which is their series got wiped by the BBC and some of their monologues was so funny

you know and that was before Derek and Clive but I think you know it was odd for Peter to find himself that Dudley was a film star you know he was himself he would always you know he ran private eye and he opened the establishment club and the first president he put on was Lenny Bruce

you know that was extraordinary did you ever have status angst within the pythons. Status angs. Yeah. I'm thinking about when you sort of paused around Ruttle's time

when everyone else was off doing their own projects like, well, there was faulty towers and then there was... Ripping yarns. Michael did ripping yarns with Terry for her. That's very funny.

Yeah. Tompkinson's school days. It's hilarious. Right. Tompkinson's school days. Anyway, did you sort of ever feel like, oh, what am I going to do? Did you ever feel like a bit

worried about keeping up... Well, no, because I got Rutland pretty early. Yeah. I got Rutland weekend television. But I rather stupidly went for the honesty of having no money. I did it, we did it in the fourth floor studio at the BBC next to the weather forecast. Because it was about the tiniest TV station in England. And in fact, the Conservatives had got rid of Rutland. They'd taken it out of existence after a thousand years and made it part of Leicestershire. Uh-huh. You know, it seemed rather gross. So that was the concept of fictitious television station allows you to parody everything. Yeah. And in my

show it, so I do a few clips from Rutland, weekend television, because nobody's ever seen it. Sometimes you can see it on YouTube, but, you know, very little. How is your show going to work, by the way? This is the live show you're going to be doing later this year. What's the general format? It's like a one-man musical.

Okay. But it's got, you know, I've got songs, and I've got clips and things that I've chosen that I love, that people won't know. They don't know them very well. and there's a new eight-minute clip of the Ruttles done by Peter Jackson because I did a second one called that first one was called All You Need is Cash and I did another one called Can't Buy Me Lunch

and it was about the effect of the ruttles on the world today and I interviewed all these famous people Salmon Rusty's talking about the Ruttles and Bowie's talking about the Ruttles and Tom Hanks is talking about the ruttles Tom Hanks cries. He did the fictitious crying when they broke up. When did you film that stuff?

I did that one about 2001, I think. And because Neil had made another album. And so I thought, well, I'll use those songs. But I'll have to come in from a different point of view. And I can't make a big film. So I found some old footage. We found some old original footage like Bill Murray, the K, in a warehouse in New Jersey.

And so we put some of that in. But it was mainly me going around interviewing people on the effects of the Ruttles and the world. You know, you know, you see... The cultural legacy. Yeah, so you see Bonnie Wright saying, oh, they definitely changed the world. And these wonderful people. James Taylor, oh, yeah, the Ruttles changed the world. I mean, it's just lying again, but it's quite fun.

Yeah. So we've got a new eight-minute cut of that. And then, you know, I sing songs, I tell stories, and I have a virtual band on a screen behind me. Oh, cool. Yeah. The connection between rock and roll and comedy. Yes. I suppose in my mind the dawn of that whole association was Python and all the stars you came up with of music.

We were the same generation. Yeah. Most of the groups came out of art school. And they sort of made rock and roll interesting and different in England, in the UK. And of course, they're the same generation. So when you meet up, you came from 1943, 1940. too. So it was natural to be friends. Easy, you know. And even in show business, you know, the comedians have always been close to the band and vice versa. Why is that, do you think?

Well, because I think that comedians think they can play music and the band think they're funny. But what happened in the, this is my theory, it's mock and roll. I talk about it. I said, because in the 50s, the comedians were on the stage and the band were firmly in the pit. But once television arrived, the comedians plugged in, got electric, put on makeup, tight trousers, and was chased around the world. So I said, Python is the first mock and roll group because, you know, the Beatles ended up at the Hollywood Bowl. And so did we. We went on the road, and we ended up at the Hollywood Bowl. And the second mock and roll group is Saturday Night Live, because they brought in.

My first show I did as host, Joe Cocker came on, and Bolution. She parodied him face to face. They both sang a song together, which is kind of remarkable. So I think they were the second mock and roll group. You know, now it's quite common for comedians to play stadiums, which is unheard of, really. So I think they're close.

Yeah. And so as a thought experiment, if you were to tell me who was the first person who made you laugh and who were the first people who made you happy singing, I'll tell you exactly where you'll come. come from and when you were born because I think that's our DNA. Those are the things that formed us. We had Elvis and we had the Gooms. And then I think it changes as you get old and the different people can take over. But those things that mean the most to you. Elvis saved

our lives in boarding school. Yeah. You know, so a viable thesis. Absolutely. I think mine might be Paul Hogan and the Thompson twins. That's sweet. No, but I mean, it's interesting because I think it changes all the time. Yeah, sure. Were any of the other pythons as excited as you were to meet rock stars and hang out with musicians? I don't think so. I mean, I don't think people went and hang out with John, you know, a bit formidable. But I think because I played guitar, I could hang out and play. And you were into the stuff, right? You were a music fan. Yes, I think there were two. I mean, everybody liked the Beatles, but everybody could play along. And I, you know, I've sat and played with Keith.

I'm Ronnie Wood and Mick and all those people I played with. You know, it's fun. What would you sit around and play? Like, their songs? Pretty much, I think. So, yeah. Or blues songs or... Would you sing as well?

Yeah, pretty much so, yeah. Everybody sings. And what kind of voice would you sing in, though? Would you say... Well, I don't know. My voice, whatever that is. Right, okay. But not an imitation of like, would you be doing characters?

Well, we do Elvis songs, you know? We still do Elvis songs. It's good fun to do that. We do our Evelies, you know, it's the same influences, you know, because we came from the same, we were the same generation. So they love the Evelies and Buddy Holly. And Buddy Holly, when he died, it was the biggest shock of our lives. You know, that Manchester United crashing,

where the two big, suddenly death comes into your world. Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, the 60s was intense. I had Paul McCartney on the podcast a few years ago. And it was towards the end of 2020. which was such a turbulent year anyway in so many ways and things haven't really calmed down or that much since. And I was saying to him like, did it feel apocalyptic to you when you were in the 60s

when so many seismic things were kicking off? The world was on the brink of nuclear war and there were race riots and there were these terrible wars happening in Vietnam and assassinations of Martin Luther King and the Kennedys. Did it feel like the world was coming to an end? Yeah, definitely the Kennedy time, very much so. But, you know, and then we would protest at Cambridge because they were of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

We were not at all in favour being exterminated because they were putting missiles in Cuba. But, you know, back then we were a bit radical. I mean, I was on the Aldermaster March, in 58, I think. Quite by chance, I was in Berlin and saw him give the Isbinae in Berlin speech. I'd have no idea where we're hitchhiking. JFK. Yeah. So I saw him that year and he was killed at the end of that year, I think, at my second term in Cambridge.

And that was very shocking. And I think that swung things around a bit. But you weren't one of those people who felt like all hope is lost kind of thing. Well, I think you can't do much about it. You know what I mean? So, and I think there was less news and certainly less internet opinion going on and people, you know, so. And there was satire. That was a savior. really, the satire boom. First of all, my life was changed by Beyond the Fringe. And then David Frost came along and every week was, that was the week that was. We loved that. What's that at college? And so when Python came along, it was at the end of the satire boom and it had all been done. So we didn't do any satire, which is why it survived because it has no topical references

at all. It was more like categories of humor or, you know, upper class twits or, but not specific. So I think even Saturday Night Live, you see it earlier now and you think, oh yeah, Gerald Ford fell downstairs. But it's not, you have to remember that to make you laugh. But Python has nothing that ties itself to any particular time. So it can last a little longer. A big part of your life was meeting George Harrison. Yes. Which happened, so in mid-70s when you just...

50 years ago in 10 days. 50 years ago. Yeah. I was going to go play football for my village. Okay. At the Sixerside. In France. In France.

And I was training up with the team. And then they said, oh, would you go to L.A.? We were having a screening of the Holy Grail. It was going to be a big screening at the Directors Guild. And I tossed up, you know, would more people laugh at me playing football or on screen? So I thought, well, I'll better do my bit. And I went with Gilliam to L.A. and there was a big screening at the director's guild,

and I was watching it at the back, and it went really well, and then there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and it was George Harrison. He said, I've been looking for you. He said, we can't talk here. Let's go up to the projection room and smoke a reefer. I thought, okay.

And so up we went, and then they threw us out, and we went for dinner, and then there was Olivia. There's a picture of us that night, Olivia and Terry Gilliam, and they were tired, and George said, do you want to come back to hear some of my music?

I'm recording and said, yeah, sure, I'm lovely. So we went to A&M, and he played me some of extra texture. And then we went to, back to the hotel, and we played a guitar, and we just talked all night. It was like, we just bonded. Yeah. What did you talk about? I think we talked about what it was like being in a group, because I think we had similar roles in our group. So there were two big blocks.

He had Den and McCartney, and we had John and Graham work together. Mike and Terry wrote together, so I was also, you know, in the middle of it. And it's a sort of strange role because you're being outvoted by more powerful people. So that was interesting. And we talked about everything, really. But once when we were filming Brian, he came to the set and he said, how's it going? I said, well, it's okay. It's not easy to get on camera, you know, with John and Mike.

You said, imagine how hard it was getting into the studio with John and Paul. So I said, fair enough. Say no more. That's it. You got it. And he, of course, funded completely? And completely funded. He mortgaged his house and his business to raise the cash and put it all on the life of Brian. Amazing.

Insane. Because your backers had pulled out at the last minute. Lou Greed had read the script. Unfortunately. Some of our younger people at EMI had bought it and loved it. And Lou Greed finally read it and said, no, we can't have nothing to do with this. And we started building sets in Tunisia on our own money. So we had to sue him.

But worse, we had to go and find the money. And it was really impossible. I went to New York with John Goldstone, the producer. And, you know, it was like selling springtime for Hitler. Yeah. They did not want to know. And then we went to L.A. And they were, even war, didn't want to know.

And then finally, George Colum said, I've got the money. I've got it. You're on. You know, so it was an extraordinary. With no strings attached or... No. And I said, why did you do that? He said, I want to see the movie. So, you know, I mean, it's fairly incredible.

Yeah. When you think about it, I mean, mortgage all the Frye Park and everything he had. Frye Park was his house in Henley. Right. You know, if you can imagine, you go to the wife, said, what do you do today? Oh, I put all our money on a Python film about Christ, you know. Oh, good luck, thanks a lot. Was that Olivia, he was with?

Olivia, yeah. And how did she feel about it? I don't know, I've got to ask her. Because, yeah, that would have been a weird conversation. Really? Are you sure? Yeah. Because it wasn't an extraordinary thing to do.

Yeah. I mean, four and a half million dollars in those days, there's still a lot of money. You know, a huge amount of money. I mean, he probably had a lot, right? No. No, I mean, I think that was it. Oh, okay. You know, if you mortgage your house and your business to raise capital, I mean, you've got nothing in the bank.

That is your bank. but I think they might have been doing a Bial Stock and Bloom I think it might have been doing the producer I think it might have been a tax thing

because when it started to make money they had to change it round a bit you know but it overseas in Rotterdam yeah and they set up

handmade films they set up handmade films to make it yeah okay which ended up being kind of a brilliant outfit they made some great things

they made some very good films Gilliam at the second one I think it was time Bandits was a very good film they made With Nail. They made with Nail. They bought with Nail.

I mean, that is... And then I did the last one. Nuns on the Run with Robbie. Right. Okay. They did a private function as well. Yes. And they did privates on parade.

Scrubbers. That was a good one. Bullshot. That's some funny... Billy Connolly saying the song in that. And the missionary, of course, as well. Right. And Mona Lisa.

Manilaisa was a good film. Yeah. Yeah. Private function. Did you ever write... Music with George? Yes, it's in my show. The one thing we ever wrote together is in my show.

It's from Rutland Weekend Television. And it's a brilliant joke. I wouldn't sport it. It's a visual joke. But people haven't seen it. Many people, most people haven't seen it. So it's a big shock to them. Yeah.

And it's a nice surprise. But we wrote it together. And it's in his book of lyrics, Idle Harrison. I like that. Very good. And one of the things that defined his life was a spiritual search. that he was on. Yes.

Did you get caught up in the spiritual quest along with George? The only thing we ever disagreed with was religion. Okay. And we, you know, we'd talked and,

I mean, even on this deathbed, he said to me, I'm okay, because I'm not going to have to go through rebirth. And I said, oh, I'll give anything

to be reborn. But, you know, but we were funny about it. It wasn't, it wasn't a problem because we were friends. We could talk about anything. And,

but I'm not religious. I like science. Yeah. I think, Religion is an early attempt to describe the universe. You know, and you wonder what God was doing for the first five and a half billion years of life on this planet. Where was he? What was he doing?

But there's a strand of philosophy, like an interest in philosophy that runs through a lot of the Python stuff and in your songs as well. That to me, that seems kind of inspired by some of the same yearning and the same questions about what's it all about. I mean, George was a Catholic. Yeah. And he became a Hindu. And so it's quite interesting. I mean, it's one belief for another belief. But, I mean, it made him, if you see that film of them all in India,

suddenly they're all happy again together. It's really sweet. Because I think John goes there and he's strung out, and they're all kind of gumpy and mean. And then suddenly they're all kind of, you know, playing, and it was sunsets, and they're happy. It's very sweet. And I think that was a very powerful impression on them.

and kept them together for a little while, I think. But George was always really generous and kind. Anybody came in, the weight or anything, he was always the same to everybody, open and kind. You know, if he could help people or fund them or that's what he did. Do you think he changed your own perspective on things? Yes, absolutely. Not necessarily in a religious way, but in being kind and, you know, sharing and be, you know, funnier.

I mean, I was going through a divorce, so he cheered me up. I tell him I was going to die. So it's quite good, you know. But he also put things in perspective. He said, you know, you can have all the money in the world. You can be the most famous people in the world, but you're still going to have to die. And that's a very good philosophy to have. It's a good reminder that every day can be your last.

And I think I use that quite often in comedy. So, you know, just remind people this, you're alive, this minute. This is it. And, you know, you're kind of lucky to be in such a nice place, usually. But, you know, he could be quite a naughty boy, too. We had a lot of fun. And we had a lot of gigs and people played and stayed. And, you know, listen to music and tracks he was trying to deal with.

Did you like this one? Do you like that one? All that. Yeah, because in some ways it looked as though he was just seeking for strategies to prepare for death in some ways. Absolutely. no question that's what particularly they learned he learned from that that it was going to be all over and what does that mean and what does how does that affect you and what do you believe and uh that particular religion is rebirth and all of that and so to what extent did that all help him cope with the terrible

attack that he suffered how old was he when he was attacked it was 1999 wasn't it just after at the millennium around the millennium And I called him up and said, do you want me to come? And he said, where are you? So we went there, Tanya and I. And he was very disturbed. I've never, I've ever seen him more disturbed. It was really shocking because they fought for 20 minutes.

He'd been stabbed about 40 times or something. Yeah, with a butcher's knife and bleeding to death. And this was just sort of a crazed intruder. Craised guy off his meds. And I think he'd been looking for Paul, but he couldn't find Paul. So it's easier to find Henley. And he came over the wall, smashed in the window. And Georgia came out, because Georgia was the bold one who told the hell's angel was to fuck off.

He was the one who came and said, no, you've got to fuck off out of here now, out of Abbey Road. But I think he did the same thing. And he went at the top of the stage and told him to funk off, you know. And then he yelled Harry Krishna, and the guy came at him up the stairs with the knife. It would have been wiser perhaps to lock the door and call the police, you know. So I think Liverpool, the police, but it took on about 20 minutes to get there. And this all-out attack took place. And I think Liv and the end bashed him over the head with a Tiffany lamp.

And they were all passed out when the police arrived in blood everywhere. It was like a scene from a horror film. It was just, and his son comes through the door. And they had mom, mother-in-law, and it was just really horrendous. And afterwards, I know he was very shaken. They had a, I think it was called a poohia. We went around and went through the attack, bit by bit, up the stairs, and there was still blood on the walls and things. It was like really awful and shocking.

As a kind of therapeutic exercise. Yes, it's a religious thing. It was a ceremony. You went through and relived all this horrible experience. And we went through it with them. And it was just really horrendous. Really horrendous. Yeah.

And I think he was still very disturbed. And I think at the end of that. year he started getting cancer um you know it was beginning to kill him because i think he died in 2001 2000 2001 and i'm sure that had an effect because it you know he's being stabbed so badly with a butcher's knife. 2001 he died. Yeah, November 2001. He died, right?

He was 58. Concerts in 2002. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's so shocking, isn't it? Really horrible. That must have shaken you as well to see that happen. Well, I didn't realize how sick he was.

I was on the phone to him in Switzerland. I said, what you do? He said, I'm writing the liner notes from my last album. And if I don't finish them, then you will. I'll think, if you don't finish them. That's when I really realized it was to be serious. He was in, I think, in Switzerland undergoing some kind of. So finally, I went back to L.A.

and I then went to see him in the house. And it was clear he wasn't going to live very long. You know, so we hung out, and there was a lovely drummer. Keltner was there. You know, various people were there, came through. But it was just deeply shocking. in that, you know, he was going to die and he died.

And then I think a year later we did that concert, which was also very moving at the Albert Hall. You know, it's really, really moving. Yeah. You know, people like Jeff Lynn and, you know, friends and they all came and played. And Paul played, and

you know, it was lovely. It was very moving. At the end, the most moving thing of all is Joe Brown playing the ukulele. I'll see you in my dreams. I'll see you. you in my dreams and then all the roses fell from the ceiling

because that was the end of a Billy Cotton band show they'd play that every week I'll see you in my dreams it was one of his favourite songs though the days along twilight sings

a song of the happiness that used to be Soon my eyes will close Soon I'll find repose And in dreams You're always near to me I'll see you in my dreams

One of my formative experiences As a youngster was watching Life of Brian with my mum and she was my comedy ally in my house. My dad was quite a bit older. He was like 15 years older than her and he was very conservative and stuffy and he didn't like any of the stuff I was into. Right. But she loved it and I must have been about 10 or something. And it really made such a huge impression. I guess the thing that takes it to another level in my mind is the ending and the song. Right. And the fact that you're invested in this character, There's a kind of desperation about it because the world around him is so mad.

They've mistaken him for someone else. Everything he tries to do to explain to people goes nowhere. And then suddenly he's been crucified and he's on the cross. And it's this sort of unimaginably horrific thing that's happened. Meanwhile, you're still laughing. There's still jokes. But, yeah, it's transformed by always look on the bright side of life. And it becomes something that's manageable.

rather than just grim. Yes, I mean, we were writing it, and we didn't know how to end it because everybody's been crucified. What are you going to do? And I said, well, we should end with a song. And on the crosses, they said, yeah, on the crosses, we should sing.

But it should be ridiculously cheery-uppy. It should be like a Disney song, maybe with a whistle. I mean, looking on the bright side. So I went home and I wrote it very, very quickly. And St. John's Wood, you know, in half an hour, an hour. because it was very obvious I used some Mickey Baker chords

you know and got the little riff and a bit of whistle Did you have a reference in your mind for what it should sound like? No but I would I started off with you know I just went to the

Do you want to pick? I went to I like the Mickey Baker because it would teach you the jazz course it was so that was like all Raise the look on the bright side of light. And that was so very simple.

And I thought, oh, that's good. And then I had to do a verse. So that was also quite nice. And you know, you're using what the Beatles called the sneaky chord. This one, the diminished. They'd call that sneaky chord. And George would say, there, sneaky. sneaky so it was nice and then I recorded it before we went to Tunisia and when I got

to the set I played it for the crew and they liked it very much but I sang it very straight you know as always look on the bright so and I suddenly realized it should be sung by Mr Cheeky as a character I was playing and so we went into a bedroom we put mattresses around the hotel and the sound recorded and I'm on the floor with the but a booker and we always look on the bright side of life which gives it a much more different feel and a bounce you know because cheeky said are you going to be rescued no no my brother usually rescues me you know so it's kind of very absurd but it also has even when they play it on the mornings on the thing you know it's it has a very nice feel to it

it has an up feel even though they've been crucified you know it's a perfect end for a film you pull back with this song and it worked very well for the film and then it's just gone on and on it has a big life of its own

which is sort of unexpected and now it is the number one funeral song in England for the last 20 years so I like that I love the fact that people choose it for their end I think it's very nice it's a very touching thing that it happened like that

Yeah. Did the lyrics come quite quickly? I mean, yeah, I think I'd even got all that, you know, life's a piece of shit when you look at it, you know, I mean, I think I even had that. So, I think, you know, I think once you've got the shape, you know, it's quite nice, you know, it's bouncy, and I didn't take, it didn't take me very long, and I recorded it, and I took it, you know, back to the next day and played it, and they stopped. Oh, great, that's the only done, we can go up at the pub. So I think it went very nice to. Is there another song that you're particularly fond of, one that you might be up for playing? I don't know.

Most of my songs are about death, you know? Yeah. I'll write this one for Graham. Life will get you in the end. On this one thing you can depend. Life will get you in the end. rambling round the universe as a human being could be worse life's a gift it's not a curse so live go blimey life will get you in the end and so farewell to you my friend

one final thing to try is bend and kiss your ass goodbye Because life will get you in the end Wait, continue Say you no more Hey, welcome back, Podcats. That was Eric Eidel talking to me there. enjoyed meeting Eric. I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd read a couple of books of his, one about the whole process of putting Spamelot together, and also his autobiography, which is called

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, a Sautobiography. And I'd really recommend it, actually. You know, there'll be familiar stories in there, but there's lots of really entertaining and interesting detail. But Eric was so warm and charming. It was great to meet him. And I'm very grateful to him and his team for sorting it out. I haven't yet been invited to a ding-dong. I'll let you know if I get the call. Speaking of ding-dongs, thanks a lot if you came to the show at Rough Trade East last week. That was kind of the album launch show for Buckle Up. It was good. It was fun very nice to meet lots of you signing records afterwards seated tickets for the adam buxton band's norfolk shows on the 13th and 14th in the norwich art center are now sold out i believe but there's a few

standing tickets i think still around link in the description rosy's being very bouncy aren't you doglegs straining away well listen it's a weekend there's no one else around so I'm going to let you off the lead for a little bit

waddle waddle gingerly like the wind oh it's exciting this time of day I guess for dog legs because there's lots of hidden partridges and pheasants, even though it's not like she's chasing after them these days. But it's just nice to be in an exciting environment, isn't it, Rosie? It's a little bit like when

I was walking down Brick Lane to go to the Rough Trade East show the other night. It's like, oh yeah, this seems fun and vibrant. I feel too old to be part of it, but it's still nice to be around it. Actually, what am I saying? Of course I was part of it. I was at the center of of it. All the groovers coming along to see me play songs from Buckle Up. I got copies of the album and I went and positioned them over

on the rack marked rough trade essentials. It's probably been moved back now to the modern and alternative section. Alternative to what you might ask. Proper music, some might say. No, come on, it's good stuff.

Album of the week in the Times, apparently. I'm assuming that was double E-K rather than E-A-K. Anyway, listen, tonal handbrake into this next public service announcement. I got a message from a friend of the podcast, Jim Down. He's a doctor, consultant at University College London Hospitals, UCLA. He works at one of the largest NHS Foundation trusts in England, which provides acute and specialist services.

He's written a couple of very good books that I recommend. But anyway, he got in touch to say, Hope all is well with you and the family. That was the main thing. I told him, yep, we're doing well, thanks, Jim. And then, after a few lines about some of the more alarming things happening in the world at the moment, he said, in case you want to plug something unequivocally positive

and altruistic, it's organ donation week next week. 22nd of September to the 28th-ish Jim says I've taken on a local lead role in our hospital and here's some facts 8,000 people are on the waiting list

for a transplant 1,500 will die waiting due to the lack of an appropriate organ one donation can save or transform up to nine lives the biggest hurdle is consent from relatives who are understanding understandably very distressed at the time when their loved one has suffered something like

a catastrophic head injury or a brain bleed. And the relatives aren't sure what their loved one would have wanted. They need to give permission, even with the opt-out system that currently operates for organ donations in this country. Being on the register makes it clear to the family what you'd want. 90% of people say they'd like to donate, but only 40% of people. people are on the register. Organs are in particularly short supply for black, Asian and minority ethnic people who have high rates of kidney failure, for example, so are at particular need. And Jim says, and we only take the organs when you're dead, promise. Brackets either brain

dead on a ventilator or when withdrawal of treatment occurs because it's futile and the heart stops. So please register your consent for organ donation today and talk about your wishes to your loved ones. From Jim. Thanks Jim. This afternoon I went to register my decision to donate organs to the NHS. There's a link in the description that will take you there as well if you want to do the same. I appreciate there are all sorts of reasons that make people uncomfortable with the idea of donating their organs, you know. But I've always been into the idea as someone who would love a little slice of immortality cake.

Okay, so it's not immortality, but you're maybe helping someone else live a little longer, or at least have a better quality of life while they are alive. What a great thing that would be. Okay, that's it for this week's podcast. Thank you very much indeed to Seamus Murphy Mitchell for his always. invaluable production support and general great encouragement thanks Seamus thanks to helen green she does the artwork for the podcast thank you to everyone at acast who worked so hard leasing with my sponsors and thereby keeping the show on the road but thanks most of all to you come on you listen right

the way you even listen to the whole of the intro didn't you oh okay well still you made it this far and you listen to the organ donation thing because you're great and i appreciate your loyalty which is why on this beautiful but chilly evening i'm proposing a bit of uh human warmth with a creepy hug he come here good to see you thank you and until the next time we share the same space please go carefully and if it's of any use whatsoever please do bear in mind

that I love you Pah! when I'm subscribe. Give me like a smile and a thumbs up. Nice like a pint where me bum's up. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. Please like and subscribe. Give me like a smile and a thumbs up. Nice like a fan where me bum's up. Give me like a smile and a thumbs up. Nice like a fan for me bum's up. Nice like a time for me bum's up. I'm going to be able to be a lot of the same. I'm going to have a lot of time. I'm a lot of time. I'm going to be.

I'm going to. I'm going to. I'm going. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.