Eric Idle Returns

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Following Aldi's big price drop announcement, we've got more good news.
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The kids are going back to school. And we're dropping
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even more prices on loads of back-to-school favourites, from pressed
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apple juice to Brannan's lasagne. And we're not just dropping
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this week. No, these prices are sticking around. Unlike the
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school holidays. Saving up to 20% on your back-to-school shop.
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It's not complicated. At Aldi. Visit aldi.ie slash price drop
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for more information.
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You offered them a cuppa when they saw yours. That's
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definitely enough for a little treat. Cadbury Delights. With 91
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calories of milk chocolate, nougat and caramel in every bar.
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Hi, my name is Eric Hartle. And I feel horny
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about being cornered.
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I only laugh because I don't want to cry. You're
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always cornering me at some party, grinding up against me
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in front of your wife.
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That's the closest she gets to sex.
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Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring
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the bell Brand new shoes, walkin' loose, climb the fence,
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books and.
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Pens I can tell that we are gonna be friends Yes,
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I can tell that.
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We are gonna be friends.
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Hey there, welcome to Conor O'Brien Needs a Friend We're
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laughing already. And you know, when we can laugh, it
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means we're alive and life is good, isn't it?
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Yeah.
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Yes.
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Would you like to talk about what we were laughing about? No.
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Absolutely not.
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Some things are meant for off mic.
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Yeah.
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Some things are meant for not even off mic.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Exactly. Exactly. Listen, I'm happy to be here with you guys.
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Just had a lovely interaction with your family.
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Oh, yeah.
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Mr. Gourley. My daughter was here. Your beautiful wife, your daughter.
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She's how old now? She's three.
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She's three.
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She just turned three. She's never to come here again.
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I understand.
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Without my permission. I understand, yeah. No, she was, kids
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love it here because we have this nice office building. Yeah.
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and it has lots of candy and treats.
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Yeah, I mean, Glenn came with Minnie Mouse on a noose.
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Right, and there's a story behind that.
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Yeah, that was a little disturbing. She had Minnie Mouse,
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and Minnie Mouse looked like Minnie Mouse was in bondage,
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your beautiful daughter. And some of it was kind of
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around the neck, and it looked like frontier justice for
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Minnie Mouse. There's an explanation.
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The Salem witch trial.
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Yeah.
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Minnie committed manslaughter. Oh, I see.
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Okay.
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Then Minnie had to pay.
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No, we had to get her to go on our bike.
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We had to tie Minnie onto the bike so that
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once Minnie was on there, Glenn would go on the bike.
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We don't tie Glenn to the bike. She has a seat.
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Right.
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But if she holds Minnie, Minnie will fall somewhere. So
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we had to tie Minnie to the bike seat. Okay.
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And we did it by hanging her by the neck
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till she'd be dead.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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It was disturbing.
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It was.
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Yeah. Because Minnie was lifeless and your daughter didn't seem
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to care. Shout out to the Disney company. Does Disney
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have any control over how they're, once they've sold the doll,
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they have no say over it?
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I don't think so.
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You can do whatever you want to.
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Oh, wow.
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Normally Glenn wears a black hood.
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Oh.
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What?
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What?
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No, just take it out for drinks.
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Oh, no.
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I wasn't saying anything like that. I was saying you
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could like, Stab it or light it on fire.
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Oh, so you're both got it.
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Where did you go?
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Drinks.
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What's wrong with taking Goofy out for a drink and
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watch the game?
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Just you and Goofy, a stuffed Goofy.
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Sitting in a bar. I would like to do that
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and see if anyone came over and said anything.
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They would.
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Probably not.
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Wait, do you treat him, Goofy, like he's an actual person?
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Sure. Someone walks by and I'm like, hey, Goofy, you know.
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What?
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What?
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Yeah, what?
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I don't know what I'm doing.
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So Goofy just sits there with a full drink and
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then do you try to surreptitiously drink it to seem
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like Goofy's drinking or what?
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Yes, every now and then I drain a little bit
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of Goofy's drink. Oh my God. So that it looks like,
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and then I say, excuse me, hello, Goofy's. Goofy's running
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a little low here.
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And if there's a game playing, do you make him
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high five you?
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I go to high five him, but he just falls
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off limply. He just falls off the couch. And then
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I go like, someone's had too much over here. Do
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you see Goofy.
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Back up to his room or does he come to yours?
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All right, now we're not getting into that. Now you
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took it too far. I did? You did. That was you.
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This is a classy podcast, sir.
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I do want to bring up, this is reminding me
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that one of my sisters, I forget, was not me.
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It was not me. I want to say that. Well,
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it's clearly you now.
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Okay.
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Someone went in and I forget which sister it was,
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but someone went in there, cut off all the hair
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on like three of their dolls and then wrote, carved
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their name backwards onto the skull, which is so on
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the forehead.
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Your sister's name or the name of the doll?
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I think it was the name of my sister backwards.
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And are you kidding me?
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Yeah.
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And and I remember that being I don't remember who
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did it. It was not me. I swear it was
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not me. But I remembered seeing the results and thinking,
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this is like, we're all really young at this point.
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And whoever did it just wrote the name backwards. Was
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the name Nanok? No, it was not Nanok. But I
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just remember that being like a chilling, like, oh, this
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is a grisly crime scene. But it was dolls.
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But the backwards thing is what's getting me.
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That feels very devil-like. No, but I think it was
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because they were trying to spell their sister's name, Neil. And, uh...
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And wrote it backwards because they were very young.
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Wait, so it was someone writing someone else's name, like
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a frame job? This was you.
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No, I didn't do this. I did lots of terrible things.
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I did terrible, terrible things. Mostly to Justin. Apologies, Justin.
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I've told you this, right? I would play very complicated games.
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He just wanted to play cops and robbers and I
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would immediately get lawyers involved. I would say, well, now
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we have to go see a lawyer because you drew
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your gun. He'd be like, I didn't even fire my gun.
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I went, you drew it. And in Massachusetts County, you know,
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like in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And I would make
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him fill out papers. He was so bad.
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Awful person.
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The absence of fun.
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No, and there was a big gap between us. So
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he was a very young kid and I was in
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my late 40s. But he's fine now. They just released him.
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I get it.
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People do weird things with dolls.
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I used to do weird things.
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But yeah, it's a time of life when dolls, it
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can be a crime scene and it's acting things out
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in a safe way. Yeah. Okay. I guess. That's weird though.
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Your brother was a bully a little bit to you?
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Yeah.
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Danny used to beat me up a lot. And I
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used to always think, hey, I got a chance, and
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I never did.
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No, Danny's a strong guy. I can't take Danny.
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No, you can't.
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No, he was a football player in high school, and
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he was huge, and he would beat me up.
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Well, now you're making me feel like I should try
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and fight Danny.
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You would lose. He would beat you up badly.
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What if, okay.
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He would badly beat you up.
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I could choose my moment. What if he doesn't see
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me coming? I come up from behind.
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Like a sucker punch?
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Oh, no, I'm holding something. I've got like a stick.
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What?
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That's still like kind of a sucker punch, but he
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doesn't expect it?
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I wouldn't use my real hands. My hands aren't very strong,
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so I would have like a big bat.
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Like a weapon. Yeah, you would probably win, but you'd
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be a bitch.
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But I don't care about that part. Okay. You see
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a scenario where I could take your brother, Danny.
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Yeah.
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If he doesn't see you coming.
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Yeah.
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Suck it, Danny.
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Oh, take it easy. Okay. Have we accomplished anything here
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with this opening?
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No, nothing.
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This is awful.
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All we've managed to accomplish is we've killed five minutes.
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Okay.
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And so it's time to start the show.
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I think we start the show. I'm satisfied. Are you?
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Yes.
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Satisfied with less. The podcast rule. My guest today is
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a comedy legend, one of the members of the iconic
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comedy group Monty Python. His new book, The Spamalot Diaries,
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is out now. I can't even, there are no words.
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To say I'm honored is just dumb because it's a
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word way beyond honored. I'm elevated, enervated, filled with light.
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He's here with us today, Eric Idle. I could not
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be happier that you're here. You've been on the podcast before.
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You're one of my favorite human beings on Earth. I
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will say that without reservation. He hates a compliment. But
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as you know, I've been telling you for years and
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years and years in my opinion, there's Python and then
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the rest of us are just dicking around. So I
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mean that. And I love, I want to say this
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right up top, that you have brought this book in
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that I adore. It's called The Spamalot Diaries. And it's
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a joy. It's a real treat. And it's about the process.
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And that's one of the things that I adore about it.
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But first, let's talk about how much you admire me.
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I've allotted 40 minutes.
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Well, you know, you should know how I feel about you.
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I think you're... I can't even.
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Nothing yet. I think you're one of the funniest people
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on the planet.
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Oh, that's insanity. We're not doing that.
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No, it's just... And that was a surprise to me
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because I thought you were hilarious. But then I saw
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you do stand-up at the Largo, and you kill me.
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Oh, thank you so much.
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And I've forgotten that obviously you've been doing stand-up for
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millions of years when you weren't around.
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Not really. I had done... I never did classic stand-up,
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but if I'm in front of an audience, I'll try anything.
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And so.
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Well, you're like me. You're shameless in front of an audience.
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Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
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But you're much funnier than me. Nope.
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But anyway, let's make this about you. I'm cutting it off.
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I don't like this. This is about Eric Idle.
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You just invited me to say something nice about you.
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Yeah, but I thought you'd take that- You guys really
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are horny friends. Get a room. I thought you'd take
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that opportunity to shit on me. And you fucked it up.
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I've had one of the best things that's happened to
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me in my adult life is getting to know Eric
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on a bunch of occasions. And then Eric, I know
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you've moved since then, but you would have me to
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your home- Your lovely wife, Tanya, would be there. Your daughter, Lily,
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would be there. My wife and I, Eliza, would go.
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And you'd put together this salon of really funny, cool
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musical people. But one of the things that always grabbed
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my attention is I'd walk in the front door and
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there was a poster and it was from university. It's
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from 1963, I think.
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It is from 1963, and it's from the Edinburgh Festival.
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Yeah, it's from the Edinburgh Festival.
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That's my first public performance.
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And it's you as a squeaky young lad, and it's
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a giant photo.
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I was thinking of a handsome young man with the
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world ahead of him, you know?
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Okay, squeaky might not be the right... I meant you
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were clean, squeaky clean.
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Probably, yes.
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But it's this poster from 1963, and it's when you're
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getting started. This would be... Easily six years before Python,
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but you're just getting started. And I always looked at that.
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Every time you had me over, I would look at
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that poster and kind of time travel back to this
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other time when all of you guys were getting started.
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And finding your way. It's before you all found each other,
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and it's magical.
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That's not quite true, you see. Oddly.
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That's true. You had worked together, yeah.
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Quite by chance. I had already met John Cleese. I'd
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already met Graham Chapman, who was at St. Bart's Hospital,
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studying to become a fully qualified alcoholic.
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You know, I like a person who really does their work.
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Puts the time in.
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Yeah, puts the time in.
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And I met an Edinburgh person. Terry Jones and Michael Palin,
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who were doing the Oxford Review. So in 1963, we'd
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all met.
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You'd all met.
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With the exception of Terry Gilliam, whom no one has
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yet met.
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You can meet him, but you still haven't met him. Yeah,
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I would look at that and just think about, this
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is a document. I'm a history buff and I'm also
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a comedy buff. And to look at that poster and
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It was always hard to lure me away from it
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because I just thought that's the year I was born.
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And I just want to, I wanted to put that
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in just to accentuate that.
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But it's also the year of the Beatles.
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Yeah. It's the year of the Beatles in England. Not the,
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not the year of the Beatles in America. We think 64,
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but it was 63. Yeah. Yeah.
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Very much so. At the Edinburgh festival was the first
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time all the girls were playing all their records and
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we go, what's all this about? What's all this about?
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So, yeah. These guys with this weird hair that are
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living from Liverpool.
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Absolutely. And then they came through Cambridge the year after
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and everybody changed. The whole world changed. We used to
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wear little old tweed jackets with leather pads. Suddenly we
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were wearing beetle jackets and saying, who's your favorite beetle?
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So they actually did literally change the world after that.
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You know, it's funny. You can look at college yearbooks
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and high school yearbooks from 1963. In the United States,
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if you look at a high school yearbook From 1964,
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everyone's got buzz cuts and horn-rimmed glasses. Everybody. And they
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all look kind of the same. And then you look
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at the high school yearbook from 1965. There's still the
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occasional guy with a crew cut who just can't get
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the message. But everybody else has that hair. It changed everything.
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But we'll talk about the Beatles another time. I want
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to talk about.
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The Rolling Stones.
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The Rolling Stones.
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Yeah.
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They took the blues, which is deceptively simple form, and
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they transformed it.
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I have a theory, actually, that Python, because this was
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all rock and roll, came in just in those years.
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And the band used to be in the pit, and
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then they came up on the stage, put on tight trousers,
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started to play loud music, and all the girls chased them.
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And the comedians had to wait in the wings for
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a while. But my theory is that Monty Python became
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the first mock and roll group.
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Yes.
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Because we did stadiums. We ended up playing the Hollywood Bowl.
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We did O2. We were the first ones. And the
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00:14:19.529 --> 00:14:21.889
second was, of course, Saturday Night Live.
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00:14:21.929 --> 00:14:22.110
Yeah.
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Because they brought rock and roll into it.
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Yeah.
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00:14:25.629 --> 00:14:28.750
So the comedians were all fighting back then. Yes.
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It's funny you say that because, and then, yeah, I
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guess I'd be third in that line.
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00:14:35.700 --> 00:14:35.980
Wait, what?
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00:14:37.009 --> 00:14:38.600
I came along and people were like, you know, women
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00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:40.039
were like, I got to fuck that guy.
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00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:42.100
No, no. They were just saying, fuck that guy.
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00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:43.740
Oh, yeah. Oh, I misheard it.
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00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:43.940
Yes.
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00:14:44.299 --> 00:14:49.740
I misheard it. Now, you're right.
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Okay.
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00:14:50.179 --> 00:14:52.830
I got to get the hearing checked. But you know what?
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When I first did SNL, the first time I did it,
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my first guest was Joe Cocker. And Belushi came on
360
00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:03.389
and mocked him. So that was actually really mock and roll.
361
00:15:03.409 --> 00:15:09.279
But you're... This is an interesting trajectory because your good,
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00:15:10.139 --> 00:15:14.179
dear departed friend, George Harrison, famously said he felt the
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Beatles break up sort of, I think, technically in 69,
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beginning of 1970. That's right when Python is hitting the air.
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And George Harrison said he really felt the spirit of
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the Beatles was passed on and went into Python And
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I thought, did you guys ever talk about that? Did
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00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:37.710
you talk about that with George?
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We talked about almost everything. Because when we met, we
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just talked all night. And we just talked and talked
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for about two or three weeks. But what was it
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00:15:46.970 --> 00:15:49.470
like being in your group? What was your group like?
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00:15:49.629 --> 00:15:53.610
What was your John like? But I think that the
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secret of it was that America … Your John.
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Everyone's got to have a John.
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But what happened in America was when the Beatles first
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00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:05.269
arrived in America … What made everybody love them was
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they were funny.
379
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:06.340
Yes.
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00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:09.259
And there was this guy called Ringo with a big nose,
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00:16:09.379 --> 00:16:13.600
a funny name, the funny haircuts, and everybody knew Ringo first.
382
00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:15.779
That's the first name they knew. But it was their
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00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:19.559
humor at the airport conference that broke them in America.
384
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I'm convinced of it. And so, in a way, they
385
00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:27.600
were just as funny as we were. They just were
386
00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:30.299
all Liverpool comedians, really.
387
00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:30.580
Yeah.
388
00:16:30.970 --> 00:16:32.629
But they went the wrong way.
389
00:16:32.830 --> 00:16:33.429
They went the wrong way.
390
00:16:33.450 --> 00:16:34.730
They went on the dark side.
391
00:16:35.990 --> 00:16:39.529
They wasted their time in music when they really could
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00:16:39.570 --> 00:16:42.330
have been a sketch troupe. They really could have been
393
00:16:42.350 --> 00:16:44.809
a sketch troupe. And it's sad when people take the
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00:16:44.830 --> 00:16:47.549
wrong turn, but what are you going to do? What
395
00:16:47.570 --> 00:16:51.750
I really wanted to start with, because sometimes people bring
396
00:16:52.580 --> 00:16:54.679
their project along and I think, okay, we'll get to that.
397
00:16:55.580 --> 00:16:59.039
The thing that's special about Spamalot Diaries is when you're
398
00:16:59.059 --> 00:17:03.759
putting Spamalot together, and this is 2004, 2003, 2004, you
399
00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.490
kept a diary of the entire process of putting it together.
400
00:17:09.029 --> 00:17:12.710
You then set the diary aside. And I remember going
401
00:17:12.750 --> 00:17:15.289
to your house when you and Tanya were packing it
402
00:17:15.450 --> 00:17:20.180
up to leave, to move to a different house, and
403
00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:24.140
you were packing everything up. In that process, you find
404
00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:25.619
the diary that you had forgotten.
405
00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:28.319
I had completely forgotten I'd written it. I had completely
406
00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:31.089
forgotten I'd kept it. And I read it and I
407
00:17:31.109 --> 00:17:34.109
gave it to actually Puddles, you know, Puddles, his wife,
408
00:17:34.190 --> 00:17:36.069
to read. And she said, this is great.
409
00:17:36.430 --> 00:17:36.789
Right.
410
00:17:36.849 --> 00:17:38.190
And I gave it to my wife and she said, oh,
411
00:17:38.210 --> 00:17:41.769
this is fantastic because what's interesting about a diary is
412
00:17:41.789 --> 00:17:44.009
you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know
413
00:17:44.049 --> 00:17:46.390
it's going to be that thing and it's going to
414
00:17:46.410 --> 00:17:50.500
be successful. So it's full of anxieties and arguments and
415
00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:52.779
rows and it's the process.
416
00:17:52.900 --> 00:17:53.920
Yes. This is what I love.
417
00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:56.599
I keep saying about it, it's a process, not a miracle.
418
00:17:56.980 --> 00:18:02.569
There's this... And maybe it's appropriate it should be this way.
419
00:18:02.930 --> 00:18:05.269
People love to think they're going to come in and
420
00:18:05.309 --> 00:18:07.789
they see something miraculous and that it just happened. And
421
00:18:08.029 --> 00:18:10.059
maybe that's the way an audience should look at it.
422
00:18:10.410 --> 00:18:13.859
But what's amazing is you read through this diary because
423
00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:16.720
I think, well, oh, yeah, spam a lot. Massive hit,
424
00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:22.440
sold out forever. So, of course, it just happened. You
425
00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:26.950
read this and you see how much work Anxiety rewrites itself.
426
00:18:27.380 --> 00:18:33.759
And the creative wrestling between you and the director, Mike Nichols,
427
00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:37.559
the famous Mike Nichols. You have emails in here. You
428
00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:42.740
have notes back and forth. There's disagreements with other, you know,
429
00:18:42.819 --> 00:18:47.289
or sometimes friction with other pythons. And you're just like Job.
430
00:18:47.309 --> 00:18:50.309
You're just going ahead trying to make this thing happen.
431
00:18:51.430 --> 00:18:54.509
I think that's what's interesting. And I'd forgotten about it.
432
00:18:55.170 --> 00:18:58.869
I was just writing... Every few days, what I was feeling.
433
00:18:59.410 --> 00:19:01.990
And so this comes with a direct form of honesty.
434
00:19:02.509 --> 00:19:05.809
And I kept in the rows because I thought, no, no,
435
00:19:05.990 --> 00:19:09.309
people mustn't believe that the artistic process is just we'll
436
00:19:09.369 --> 00:19:11.650
have a cup of tea and we'll make this thing.
437
00:19:12.009 --> 00:19:15.470
There are conflicts. People need to be angry. We used
438
00:19:15.490 --> 00:19:18.190
to row in Python about sort of chair it should be.
439
00:19:19.099 --> 00:19:22.599
That's not a funny chair. This is a funny chair. No, no,
440
00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:26.740
this is a funny chair. So I think those are important.
441
00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:29.799
And so I kept in, particularly the row early on
442
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:32.920
with Mike, because I thought it was very important for
443
00:19:32.980 --> 00:19:36.700
people to understand that you must maintain your vision of
444
00:19:36.779 --> 00:19:39.309
something if you're a writer and you're doing a play
445
00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:44.549
and the director doesn't have every say. Fortunately for us,
446
00:19:44.650 --> 00:19:46.470
we'd been friends for 15 years.
447
00:19:46.650 --> 00:19:47.519
You and Mike Nichols had met.
448
00:19:47.529 --> 00:19:49.950
Mike and I, we'd just been pals. We'd been on holidays.
449
00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:52.720
We'd had the best of times, been to the theater,
450
00:19:52.740 --> 00:19:56.450
been to places all overseas. And we had never had
451
00:19:56.490 --> 00:20:00.089
a crossword. And then suddenly we're working together and it's
452
00:20:00.130 --> 00:20:04.029
a completely different relationship, obviously. Now you're the real, you're
453
00:20:04.069 --> 00:20:07.670
that person, he's that person. And I thought, well, I'm
454
00:20:07.690 --> 00:20:09.789
going to leave that because I think it's important to
455
00:20:09.869 --> 00:20:13.650
know that people establish who they are and then they
456
00:20:13.670 --> 00:20:14.450
can move forward.
457
00:20:14.630 --> 00:20:17.190
I guess the part that is most fascinating to me
458
00:20:17.529 --> 00:20:20.490
is the statement that one of the themes that comes
459
00:20:20.549 --> 00:20:23.630
through in the Spamalot diaries, and this applies not just
460
00:20:23.650 --> 00:20:25.930
to Spamalot, but to Python and I think just to
461
00:20:26.049 --> 00:20:31.079
comedy and all work, is that fighting, arguing is an
462
00:20:31.710 --> 00:20:36.190
essential part of the process. Turmoil, anxiety is part of
463
00:20:36.210 --> 00:20:39.289
the process. And I cannot tell you how many, when
464
00:20:39.329 --> 00:20:42.910
someone tells me, oh, I love to write. I just
465
00:20:43.029 --> 00:20:46.079
love writing. I think you must be a terrible writer
466
00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:51.000
because I don't, that's not my process. And my wife
467
00:20:51.059 --> 00:20:53.549
is a very good writer and she will tell me, oh,
468
00:20:53.579 --> 00:20:59.059
I'm just, I hate it. It's miserable. And I'll say, right, exactly. Exactly. Yes,
469
00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:02.230
that's what it is. That's, you know, keep going. But
470
00:21:02.269 --> 00:21:02.829
that's what it is.
471
00:21:03.009 --> 00:21:04.950
I think if you're content with what you're writing, you're
472
00:21:04.990 --> 00:21:08.529
not very good. And almost all great writers, you know,
473
00:21:08.569 --> 00:21:10.569
I think Graham Greene said he'd written one or two
474
00:21:10.890 --> 00:21:12.549
sentences he was quite proud of.
475
00:21:12.569 --> 00:21:13.910
Yeah.
476
00:21:14.019 --> 00:21:14.710
Sentences.
477
00:21:15.019 --> 00:21:15.259
Yeah.
478
00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:18.680
You know, I think all writing is like that because
479
00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:22.099
you're trying to capture... flies in aspic. I mean, it's
480
00:21:22.549 --> 00:21:25.420
really a very difficult thing you're doing. You're putting down
481
00:21:25.529 --> 00:21:30.329
life in this code, 26-letter code. How does that possibly
482
00:21:30.390 --> 00:21:34.250
even work? And how some people have the gift of
483
00:21:34.309 --> 00:21:38.109
making you just read any sentence about anything, and you
484
00:21:38.130 --> 00:21:40.390
just pick up a book and you just read them
485
00:21:40.549 --> 00:21:42.609
all the way through because of the way they write.
486
00:21:43.089 --> 00:21:44.390
I find that fascinating.
487
00:21:45.269 --> 00:21:49.299
Well, it's also... I read a biography recently. There's a
488
00:21:49.420 --> 00:21:52.700
wonderful biography of Mike Nichols. And you find out, I mean,
489
00:21:52.759 --> 00:22:01.710
his childhood and his experience fleeing Nazi Germany, coming to America,
490
00:22:01.730 --> 00:22:06.089
kind of remaking himself. He famously had alopecia. He lost
491
00:22:06.130 --> 00:22:08.589
all of his hair, having to wear a wig.
492
00:22:08.609 --> 00:22:10.299
Not speaking English.
493
00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:16.380
Not speaking English. And he completely remade himself into the coolest, smartest,
494
00:22:16.460 --> 00:22:20.079
most urbane person guy doing comedy along with Elaine May,
495
00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:25.619
the sheer, not just talent, but will, and the amount
496
00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:27.539
of struggle and pain you have to go through to
497
00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:31.480
remake yourself as Mike Nichols into that. And then I
498
00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:34.880
think you, we've talked about it before in the previous podcast,
499
00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:38.609
and you've been very open about it, you have a
500
00:22:38.809 --> 00:22:41.710
very difficult childhood in many ways.
501
00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:49.170
Yes, yes. I think that's an advantage in art. But
502
00:22:49.549 --> 00:22:53.589
nobody had a more difficult childhood as Mike. And for me,
503
00:22:53.930 --> 00:22:57.809
there's a new book about the making of Virginia Woolf,
504
00:22:58.529 --> 00:23:02.279
which he's in. And I'm amazed. It's his first film.
505
00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:05.740
And he's standing up to Harry Warner and saying, no,
506
00:23:05.779 --> 00:23:07.299
it's going to be in black and white.
507
00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:09.740
Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? He wanted to shoot it
508
00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:12.099
in black and white. He's got the two biggest stars
509
00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:16.660
on Earth, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. And he's a
510
00:23:16.839 --> 00:23:20.359
young punk who's never directed anything in his life. And
511
00:23:20.420 --> 00:23:23.569
he's telling the biggest man in show business to fuck off.
512
00:23:24.410 --> 00:23:27.089
And so the ball's on that guy. Absolutely incredible.
513
00:23:27.269 --> 00:23:32.230
Unbelievable. But it's based on some kind of his perception
514
00:23:32.269 --> 00:23:36.130
of what should be was really pure.
515
00:23:36.410 --> 00:23:36.609
Right.
516
00:23:36.930 --> 00:23:40.849
If Mike said something... and it wasn't quite right, you go, oh,
517
00:23:40.910 --> 00:23:44.869
it's not quite right. I never had any doubt that
518
00:23:44.910 --> 00:23:48.759
sometimes he would. He was a most fabulous friend of hell.
519
00:23:48.819 --> 00:23:51.519
He didn't write, but he wrote with you in a sense.
520
00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.380
He'd say, well, we need somebody to say this, and
521
00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:58.440
then I say this. And he would encourage it out
522
00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:01.509
of you so that you wrote better, always with him.
523
00:24:01.569 --> 00:24:04.390
Well, there's a line in the Spamalot Diaries, you and
524
00:24:04.450 --> 00:24:06.769
Mike Nichols, there's a lot of correspondence back and forth
525
00:24:06.809 --> 00:24:10.500
between you two, And at one point, Mike Nichols writes
526
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:13.349
you and he says, I've given, I've been thinking a
527
00:24:13.390 --> 00:24:17.130
lot about you, Eric, and your childhood. And he's talking about,
528
00:24:17.849 --> 00:24:20.289
he acknowledges that he had a crazy, insane childhood, but
529
00:24:20.309 --> 00:24:22.869
he's talking about how your childhood was so difficult. And
530
00:24:22.890 --> 00:24:24.839
he said this line that really stuck with me, which is,
531
00:24:24.859 --> 00:24:28.640
I guess we all inoculate ourselves against our own childhood.
532
00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:32.160
And that really stuck with me that whatever happens to
533
00:24:32.380 --> 00:24:36.430
us individually, and this goes to anyone listening, It happens
534
00:24:36.470 --> 00:24:38.529
to you, you tend to dismiss it. Like, well, no,
535
00:24:38.589 --> 00:24:40.890
I was fine. Oh my God, what this other person
536
00:24:40.930 --> 00:24:43.839
went through. You know what I mean? And when Mike
537
00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:48.000
Nichols says that line, he said, hey, because you're so good.
538
00:24:48.019 --> 00:24:50.980
I don't know how much of it is being English
539
00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:53.799
and how much of it is your own character as
540
00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:57.180
Eric Idle, your own personality. But I could just see
541
00:24:57.269 --> 00:25:00.589
how you have a stiff upper lip. You could be
542
00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:02.890
very dismissive of any kind of pain in your life.
543
00:25:03.319 --> 00:25:05.900
I'm fine. Oh, this poor other person. But how much
544
00:25:05.940 --> 00:25:08.400
is that? How much of that is English? How much
545
00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:11.299
of that is you? And you're going to be charged
546
00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:13.039
for therapy when this is over.
547
00:25:14.279 --> 00:25:17.480
I don't know. I mean, I, I think you learn empathy.
548
00:25:18.009 --> 00:25:20.710
I mean, you start by being a negatistical shit by
549
00:25:20.779 --> 00:25:22.039
going into show business.
550
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:22.940
Look at me.
551
00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:27.200
I'm in show business. And then you can behave very badly.
552
00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:30.299
And I learned from lots of very good people like
553
00:25:30.380 --> 00:25:33.109
Robin Williams taught me how to be nice to fans.
554
00:25:33.670 --> 00:25:36.240
I would just tell them to fuck off. And they
555
00:25:36.269 --> 00:25:39.529
would laugh and go away, you know. But that was
556
00:25:39.569 --> 00:25:40.849
good enough for them to say, oh, he told me
557
00:25:40.869 --> 00:25:41.970
to fuck off.
558
00:25:42.690 --> 00:25:45.130
I just was told to fuck off by Eric Idle.
559
00:25:45.450 --> 00:25:48.509
And that became a thing. And then I watched Robin
560
00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:54.259
and his empathy and remembering that this is somebody's moment
561
00:25:54.339 --> 00:25:56.299
in their life and it's a big moment in their
562
00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:00.339
life because they've waited. They love you. They want this moment.
563
00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:06.680
So if you are a shit or dismissive, it's a
564
00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:09.579
nasty memory. So what I always do is I always say, well,
565
00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:12.460
I'm Eric, and I get their name. Yes. And then
566
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:16.279
you're on a one-to-one human basis with them, and you're
567
00:26:16.299 --> 00:26:19.720
not some kind of god, and they're not some abject fan.
568
00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:23.190
So I try and I think that works in all
569
00:26:23.250 --> 00:26:26.569
sorts of situations where you remind people that they're people,
570
00:26:27.029 --> 00:26:28.269
and we're just here at this moment.
571
00:26:39.289 --> 00:26:43.059
Good nights are about the people. The laughs. The real
572
00:26:43.099 --> 00:26:46.279
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573
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582
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587
00:27:37.220 --> 00:27:39.779
Due to the leaves falling in autumn and the challenges
588
00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:43.079
this brings, Eireann Road Airan wishes to advise customers that
589
00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:46.119
a revised timetable will take effect on Dart and Dublin
590
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:51.130
commuter routes from Monday, September 21st until December 12th. Morning
591
00:27:51.170 --> 00:27:54.150
and evening peak services will be affected with some earlier
592
00:27:54.190 --> 00:27:57.230
departure times. Please check travel times on the Eireann Road
593
00:27:57.329 --> 00:28:01.410
Airan app or irishrail.ie. Eireann Road Airan is part of
594
00:28:01.450 --> 00:28:02.849
the Transport for Ireland network.
595
00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:14.200
It's funny you mentioned Robin because I didn't realize how
596
00:28:14.289 --> 00:28:17.150
close you guys were. You guys were very close. And
597
00:28:17.230 --> 00:28:20.569
I was lucky enough to have some great interactions with
598
00:28:20.630 --> 00:28:24.589
Robin Williams before he passed. One of the most memorable
599
00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:27.349
examples to me of his kindness is when I went
600
00:28:27.369 --> 00:28:31.490
through my whole Tonight Show debacle. And finally, the show
601
00:28:31.569 --> 00:28:33.839
is done and I don't know if I have a
602
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:35.940
career anymore. What am I going to do next? You
603
00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:38.559
remember this part very well, Sona, because Sona was with
604
00:28:38.599 --> 00:28:42.220
me during all that. And I'm lying on the floor
605
00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:45.140
in the living room of my house and my phone
606
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:47.920
rings and I pick it up and it's Robin Williams.
607
00:28:47.940 --> 00:28:49.869
I don't even know how he got my phone number.
608
00:28:50.410 --> 00:28:52.269
I'll never forget. He goes like, how you holding up chief?
609
00:28:53.049 --> 00:28:55.829
And I said, oh, Robin, thanks so much for calling.
610
00:28:55.849 --> 00:28:57.869
And he said, you know, listen, you know, you're going
611
00:28:57.890 --> 00:28:59.509
to be fine. You're going to be great. I know
612
00:28:59.529 --> 00:29:02.759
you like to ride bikes. Cause he was really into bicycling.
613
00:29:02.779 --> 00:29:05.240
And he said, I know you like riding bikes, uh,
614
00:29:05.579 --> 00:29:09.869
go down, um, to the bike shop down in Santa Monica.
615
00:29:09.890 --> 00:29:12.809
I want you to go down there and I've set
616
00:29:12.829 --> 00:29:17.200
up a bike for you. And I said, what? And
617
00:29:17.220 --> 00:29:19.579
he said, no, no, no, just head on down there
618
00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:24.220
and ride around, you'll feel better. And I went down
619
00:29:24.259 --> 00:29:27.069
and it was a Colgana, which is a very nice bike.
620
00:29:28.109 --> 00:29:29.730
And he said, I told him to paint it in
621
00:29:29.750 --> 00:29:32.910
all these crazy Irish colors. And I get down there
622
00:29:32.950 --> 00:29:35.730
and it's the most, it's the ugliest. I mean, it
623
00:29:35.769 --> 00:29:40.259
was just, you know, greens and shamrocks and everything. And
624
00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:43.660
I couldn't believe, and he was like, oh, you're going
625
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:45.400
to like that bike chief. Don't worry about it. And
626
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:51.700
I just thought I, I thanked him many, many times.
627
00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:56.480
I just couldn't believe that he was thinking about me
628
00:29:57.089 --> 00:30:00.069
You know how we are in life. You think about someone, oh,
629
00:30:00.130 --> 00:30:02.950
that's too bad what happened to him. Oh, whatever. Anyway,
630
00:30:03.029 --> 00:30:04.809
I'm going to go get a sandwich. No, no.
631
00:30:04.849 --> 00:30:07.289
He reached out. He thought what might please you. He
632
00:30:07.450 --> 00:30:09.589
went and got to the shop and chose. I mean,
633
00:30:10.269 --> 00:30:12.410
he would put a lot of effort into making you
634
00:30:12.450 --> 00:30:15.990
feel better, which I thought that's very, very Robin. That's
635
00:30:16.009 --> 00:30:20.809
fantastically typical Robin. And that generosity and kindness is a
636
00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:25.339
is something with combined with the wit on the man is, is,
637
00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:27.740
is a, not an, a common combination.
638
00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:28.160
Yeah.
639
00:30:28.500 --> 00:30:31.750
You know, I don't think Dr. Johnson was busy sending people.
640
00:30:31.789 --> 00:30:34.309
Maybe I don't know, but, uh, I think, I mean, he.
641
00:30:34.250 --> 00:30:35.119
Had Boswell do it.
642
00:30:35.150 --> 00:30:35.809
He had Boswell.
643
00:30:35.849 --> 00:30:41.670
Boswell, send that fucker a bike. Um, there's so much
644
00:30:41.710 --> 00:30:43.049
in the book that I want to make sure I
645
00:30:43.089 --> 00:30:45.789
weave in because you hit on so many themes. I
646
00:30:45.829 --> 00:30:48.940
love as you're approaching the premiere, of course, now we
647
00:30:48.980 --> 00:30:50.359
all know how the story turns out, but when you're
648
00:30:50.380 --> 00:30:52.759
reading through the book, you, It is very much what
649
00:30:52.779 --> 00:30:56.900
you say. You're reading these texts, these messages, these diary
650
00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:59.059
entries day by day. You don't know what's going to happen.
651
00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:03.289
And you can feel the anxiety. You can feel the self-loathing.
652
00:31:03.309 --> 00:31:06.329
You can feel the gloom. And at one point you say,
653
00:31:06.349 --> 00:31:10.190
I think the English, there's an English tendency to prefer failure.
654
00:31:10.210 --> 00:31:14.690
And I thought that is so fantastic because in a
655
00:31:14.869 --> 00:31:18.079
strange way, I understand how failure can feel more comfortable
656
00:31:18.099 --> 00:31:21.900
and a big hit is, It's the tall poppy syndrome,
657
00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:25.740
which is very Irish. It's very United Kingdom. It's what
658
00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:28.240
do you do with a big hit? And everywhere you went,
659
00:31:28.309 --> 00:31:32.180
people were congratulating you and you you're uneasy with it.
660
00:31:32.529 --> 00:31:36.349
I wasn't used to it, but also I didn't quite
661
00:31:36.869 --> 00:31:39.529
expect it. And it's it takes a while to know
662
00:31:39.569 --> 00:31:40.569
what to do with that.
663
00:31:40.789 --> 00:31:41.009
Right.
664
00:31:41.170 --> 00:31:43.980
Because you're still trying to understand how we fixed it.
665
00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:46.859
Is it did it really work? And Mike would always
666
00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:49.579
keep on making it better and better. He cut little
667
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.950
bits and and keep improving it. But I think there
668
00:31:53.009 --> 00:31:58.849
is a thing in England that failure is a noble
669
00:31:58.970 --> 00:32:01.890
and a wonderful thing. And if you look at Dunkirk
670
00:32:02.309 --> 00:32:05.720
and some of their great victories, the English ran away
671
00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:06.319
quite a lot.
672
00:32:07.650 --> 00:32:09.740
Which is often a wise choice.
673
00:32:09.779 --> 00:32:10.799
Maybe a good choice.
674
00:32:11.220 --> 00:32:15.180
If the English don't run away in 1940, they are
675
00:32:15.220 --> 00:32:17.859
not there to fight Hitler in 1942. So, yeah.
676
00:32:18.460 --> 00:32:20.940
No, I mean, I think there are many reasons for it.
677
00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:23.599
But also, I think the tall poppy, which is what
678
00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:27.440
the Australians also call it, is also that when you're
679
00:32:27.460 --> 00:32:31.750
on a small island. People are envious of people's success.
680
00:32:32.230 --> 00:32:35.130
And so people try and either play it down a
681
00:32:35.150 --> 00:32:37.740
bit or, oh, yeah, I did happen to climb Everest
682
00:32:37.779 --> 00:32:40.900
last week, but I'm also working on some Latin thesis,
683
00:32:40.940 --> 00:32:44.480
you know. I mean, people tend to try and diminish. Yes.
684
00:32:45.059 --> 00:32:49.640
It's not a– America's great because it says, oh, let's
685
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:53.440
all try and be successful. Yeah. That's the starting point. Right.
686
00:32:53.500 --> 00:32:56.589
And it's fine. In England, if you've been successful and
687
00:32:56.609 --> 00:32:59.170
you've got a car, people will scrape the car with
688
00:32:59.190 --> 00:33:03.630
their knife as they go by. Yeah, bastard. Whereas in America,
689
00:33:03.670 --> 00:33:06.250
the reaction would be, one day I'll have one of those.
690
00:33:06.269 --> 00:33:08.670
And I think it's a completely different attitude.
691
00:33:08.769 --> 00:33:14.650
This is something Bono said. Bono said that in America,
692
00:33:14.890 --> 00:33:16.950
if you see a house on a hill and you
693
00:33:16.990 --> 00:33:18.609
walk by and you see a mansion on a hill,
694
00:33:18.690 --> 00:33:22.049
you think, someday I'm going to have that mansion. He said,
695
00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:24.220
In Ireland, if you see a big mansion on a hill,
696
00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:29.759
you think, I'm going to burn that fucker down. Yeah,
697
00:33:29.799 --> 00:33:32.240
I understand that. I don't want it for myself. I
698
00:33:32.259 --> 00:33:36.309
just don't want that asshole to have it. It's funny
699
00:33:36.390 --> 00:33:39.869
because this leads into my next question, which is that
700
00:33:40.970 --> 00:33:43.390
you bring up that you had this realization at one
701
00:33:43.450 --> 00:33:47.250
point that the Holy Grail, which is spam a lot,
702
00:33:47.769 --> 00:33:52.000
that it's really about Python and the members of Python.
703
00:33:52.490 --> 00:33:56.619
And this resonated with me right now because all you do,
704
00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:59.279
you just said it right now, is there's this tendency
705
00:33:59.299 --> 00:34:04.210
to wanna run away all throughout Holy Grail. One of
706
00:34:04.230 --> 00:34:08.820
the reasons Sir Robin is able to... His only strategy
707
00:34:08.889 --> 00:34:12.500
is to run away. Run away, run away! And I've always.
708
00:34:12.699 --> 00:34:15.519
Well, King Arthur says run away. It's a command.
709
00:34:15.739 --> 00:34:18.519
It's a command, yes, yes. You're quite happy.
710
00:34:19.820 --> 00:34:25.559
Robin denies he's running away. He's pissing off and buggering off. No, no, no.
711
00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:31.550
Brave Sir Robin. Yeah, yeah, but... But you talk about
712
00:34:31.690 --> 00:34:33.550
and you go through and you talk about the different
713
00:34:33.570 --> 00:34:35.969
members of Python and how they kind of fit their
714
00:34:36.010 --> 00:34:38.250
role in the Holy Grail, whether it was intentional or not.
715
00:34:38.889 --> 00:34:41.800
Because I had to bring, I mean, there were 98
716
00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:43.679
characters in the Holy Grail.
717
00:34:43.699 --> 00:34:43.880
Yeah.
718
00:34:44.039 --> 00:34:45.880
So I put that on stage. So what I did
719
00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:48.239
was I collapsed as many as I could of the
720
00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:52.139
characters played by Michael Palin. into one character or aspects
721
00:34:52.199 --> 00:34:54.400
of that character. And the same with me and the
722
00:34:54.440 --> 00:34:58.869
same with Lancelot, John Cleese, you know. So that then
723
00:34:58.989 --> 00:35:03.090
when you do that, you do find more of Michael,
724
00:35:03.130 --> 00:35:06.309
who's always like, you know, he really wants a bit
725
00:35:06.349 --> 00:35:10.489
of temptation, but he better hadn't. No, no, I got
726
00:35:10.510 --> 00:35:10.739
to go.
727
00:35:10.780 --> 00:35:16.260
I got to go. No, yeah. One of my... Being
728
00:35:16.300 --> 00:35:17.559
rescued from all the.
729
00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:18.860
From all the girlies.
730
00:35:18.940 --> 00:35:20.440
All the girls who are horny.
731
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:23.000
Oh, William! Oh!
732
00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:25.039
And you could tell he's.
733
00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:29.269
Yeah, it's so lovely. He made two films about that, too. Yes, yeah.
734
00:35:29.329 --> 00:35:36.010
Of his own. That's basically the same theme. He's... Perhaps not. No,
735
00:35:36.050 --> 00:35:40.530
not that. I think it's very significant about Michael.
736
00:35:40.840 --> 00:35:44.690
It's so funny because I relate to... Both your character,
737
00:35:44.710 --> 00:35:49.460
I relate to running away and, you know, no, there's
738
00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:53.619
some temptation. Oh, well, I should probably go watch my cholesterol.
739
00:35:54.420 --> 00:35:55.780
I'll just be over here, but I'm going to think
740
00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:57.800
about it a lot and I'm going to hate myself
741
00:35:57.820 --> 00:36:02.110
a little bit. But yeah, you go through. It's very
742
00:36:02.150 --> 00:36:04.269
convincing that whether it was intentional or not.
743
00:36:04.730 --> 00:36:10.230
I think that often writing reveals yourself. I think good
744
00:36:10.269 --> 00:36:15.070
writing is definitely all about yourself in some really bizarre way.
745
00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:20.380
When you're adapting something, a piece of work, it's very
746
00:36:20.440 --> 00:36:24.019
nice to come across themes that are just in there.
747
00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:27.179
There's one scene when Michael is being led away from
748
00:36:27.239 --> 00:36:30.039
Castle Anthrax, you know, and Cleese is getting him out.
749
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:31.960
Come on, let's go. He says, no, couldn't I have
750
00:36:31.980 --> 00:36:32.800
a bit of temptation?
751
00:36:32.860 --> 00:36:34.610
No, no, no. Don't worry.
752
00:36:34.630 --> 00:36:37.750
No temptation at all. And just as they leave frame,
753
00:36:38.110 --> 00:36:43.539
you hear Michael say, oh, I bet you're gay. And
754
00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:47.480
we use that for a whole scene where Lancelot's whole
755
00:36:47.539 --> 00:36:51.360
rage and anger is explained by the fact he's repressing,
756
00:36:51.380 --> 00:36:52.590
you know, he really is.
757
00:36:52.599 --> 00:36:53.500
He's repressing something, yeah.
758
00:36:53.519 --> 00:36:55.840
He's repressing it all and out he comes. And he
759
00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:59.800
dances the song, his name is Lancelot, he likes to
760
00:36:59.860 --> 00:37:04.070
dance a lot. There's a huge Peter Allen number. I
761
00:37:04.110 --> 00:37:08.110
find that that's really the most exciting thing about adapting work.
762
00:37:09.750 --> 00:37:12.489
is finding little things in there which will make it
763
00:37:12.530 --> 00:37:16.940
work on stage. Because Mike and Casey there, there was
764
00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:20.000
a whole scene. We kept trying to write this spanking song,
765
00:37:20.820 --> 00:37:24.219
you know, because the girls say, oh, spanking, spanking tonight.
766
00:37:24.579 --> 00:37:27.570
And we keep writing spanking, spanking, there's going to be
767
00:37:27.590 --> 00:37:29.550
a spanking. And they said, no, no, no. And they
768
00:37:29.590 --> 00:37:32.409
would not have it. So the way out was this,
769
00:37:33.190 --> 00:37:37.440
just this hint of that. in the script, which I improvised.
770
00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:40.300
And it was just, it was fabulous to find because
771
00:37:40.320 --> 00:37:45.280
it makes Lancelot's character very much more, he's not just angry,
772
00:37:45.800 --> 00:37:48.340
he's angry because he had an angry father. And he
773
00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:51.599
stands up for Herbert saying, this man is your son.
774
00:37:51.659 --> 00:37:54.300
And he comes up with the most wonderful, like it
775
00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:58.400
could be Arthur Miller. And he comes out and stands
776
00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:01.260
up for him. And it's a very nice dramatic twist
777
00:38:01.320 --> 00:38:02.480
in Act Two, which I like.
778
00:38:02.900 --> 00:38:05.559
You said in Python, there were disagreements. I know in
779
00:38:05.980 --> 00:38:11.440
my comedy career, I just became, with all my different
780
00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:16.070
collaborators and creative partners, arguments and fights. And you'd come
781
00:38:16.110 --> 00:38:17.809
down to, if someone else was listening to it, they'd
782
00:38:17.829 --> 00:38:20.110
think you were insane. You talked about how you'd all
783
00:38:20.170 --> 00:38:22.949
argue in Python about, is this the right chair? No,
784
00:38:22.989 --> 00:38:25.050
this isn't the right chair. No, the dead parrot should
785
00:38:25.070 --> 00:38:27.469
look like this. It shouldn't look like that because that's
786
00:38:27.510 --> 00:38:30.469
not funny, but this is. And I remembered Robert Smigel,
787
00:38:30.650 --> 00:38:35.239
one of the, just genius people I've been fortunate to
788
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:37.739
work with over the years. I remember once us going
789
00:38:37.820 --> 00:38:40.510
back and forth, arguing about something forever, and this is
790
00:38:40.550 --> 00:38:43.000
maybe 30 years ago, And I said, no, but it
791
00:38:43.059 --> 00:38:45.239
got a big laugh. And he went, yes, but that's
792
00:38:45.340 --> 00:38:48.280
not the kind of laugh we want at that point.
793
00:38:50.190 --> 00:38:53.289
And I was thinking, it's a goddamn laugh. What do
794
00:38:53.309 --> 00:38:55.750
you mean it's not the laugh we want at that point?
795
00:38:56.550 --> 00:38:59.469
But I also understand what he's saying, you know? And so,
796
00:39:00.469 --> 00:39:03.429
but anyone else listening outside the door would think these
797
00:39:03.469 --> 00:39:06.869
two idiots, what is their problem? But I think that
798
00:39:06.909 --> 00:39:10.239
is the common thread just in this process. If I
799
00:39:10.280 --> 00:39:12.760
think if you're, trying to do it right, which is.
800
00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:15.719
I think it's a fascinating process. And I, I, I,
801
00:39:16.059 --> 00:39:18.110
I was had some very good mentors. We used to
802
00:39:18.139 --> 00:39:19.909
write for jokes for David Frost.
803
00:39:19.989 --> 00:39:20.110
Yeah.
804
00:39:20.190 --> 00:39:23.429
You know, Barry Cryden, Dick Voss were people who taught
805
00:39:23.469 --> 00:39:25.889
me how to be, you know, what to do and
806
00:39:25.929 --> 00:39:30.840
how the ropes. And then you find your own companions
807
00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:35.110
who then become argumentative. It really was very argumentative. I mean,
808
00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:41.449
sometimes rows, huge blazing rows would break out. But again,
809
00:39:41.489 --> 00:39:47.980
I think that's because if you don't care, it's not important. And, and, and,
810
00:39:48.260 --> 00:39:50.579
and I think I only was not very good at
811
00:39:50.679 --> 00:39:54.900
standing up because I was a solo writer in that group.
812
00:39:55.559 --> 00:39:58.239
And I remember, and then that's why I think I
813
00:39:58.280 --> 00:40:00.610
got on with George. He was a solo between two
814
00:40:00.659 --> 00:40:02.829
big forces of Lennon and McCartney.
815
00:40:02.889 --> 00:40:03.190
Right.
816
00:40:03.449 --> 00:40:05.750
And I was between, you know, Mike and Terry, Mike
817
00:40:05.769 --> 00:40:08.550
and Terry wrote and John and Graham wrote. And I
818
00:40:08.590 --> 00:40:11.690
remember when George came out to the filming of, uh,
819
00:40:12.110 --> 00:40:14.179
The Life of Brian he paid for. He said, how's
820
00:40:14.219 --> 00:40:16.800
it going? I said, well, it's all right. It's hard
821
00:40:16.820 --> 00:40:20.159
to get on screen, you know, with Michael Palin and
822
00:40:20.199 --> 00:40:22.960
John Cleese. He said, imagine how it was trying to
823
00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:27.219
get into the studio with Lennon and McCartney.
824
00:40:27.489 --> 00:40:28.090
Mic drop.
825
00:40:28.530 --> 00:40:31.510
Okay, you got it.
826
00:40:31.530 --> 00:40:31.949
I got it.
827
00:40:32.869 --> 00:40:35.929
You think you have problems. Yeah, exactly. Cry me a river.
828
00:40:37.690 --> 00:40:40.079
This is, and we don't have to talk about this,
829
00:40:40.179 --> 00:40:43.739
but it's something that as a, lifelong, someone who's been
830
00:40:43.820 --> 00:40:47.460
so influenced and odd by Python. I think of it
831
00:40:47.579 --> 00:40:50.099
as sort of Santa Claus, like a child. I just
832
00:40:50.239 --> 00:40:52.760
want to believe that everyone's getting along. And you and
833
00:40:52.800 --> 00:40:57.550
Cleese famously lately have had your disagreements and that have
834
00:40:57.590 --> 00:41:01.389
come out in public. And I know I'll think, oh,
835
00:41:01.449 --> 00:41:04.710
I don't want mommy and daddy to fight, but that's
836
00:41:05.010 --> 00:41:09.320
childlike of me because I you're human beings that disagree
837
00:41:09.420 --> 00:41:10.280
and you've known each other.
838
00:41:10.199 --> 00:41:10.420
A long time.
839
00:41:10.440 --> 00:41:14.860
We don't disagree about comedy. This is only about money. Yeah.
840
00:41:15.150 --> 00:41:16.389
This is only about business.
841
00:41:16.690 --> 00:41:16.869
Yeah.
842
00:41:16.969 --> 00:41:19.809
And, and there's no reason, I mean, a fool and
843
00:41:19.849 --> 00:41:22.590
his money are easy parted, you know, six of us,
844
00:41:22.670 --> 00:41:25.230
you know, much more quickly. I mean, I think, I
845
00:41:25.269 --> 00:41:28.789
think there's, there's no right or wrong way to deal
846
00:41:28.829 --> 00:41:31.730
with business. And if somebody has one view of it
847
00:41:31.809 --> 00:41:35.239
and somebody doesn't and somebody has another, those can lead
848
00:41:35.260 --> 00:41:36.199
to very bad arguments.
849
00:41:36.219 --> 00:41:36.420
Yes.
850
00:41:36.840 --> 00:41:40.219
And, Unfortunately, we don't see each other enough. I haven't
851
00:41:40.280 --> 00:41:41.519
seen them in 10 years.
852
00:41:41.539 --> 00:41:44.000
It's been 10 years since you saw John?
853
00:41:44.719 --> 00:41:47.440
Nine since John, 10 since Mike. If you don't sit
854
00:41:47.480 --> 00:41:50.699
across the table and know that person and what decade
855
00:41:50.760 --> 00:41:55.139
they're in, I think there's a lot of room for disagreement. And,
856
00:41:55.460 --> 00:41:59.500
you know, we're just old. And it's like we never
857
00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:05.079
disagreed on the very important things on what was funny, really.
858
00:42:05.260 --> 00:42:05.420
Yeah.
859
00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:06.980
But that was a while ago.
860
00:42:07.119 --> 00:42:12.610
You know, there's also, there's a misconception that anyone could have,
861
00:42:12.849 --> 00:42:16.590
which is, wait a minute, Monty Python, the most, in
862
00:42:16.630 --> 00:42:20.210
my opinion, influential show of all time. And then that
863
00:42:20.250 --> 00:42:24.039
led to these movies, which are, in my opinion, flawless
864
00:42:24.280 --> 00:42:30.460
and beautiful and fantastic. And that you've all gone on
865
00:42:30.500 --> 00:42:33.239
to these things. And then, of course, Spamalot, a huge hit.
866
00:42:33.639 --> 00:42:36.079
And you talk about how there's this perception that, well,
867
00:42:36.119 --> 00:42:39.860
everyone in Python must be driving around in Bentleys with cash,
868
00:42:40.820 --> 00:42:44.400
you know, in convertibles with cash just flying out. And
869
00:42:44.460 --> 00:42:49.539
that you say, you know, we're all touring at this
870
00:42:49.679 --> 00:42:53.710
age to keep it going. And that's a misconception that
871
00:42:53.750 --> 00:42:54.329
people can have.
872
00:42:54.530 --> 00:42:57.579
I think so, because... You know, it sort of depends
873
00:42:57.619 --> 00:43:01.960
what sort of deals you have. And nowadays, residuals are
874
00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:04.639
becoming a thing of the past. You know, they've got
875
00:43:04.679 --> 00:43:08.389
all the music residuals. You know, you've got Spotify and YouTube.
876
00:43:08.429 --> 00:43:10.929
Everything takes everything. You know, I mean, I think it's
877
00:43:10.969 --> 00:43:15.690
very difficult. I don't mind it because I quite like
878
00:43:15.730 --> 00:43:18.210
doing what I do. I quite like going out there
879
00:43:18.230 --> 00:43:20.840
and making people laugh, see if I can still make
880
00:43:20.860 --> 00:43:23.349
them laugh. Because I think that's a sort of little
881
00:43:23.409 --> 00:43:27.409
joy that we get. I think it's a secret little joy.
882
00:43:27.429 --> 00:43:31.670
We're all comedy junkies, laugh junkies. And so I'm about
883
00:43:31.710 --> 00:43:33.710
to go and do a tour of Australia and New Zealand.
884
00:43:33.769 --> 00:43:37.949
And I've got some really wonderful surprises. I like surprising people.
885
00:43:38.590 --> 00:43:42.440
I like making my shows about something. So there's like
886
00:43:42.480 --> 00:43:46.059
a through line. I was with Professor Brian Cox last week.
887
00:43:46.099 --> 00:43:48.139
And he said, he's doing a show. And I said,
888
00:43:48.179 --> 00:43:50.500
what's yours about? And I said, mine's about the meaning
889
00:43:50.519 --> 00:43:55.019
of life. And he said, well, so is mine. I said, yeah,
890
00:43:55.079 --> 00:43:56.159
but mine will be deep.
891
00:44:01.760 --> 00:44:05.739
You introduced me. You introduced me to him at a part.
892
00:44:05.780 --> 00:44:07.579
I mean, again, this is one of the gifts of
893
00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:11.010
getting to go to Eric Idle's home is you said, oh,
894
00:44:11.050 --> 00:44:14.510
here's Brian Cox. And we chatted and he's this brilliant mind.
895
00:44:14.550 --> 00:44:17.190
And the next thing you know, he's I become somewhat,
896
00:44:17.510 --> 00:44:21.539
you know, friendly with him. And I think. You have salons.
897
00:44:21.920 --> 00:44:24.500
It's nice what you do. You get really smart. It's
898
00:44:24.539 --> 00:44:30.000
not just funny people. It's music people. It's people from science.
899
00:44:30.260 --> 00:44:34.369
It's people from astrology. It's people who are historians. And
900
00:44:34.769 --> 00:44:37.050
I can just see that you have this endless joy
901
00:44:37.429 --> 00:44:38.610
for trying to figure it all out.
902
00:44:39.289 --> 00:44:43.190
I like putting people together. I like conversation. But I
903
00:44:43.309 --> 00:44:45.150
love at the end of the evening is a ding-dong.
904
00:44:45.309 --> 00:44:48.110
We have a play. And so I love musicians. And
905
00:44:48.130 --> 00:44:52.059
so I've always got musicians. And anybody like Brian Cox,
906
00:44:52.099 --> 00:44:54.420
if he's going to tell you about Quantum, and that's
907
00:44:54.500 --> 00:44:57.780
very nice over dinner, you know. Yeah. And he also
908
00:44:57.800 --> 00:45:00.860
plays the piano. So we have gigs. His son George
909
00:45:00.900 --> 00:45:01.800
plays guitar.
910
00:45:01.820 --> 00:45:02.059
Wow.
911
00:45:02.639 --> 00:45:05.500
And I've been playing with this group who have been
912
00:45:05.559 --> 00:45:08.130
playing with the Monkees, and they're really great. And we
913
00:45:08.150 --> 00:45:12.090
just sit around and play hit after hit. That's when
914
00:45:12.110 --> 00:45:15.710
I'm happiest. After dinner, out come the guitars. We'll just
915
00:45:15.730 --> 00:45:16.110
sing for hours.
916
00:45:16.130 --> 00:45:18.550
It's funny you say this, because what is it about? I've...
917
00:45:19.179 --> 00:45:23.139
love playing guitar. I could never make a dime off
918
00:45:23.179 --> 00:45:27.820
of it, but it's my hobby and I really love
919
00:45:27.880 --> 00:45:33.079
doing it. I got to do the Newport Folk Festival
920
00:45:33.639 --> 00:45:36.760
month or two ago and there's footage of it and
921
00:45:36.780 --> 00:45:38.960
I'm up there playing with all these amazing people and
922
00:45:38.980 --> 00:45:42.739
Jack White came. But the comment that shows up every
923
00:45:42.800 --> 00:45:46.599
time I'm up there is, this is the most joyous
924
00:45:46.639 --> 00:45:49.519
I've ever seen Conan. He seems so much happier doing
925
00:45:49.559 --> 00:45:54.699
this than comedy. I thought, I love comedy, but they're
926
00:45:54.739 --> 00:45:56.719
not wrong. I love that.
927
00:45:56.820 --> 00:46:00.960
Me too. And just playing and gigging with people and
928
00:46:01.360 --> 00:46:04.079
having fun and listening. Because it's a different part of
929
00:46:04.119 --> 00:46:07.139
your brain. You're not thinking. You're not obsessive. And where's
930
00:46:07.159 --> 00:46:10.989
the next laugh? You know, you're just feeling the next chord.
931
00:46:11.769 --> 00:46:14.309
I love that. And I'm doing a show now, which
932
00:46:14.409 --> 00:46:15.610
is really a one-man musical.
933
00:46:15.940 --> 00:46:16.139
Yeah.
934
00:46:16.340 --> 00:46:18.199
And I do a couple of songs. So one's a
935
00:46:18.239 --> 00:46:21.710
tribute to George Harrison I wrote, which I really like
936
00:46:21.730 --> 00:46:24.190
because I miss him a lot. And one's for Robin,
937
00:46:24.409 --> 00:46:28.030
which I wrote for his memorial. And it's a very
938
00:46:28.090 --> 00:46:31.599
sweet song. And I put up pictures of them. And
939
00:46:32.179 --> 00:46:34.559
it's kind of a nice way of recognizing that people
940
00:46:34.599 --> 00:46:37.420
have moved on and gone and say, well, this isn't
941
00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:40.429
all like, you know. This is an old maudlin. I mean,
942
00:46:40.449 --> 00:46:43.469
there's a lot of good jokes, but... Well, you've written.
943
00:46:43.769 --> 00:46:48.219
First of all, it's the most requested song at funerals.
944
00:46:49.659 --> 00:46:53.030
I think in... Certainly in the UK, maybe in the world.
945
00:46:53.340 --> 00:46:54.219
And what's the second?
946
00:46:59.199 --> 00:47:00.260
That's a really good question.
947
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:04.460
Actually, it was My Way it replaced. Which is really
948
00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:06.929
a terrible song for when you're dying, isn't it? I
949
00:47:06.949 --> 00:47:09.989
did it. My way.
950
00:47:10.809 --> 00:47:14.030
I smoked, I smoked and smoked. They said I shouldn't,
951
00:47:14.170 --> 00:47:19.630
but I did. I ate fatty foods. They said I shouldn't,
952
00:47:19.670 --> 00:47:26.050
but I did. You wrote, Always Look on the Bright
953
00:47:26.070 --> 00:47:31.539
Side of Life. And it's such a great song. I mean,
954
00:47:31.559 --> 00:47:35.800
it's an amazing scene in life of Brian. And at
955
00:47:35.820 --> 00:47:41.500
the time, I remember it extremely controversial because people are dying,
956
00:47:41.519 --> 00:47:43.320
they're on a crucifix and singing, Always Look on the
957
00:47:43.340 --> 00:47:46.079
Bright Side of Life. And I think- It's everything. It
958
00:47:47.139 --> 00:47:51.539
is the perspective that I completely 100 percent agree with,
959
00:47:52.519 --> 00:47:57.179
which is this is terrible and ridiculous and silly at
960
00:47:57.219 --> 00:48:00.269
the same time. That is sometimes the only way we
961
00:48:00.309 --> 00:48:03.150
can go. We can move on. And it's just and
962
00:48:03.170 --> 00:48:05.230
it's got my one of my life's got a funny plot.
963
00:48:05.250 --> 00:48:06.909
You're here and then you're not like it's that's all
964
00:48:06.929 --> 00:48:08.030
there is to it, I think.
965
00:48:08.599 --> 00:48:08.960
Yes.
966
00:48:09.139 --> 00:48:11.510
I mean, what's really funny about always looking on the
967
00:48:11.550 --> 00:48:14.889
bright side of life is you are being crucified. There's
968
00:48:14.949 --> 00:48:20.460
very little to look forward to at that point. Let's
969
00:48:20.579 --> 00:48:24.860
face it. If there's any point in life.
970
00:48:25.260 --> 00:48:26.989
Eric, I think you're being overly negative.
971
00:48:27.820 --> 00:48:29.030
Yeah, you're giving it a bad rap.
972
00:48:29.260 --> 00:48:32.050
You're getting a good stretch in the low back.
973
00:48:32.110 --> 00:48:32.869
Oh, God.
974
00:48:32.889 --> 00:48:36.230
Well, you are. Oh, man. Between the L4 and L5,
975
00:48:36.429 --> 00:48:38.829
gravity is giving you a little pull.
976
00:48:40.010 --> 00:48:42.150
But it is an ironic song, and I think it's
977
00:48:42.190 --> 00:48:44.550
a war song, and I think it comes from my father.
978
00:48:45.590 --> 00:48:48.690
Their generation, their songs were always like, oh, always look
979
00:48:48.710 --> 00:48:52.210
on the bright, the blue skies will open, you know,
980
00:48:52.250 --> 00:48:56.539
bluebirds over the... They were always about future optimism because
981
00:48:56.559 --> 00:48:59.219
they're in a war. So I think that's what that
982
00:48:59.239 --> 00:49:01.460
sort of song is. It's just like a war song.
983
00:49:01.980 --> 00:49:05.420
And it was played in the Falklands when HMS Sheffield
984
00:49:05.460 --> 00:49:08.389
was hit by an Exocet and they had to wait
985
00:49:08.409 --> 00:49:11.130
for rescue for three hours. They sang that for three hours.
986
00:49:11.150 --> 00:49:11.449
That's amazing.
987
00:49:11.900 --> 00:49:16.389
And so I think there is something recognizing that it
988
00:49:16.489 --> 00:49:20.519
is a ridiculous thing. And teams... you know, seeing it
989
00:49:20.559 --> 00:49:23.260
when they're losing at football. I mean, they move on
990
00:49:23.280 --> 00:49:25.860
the bright side, you know, there's nothing to look forward
991
00:49:25.880 --> 00:49:26.760
to at that point.
992
00:49:26.900 --> 00:49:27.440
Right, right.
993
00:49:27.500 --> 00:49:31.639
We're down. It's over. There's not enough time left. I
994
00:49:31.679 --> 00:49:33.369
have to ask you this because I know that you've
995
00:49:33.869 --> 00:49:38.730
talked about playing guitar with these iconic musicians. You played
996
00:49:38.789 --> 00:49:41.829
for hours and probably thousands of hours with George Harrison.
997
00:49:41.849 --> 00:49:45.050
You also stayed up all night once in Rome playing
998
00:49:45.070 --> 00:49:49.190
with Keith Richards. And I'm just curious how you can,
999
00:49:49.769 --> 00:49:52.170
don't you leave your body at some point and say,
1000
00:49:52.190 --> 00:49:55.820
that's Keith Richards I'm playing guitar with, or that's George
1001
00:49:55.840 --> 00:49:57.550
Harrison I'm playing guitar with? How do you get over that?
1002
00:49:58.110 --> 00:50:01.769
Oh, I think pretty quickly as you're playing along, you know,
1003
00:50:01.809 --> 00:50:03.960
so you're in the moment if you're playing with somebody.
1004
00:50:04.039 --> 00:50:07.019
And luckily I had a pretty good, I had a
1005
00:50:07.059 --> 00:50:10.619
jazz guitar background, so I knew better chords than they
1006
00:50:10.659 --> 00:50:11.360
did often.
1007
00:50:11.619 --> 00:50:11.880
Right.
1008
00:50:12.079 --> 00:50:13.719
But with Keith, you know, I mean, Keith is like,
1009
00:50:14.329 --> 00:50:17.510
The most extraordinary. He's like Noel Coward. You know, he behaves, oh,
1010
00:50:17.530 --> 00:50:19.429
dear boy, do come up and have a, what can
1011
00:50:19.469 --> 00:50:21.539
I get you? I mean, he's like wearing, you know,
1012
00:50:21.619 --> 00:50:26.579
dressing gowns and very calm. He's the lunatic, you know.
1013
00:50:26.599 --> 00:50:31.260
That's hilarious. Oh, come in, please. Please do come in.
1014
00:50:31.280 --> 00:50:34.690
And he's wearing like a, he's wearing a caftan.
1015
00:50:34.789 --> 00:50:36.190
Not a caftan, dressing gown.
1016
00:50:36.349 --> 00:50:36.789
Dressing gown.
1017
00:50:36.849 --> 00:50:40.210
And a little, you know, a little smooch. Oh, dear boy,
1018
00:50:40.469 --> 00:50:42.429
can I get you a glass of brandy? What would
1019
00:50:42.449 --> 00:50:45.090
you like? How can you take? You know, I mean,
1020
00:50:45.369 --> 00:50:49.829
quite a different world that you'd expect. And we did
1021
00:50:49.869 --> 00:50:52.409
sing all night that night. And, you know, it was
1022
00:50:52.469 --> 00:50:52.929
in Rome.
1023
00:50:53.750 --> 00:50:55.570
And when in Rome.
1024
00:50:55.869 --> 00:50:57.969
When in Rome. So then the next I turn up
1025
00:50:58.010 --> 00:51:00.289
at the set and Chevy, I hadn't got any words left.
1026
00:51:00.309 --> 00:51:02.630
It was my last scene. And then Chevy comes up
1027
00:51:02.650 --> 00:51:04.570
to me and says, I've written this big new scene
1028
00:51:04.639 --> 00:51:04.949
for us.
1029
00:51:05.380 --> 00:51:06.639
Oh, is this for European Vacation?
1030
00:51:06.659 --> 00:51:06.820
Yeah.
1031
00:51:07.099 --> 00:51:10.519
And I went... And he's all, fuck.
1032
00:51:12.199 --> 00:51:15.199
So you had to lose a scene in European Vacation
1033
00:51:15.219 --> 00:51:17.719
because you were up all night playing and singing with
1034
00:51:17.760 --> 00:51:18.159
Keith Richards.
1035
00:51:18.199 --> 00:51:19.079
I'm sorry, yes.
1036
00:51:20.480 --> 00:51:23.280
Well, that's probably as good an excuse as anybody. It's
1037
00:51:23.300 --> 00:51:23.840
worth it.
1038
00:51:23.929 --> 00:51:24.199
Yeah.
1039
00:51:24.260 --> 00:51:25.139
I think it's worth it.
1040
00:51:25.239 --> 00:51:25.449
Yeah.
1041
00:51:25.590 --> 00:51:26.849
I'm going to miss the next podcast.
1042
00:51:26.909 --> 00:51:27.510
I'm sorry.
1043
00:51:29.110 --> 00:51:31.650
I was singing all night with Keith Richards. No, no, no.
1044
00:51:31.670 --> 00:51:34.250
He's in London. What are you talking about? You're in
1045
00:51:34.269 --> 00:51:35.550
the Pacific Palisades.
1046
00:51:35.590 --> 00:51:36.989
You were with Richard Keats.
1047
00:51:37.050 --> 00:51:42.849
Yeah. We got on this very dark topic of death
1048
00:51:42.869 --> 00:51:45.710
and everything. You have one of the funniest ideas ever
1049
00:51:45.730 --> 00:51:48.010
I've heard for an inscription on your tombstone, which I
1050
00:51:48.030 --> 00:51:51.079
really like. I'll tell you what it is because you've
1051
00:51:51.099 --> 00:51:54.219
clearly forgotten. Eric Idle, see Google.
1052
00:51:57.449 --> 00:52:02.349
I'm glad to know that still stands up. It's good.
1053
00:52:02.510 --> 00:52:02.969
Why?
1054
00:52:03.050 --> 00:52:03.530
Why not?
1055
00:52:03.550 --> 00:52:07.369
I mean, what are we getting into here? Exactly. The
1056
00:52:07.389 --> 00:52:08.690
rest is nonsense.
1057
00:52:08.750 --> 00:52:09.210
Yeah.
1058
00:52:09.929 --> 00:52:14.570
Well, I want to thank you. It's a great day
1059
00:52:14.610 --> 00:52:17.429
for me when I get to spend any time with you.
1060
00:52:18.429 --> 00:52:22.280
You're one of my all-time heroes, and you've changed my
1061
00:52:22.300 --> 00:52:24.340
life in so many ways with your work when I
1062
00:52:24.380 --> 00:52:29.730
was a young lad, and you guys completely, I think,
1063
00:52:29.889 --> 00:52:32.690
reordered the universe and showed us all what could be done,
1064
00:52:32.710 --> 00:52:35.869
and I still think you're far ahead of everyone else.
1065
00:52:36.809 --> 00:52:41.420
My love to your family, Tanya, and of course, Lily,
1066
00:52:41.440 --> 00:52:46.570
who I adore. The book is The Spamalot Diaries. And
1067
00:52:46.829 --> 00:52:50.690
it is a joyous read. It's a little harrowing at times,
1068
00:52:51.130 --> 00:52:53.670
but it's great. And it's a great book for anyone
1069
00:52:53.710 --> 00:52:55.929
to read who's in the process of trying to make
1070
00:52:55.969 --> 00:52:59.619
something happen. It could be a Broadway play. It could
1071
00:52:59.639 --> 00:53:02.760
be anything you're trying to do. It's very inspirational.
1072
00:53:02.940 --> 00:53:03.159
Yes.
1073
00:53:03.400 --> 00:53:05.599
And so you've given people a real gift here.
1074
00:53:05.800 --> 00:53:08.449
Oh, that's very kind. I like that. I'm glad that
1075
00:53:08.590 --> 00:53:11.750
that's so, because I do think it's a process, not
1076
00:53:11.789 --> 00:53:12.269
a miracle.
1077
00:53:12.489 --> 00:53:15.250
Yeah. And let's end with just explaining our shirts.
1078
00:53:15.760 --> 00:53:16.199
Indeed.
1079
00:53:16.500 --> 00:53:17.460
You want to explain these?
1080
00:53:17.480 --> 00:53:20.880
Well, these shirts are to raise money for a statue
1081
00:53:21.989 --> 00:53:26.289
for Terry Jones. And they're going to build a statue
1082
00:53:26.309 --> 00:53:31.650
for him on the promenade in Wales, where he comes from,
1083
00:53:31.710 --> 00:53:35.489
Colwyn Bay. And they're raising money on a go... for
1084
00:53:35.530 --> 00:53:38.389
fund me basis, and so we're here promoting.
1085
00:53:38.510 --> 00:53:40.469
I think there should be a statue to Sherry Jones.
1086
00:53:40.530 --> 00:53:41.969
I think this is a lovely idea.
1087
00:53:41.989 --> 00:53:45.489
We are hoping it will be the nude organist, but
1088
00:53:45.530 --> 00:53:49.969
we're not sure.
1089
00:53:50.170 --> 00:53:51.929
And you said it was a GoFundMe, is that correct?
1090
00:53:51.989 --> 00:53:53.809
It's a GoFundMe. It's a GoFundMe. Yes, it is.
1091
00:53:53.949 --> 00:53:56.010
So people can just, well, they can see Google.
1092
00:53:56.300 --> 00:54:05.619
Yeah. Very nicely done, sir. Eric Idle, go forth and
1093
00:54:05.639 --> 00:54:06.300
do good works.
1094
00:54:06.679 --> 00:54:08.900
Thank you. It's always a joy to talk to you.
1095
00:54:19.869 --> 00:54:23.630
Good nights are about the people, the laughs, the real
1096
00:54:23.670 --> 00:54:26.849
moments you don't want to miss. So why step outside?
1097
00:54:27.750 --> 00:54:31.789
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1098
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1099
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1100
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1101
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1102
00:54:44.159 --> 00:54:44.960
already use nicotine.
1103
00:54:47.519 --> 00:54:51.199
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1104
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1105
00:54:54.829 --> 00:54:57.570
lithium that can be used again and again. So when
1106
00:54:57.590 --> 00:55:00.610
they're finished, don't let them go to waste. Recycle them
1107
00:55:00.929 --> 00:55:04.369
for free. It's easy. Just return your old batteries and
1108
00:55:04.409 --> 00:55:08.179
electricals for free recycling to your nearest participating retailer or
1109
00:55:08.199 --> 00:55:11.719
your local recycling centre. Find your nearest free drop-off point
1110
00:55:11.880 --> 00:55:13.360
at weireland.ie today.
1111
00:55:16.150 --> 00:55:18.800
You offer them a cuppa when they saw yours. That's
1112
00:55:18.920 --> 00:55:22.719
definitely enough for a little treat. Cadbury Delights. With 91
1113
00:55:22.719 --> 00:55:26.079
calories of milk chocolate, nougat, and caramel in every bar.
1114
00:55:32.269 --> 00:55:34.630
On an episode not too long ago, we talked about
1115
00:55:34.750 --> 00:55:36.090
your grandma Maude.
1116
00:55:36.389 --> 00:55:37.150
Maude, right?
1117
00:55:37.409 --> 00:55:42.960
Yeah, Maude. Yes, this would be my mother's mother, Ruth Reardon.
1118
00:55:43.320 --> 00:55:46.599
And yet, for reasons we didn't know when we were kids, everyone,
1119
00:55:47.070 --> 00:55:50.530
we all called her Maudie. And then I asked her once,
1120
00:55:50.590 --> 00:55:53.170
why do we call you Maudie? And she said that
1121
00:55:53.349 --> 00:55:57.610
there was a cartoon strip back, maybe even before the
1122
00:55:57.630 --> 00:55:59.650
turn of the century or at the turn of the century,
1123
00:55:59.750 --> 00:56:02.139
I believe she was born in 1890. And she was
1124
00:56:02.219 --> 00:56:07.840
in a playground and some kids were harassing her, you know,
1125
00:56:07.880 --> 00:56:11.079
teasing her. And so she kicked at them and they
1126
00:56:11.099 --> 00:56:15.039
started calling her Maudie, Maudie. because there was a well-known
1127
00:56:15.139 --> 00:56:17.199
cartoon at the time about a, I don't know if
1128
00:56:17.239 --> 00:56:19.619
it's a mule or a horse that kicked people. Oh
1129
00:56:19.639 --> 00:56:20.199
my God.
1130
00:56:20.260 --> 00:56:20.739
Here it is.
1131
00:56:21.219 --> 00:56:24.360
And this is the mule or the horse kicking someone
1132
00:56:24.400 --> 00:56:26.320
right there. And her name was Maude.
1133
00:56:26.400 --> 00:56:29.500
And her name was Maude. This is it. Oh my God.
1134
00:56:29.539 --> 00:56:32.500
I'm trying to see what the date is on this.
1135
00:56:32.519 --> 00:56:34.639
That would be cool to know. I can't see. I
1136
00:56:34.900 --> 00:56:35.760
can't make out the date.
1137
00:56:35.780 --> 00:56:38.980
I thought it said 1904 somewhere, but that'd be too late.
1138
00:56:39.400 --> 00:56:41.179
No, I don't think so. You can still kick people
1139
00:56:41.199 --> 00:56:45.789
when you're 14. This is really cool. This is.
1140
00:56:46.150 --> 00:56:47.889
Her classmates sound like dicks.
1141
00:56:48.369 --> 00:56:48.710
Well.
1142
00:56:48.789 --> 00:56:49.269
Don't they?
1143
00:56:49.349 --> 00:56:49.730
I mean.
1144
00:56:49.789 --> 00:56:51.130
Kids don't change.
1145
00:56:51.150 --> 00:56:53.869
I know, but they were bugging her so much that
1146
00:56:53.909 --> 00:56:56.440
she needed to kick them. And then they started calling
1147
00:56:56.500 --> 00:56:59.059
her a kicking mule.
1148
00:56:59.260 --> 00:57:01.820
Well, yeah, but it's not like the name stuck and
1149
00:57:01.860 --> 00:57:04.139
her grandchildren ended up using it.
1150
00:57:04.519 --> 00:57:05.059
Oh, no.
1151
00:57:05.139 --> 00:57:07.440
This is so cool. This is a good. There's a
1152
00:57:07.480 --> 00:57:10.139
guy who gets kicked by a mule. He's angry. So
1153
00:57:10.179 --> 00:57:12.590
he takes the mule. He says, I'll fix this pesky critter.
1154
00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:16.199
He ties the mule up. The mule kicks some more people.
1155
00:57:16.300 --> 00:57:20.659
It's kicking automobiles. It's kicking everybody. And then the people
1156
00:57:20.739 --> 00:57:24.619
realize that the owner's the one that caused all this problem.
1157
00:57:24.710 --> 00:57:28.150
So they go and they kick him. And the mule
1158
00:57:28.210 --> 00:57:30.630
then gets to laugh at the owner who just got kicked.
1159
00:57:31.329 --> 00:57:32.030
Hee haw.
1160
00:57:32.570 --> 00:57:34.909
Oh, and by the way, you can see this. Just
1161
00:57:34.949 --> 00:57:37.820
go to at Team Coco podcasts on Instagram.
1162
00:57:38.050 --> 00:57:41.480
My question is, did they do the same bit Every week?
1163
00:57:41.599 --> 00:57:42.139
I don't know.
1164
00:57:42.260 --> 00:57:46.000
How many of these cartoon strips did they do? At
1165
00:57:46.019 --> 00:57:50.480
least this is a cartoon strip that's acceptable today. If
1166
00:57:50.519 --> 00:57:52.300
you look at a lot of cartoon strips from the
1167
00:57:52.340 --> 00:57:55.889
turn of the century, they would not pass muster anymore.
1168
00:57:55.909 --> 00:57:56.530
They're incredibly despicable.
1169
00:57:56.550 --> 00:57:58.289
No, but wait until you find out that mule's politics.
1170
00:58:03.070 --> 00:58:08.559
Wow, this is an America first mule. This is a
1171
00:58:08.639 --> 00:58:12.840
closed border mule. This is so cool to see this,
1172
00:58:12.880 --> 00:58:15.409
to think that my grandmother would have seen this.
1173
00:58:16.570 --> 00:58:18.949
It does say to be continued next Sunday.
1174
00:58:18.969 --> 00:58:19.039
Yep.
1175
00:58:19.769 --> 00:58:21.190
So I bet there's a whole story.
1176
00:58:21.210 --> 00:58:23.750
Yeah, I think this, my guess is this mule just
1177
00:58:23.789 --> 00:58:24.809
keeps on kicking people.
1178
00:58:25.570 --> 00:58:28.050
I have a little info about it. And Her Name
1179
00:58:28.090 --> 00:58:29.869
Was Maude is the name of the strip. It's a
1180
00:58:29.889 --> 00:58:32.860
comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper. It first appeared in
1181
00:58:32.880 --> 00:58:36.170
the Hearst newspapers on July 24th, 1904.
1182
00:58:36.170 --> 00:58:36.750
Uh-huh, that's it.
1183
00:58:37.449 --> 00:58:40.300
The rest is stuff. Wait, can I just say, Adam,
1184
00:58:40.320 --> 00:58:42.960
you approached the mic like, I've just got some news.
1185
00:58:43.280 --> 00:58:47.179
The Hindenburg has exploded at Lakehurst, New Jersey. All souls
1186
00:58:47.239 --> 00:58:47.820
have been lost.
1187
00:58:48.800 --> 00:58:51.570
Even you seem surprised by your own lack of information.
1188
00:58:51.610 --> 00:58:53.300
This is less interesting than I thought it would be. Yes,
1189
00:58:53.550 --> 00:58:56.510
her name is Maude in 1904, in newspapers.
1190
00:58:56.849 --> 00:58:59.409
Although Hearst Papers, though, it probably does have some politics.
1191
00:58:59.449 --> 00:59:01.849
Yeah, well, this is, I don't know, I love that
1192
00:59:01.929 --> 00:59:04.820
kind of connection to Just, I mean, first of all,
1193
00:59:04.840 --> 00:59:07.789
this is, as I've spoken about before, I love my grandmother.
1194
00:59:08.349 --> 00:59:11.210
And after my grandfather passed, she lived with us for
1195
00:59:11.230 --> 00:59:15.510
a while. And she, yeah, she was this amazing link
1196
00:59:15.949 --> 00:59:20.380
to the late 19th, early 20th century. And I remembered
1197
00:59:20.400 --> 00:59:22.619
her telling me it was once New Year's Day. And
1198
00:59:23.119 --> 00:59:25.280
she told me she had a very clear memory of
1199
00:59:25.760 --> 00:59:28.349
of New York City because she was staying with relatives
1200
00:59:28.389 --> 00:59:30.949
in New York City in 1900 on New Year's Day.
1201
00:59:31.489 --> 00:59:34.210
And she was describing it. She was describing the carriages
1202
00:59:34.250 --> 00:59:36.929
going by, how cold it was, the snow. She said,
1203
00:59:36.949 --> 00:59:40.199
I can see it right now, like perfectly. And I thought,
1204
00:59:40.659 --> 00:59:44.480
I'm always fascinated by time travel, that concept that you
1205
00:59:44.500 --> 00:59:46.820
can have a human connection to somebody. I don't know
1206
00:59:46.840 --> 00:59:48.559
if you had this with, because I know, Sona, you
1207
00:59:48.599 --> 00:59:49.400
lived with.
1208
00:59:49.840 --> 00:59:50.119
Oh, my.
1209
00:59:50.750 --> 00:59:51.110
Yeah, my.
1210
00:59:51.150 --> 00:59:51.750
Your grandparents.
1211
00:59:51.869 --> 00:59:53.900
Yaya and Dede both lived into their 90s.
1212
00:59:54.190 --> 00:59:56.969
Into their 90s. Yeah. And they came from.
1213
00:59:57.269 --> 00:59:58.599
They came from Istanbul.
1214
00:59:58.679 --> 00:59:59.539
Yep.
1215
00:59:59.739 --> 01:00:02.239
And, I mean, my grandpa started... He was a butcher when.
1216
01:00:02.199 --> 01:00:02.699
He was 12. Like.
1217
01:00:04.050 --> 01:00:05.739
They just put him to work really early.
1218
01:00:05.760 --> 01:00:06.139
Right.
1219
01:00:06.300 --> 01:00:09.519
So it's like the idea that you are trusting a
1220
01:00:09.519 --> 01:00:13.079
12 year old with slaughtering animals is just feels like
1221
01:00:13.139 --> 01:00:14.300
a completely different world.
1222
01:00:14.559 --> 01:00:17.929
But also just the fact that then they come to
1223
01:00:17.969 --> 01:00:22.320
this country and they're living with you and it's. You're
1224
01:00:22.360 --> 01:00:24.460
going out to In-N-Out to grab a burger.
1225
01:00:24.500 --> 01:00:25.000
Yeah.
1226
01:00:25.599 --> 01:00:27.900
And whatever else you're up to. It's just this amazing
1227
01:00:27.960 --> 01:00:30.199
clash of cultures. I find that stuff fascinating.
1228
01:00:30.219 --> 01:00:32.480
Well, my great grandma also lived with us. And she
1229
01:00:32.519 --> 01:00:34.920
was old as shit. She was really old.
1230
01:00:35.179 --> 01:00:36.619
You don't say old as shit.
1231
01:00:36.639 --> 01:00:39.179
She was really, really old. And I remember she was
1232
01:00:39.239 --> 01:00:41.050
this old, wrinkly lady.
1233
01:00:41.139 --> 01:00:43.150
And I was really young. I was maybe like 10.
1234
01:00:43.150 --> 01:00:45.510
And my mom's like, she's going to sleep in your room.
1235
01:00:45.650 --> 01:00:45.800
And I.
1236
01:00:47.429 --> 01:00:49.369
From then on, I was terrified of the dark because
1237
01:00:49.409 --> 01:00:51.670
I thought she was like an old witch lady.
1238
01:00:52.449 --> 01:00:54.389
Wait, when you say she was, what did you say?
1239
01:00:54.510 --> 01:00:57.130
Old as shit? Yeah. How old is old as shit?
1240
01:00:57.329 --> 01:00:59.389
She was, I mean, when I was 10, she was
1241
01:00:59.429 --> 01:00:59.929
like 95.
1242
01:00:59.929 --> 01:01:03.300
Because there are young comedians out there that now see
1243
01:01:03.340 --> 01:01:04.539
me and go, you're old as shit.
1244
01:01:04.599 --> 01:01:04.699
Yeah.
1245
01:01:06.199 --> 01:01:08.440
It's all relative that's right i was 10 and she
1246
01:01:08.480 --> 01:01:10.599
was 60.
1247
01:01:09.960 --> 01:01:11.380
No no seriously how old do.
1248
01:01:11.159 --> 01:01:13.579
You think she was 95 yeah but she was like
1249
01:01:13.599 --> 01:01:15.840
an old wrinkly lady and i was young and i
1250
01:01:15.860 --> 01:01:18.340
was like why is this old person in my room
1251
01:01:18.420 --> 01:01:19.780
and i i got terrified of.
1252
01:01:19.840 --> 01:01:22.619
You're like an awful grandchild i was really bad i
1253
01:01:22.659 --> 01:01:26.190
love this like old and wrinkled why is that in my.
1254
01:01:25.989 --> 01:01:28.510
Room i have we did something else i don't want.
1255
01:01:28.449 --> 01:01:30.880
To i should Well, we got it now.
1256
01:01:30.940 --> 01:01:33.699
This is really bad. So she had a son who
1257
01:01:33.719 --> 01:01:35.579
passed away that no one told her passed away. And
1258
01:01:35.619 --> 01:01:38.139
then my uncle, who was still in Istanbul, and we'd
1259
01:01:38.179 --> 01:01:40.889
hold up two fingers and be like, Menzi, you know,
1260
01:01:41.869 --> 01:01:43.809
touch one of them. And she would touch him and
1261
01:01:43.849 --> 01:01:46.510
be like, oh, that's, you know, Bejo Day Day, who
1262
01:01:46.530 --> 01:01:50.550
was my uncle. And she just instantly start crying. And
1263
01:01:50.590 --> 01:01:52.780
we thought it was, Wait, I don't understand what was
1264
01:01:52.820 --> 01:01:53.260
happening here.
1265
01:01:53.300 --> 01:01:55.559
Because we kept reminding her of these people she hadn't
1266
01:01:55.599 --> 01:01:58.199
seen in a long time. And we'd instantly make her cry.
1267
01:01:58.300 --> 01:02:00.880
And Danny and I were like, let's go make Menzie cry.
1268
01:02:01.079 --> 01:02:01.719
Whoa.
1269
01:02:01.980 --> 01:02:06.360
Oh, my God. You're a monster. You're a sociopath. How
1270
01:02:06.460 --> 01:02:06.900
is that?
1271
01:02:07.260 --> 01:02:10.619
We were just fascinated with her instant, like, sadness.
1272
01:02:10.639 --> 01:02:12.940
I thought you were the true sociopath. But it's you
1273
01:02:12.960 --> 01:02:13.320
all along.
1274
01:02:13.340 --> 01:02:14.280
It really was messed up.
1275
01:02:14.280 --> 01:02:14.840
What a twist.
1276
01:02:15.059 --> 01:02:15.739
No, no, no.
1277
01:02:15.760 --> 01:02:18.219
To be fair, I did it to my grandmother, Maudie, too.
1278
01:02:18.340 --> 01:02:18.480
Oh.
1279
01:02:19.639 --> 01:02:22.940
I used to go, remember that loved one that perished?
1280
01:02:24.119 --> 01:02:25.860
It was fun. We used to call it, it was
1281
01:02:25.900 --> 01:02:28.639
the old fun, we called it the perish game. Hey,
1282
01:02:28.679 --> 01:02:30.630
let's go play perish. And we'd go into Monty's room.
1283
01:02:30.750 --> 01:02:38.030
Remember the one you loved who perished? Look at them waterworks.
1284
01:02:39.599 --> 01:02:41.039
You're an awful, awful person.
1285
01:02:41.059 --> 01:02:41.760
No, no joke.
1286
01:02:41.780 --> 01:02:42.699
That was really bad.
1287
01:02:42.739 --> 01:02:43.340
Yeah, you're a bad person.
1288
01:02:43.360 --> 01:02:43.679
It was bad.
1289
01:02:43.719 --> 01:02:45.119
We wouldn't make her laugh just for fun.
1290
01:02:45.139 --> 01:02:47.159
All right, well, listen, let's have some good come from this.
1291
01:02:47.179 --> 01:02:48.340
You don't need to clarify no joke.
1292
01:02:48.360 --> 01:02:50.920
We would make her cry just for fun because we
1293
01:02:50.940 --> 01:02:51.760
were terrible people.
1294
01:02:51.780 --> 01:02:53.619
Let's have some good come out of this. If you're
1295
01:02:53.639 --> 01:02:58.380
listening right now and you're tempted to go mock a very,
1296
01:02:58.440 --> 01:03:01.820
very old relative by reminding them of someone they lost
1297
01:03:01.900 --> 01:03:03.900
long ago, think twice.
1298
01:03:03.920 --> 01:03:04.719
Yeah.
1299
01:03:05.500 --> 01:03:08.949
That's a little word from Cone O'Brien. Needs a friend.
1300
01:03:11.769 --> 01:03:15.530
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam Ovsessian,
1301
01:03:15.800 --> 01:03:19.920
and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced
1302
01:03:19.960 --> 01:03:23.679
by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Liao. Theme song
1303
01:03:23.719 --> 01:03:27.000
by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.
1304
01:03:27.579 --> 01:03:28.460
Take it away, Jimmy.
1305
01:03:32.079 --> 01:03:35.239
Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair. And our associate talent
1306
01:03:35.280 --> 01:03:39.000
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1307
01:03:39.079 --> 01:03:43.039
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01:03:43.059 --> 01:03:46.260
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01:03:46.280 --> 01:03:48.840
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01:03:48.860 --> 01:03:51.420
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01:03:51.780 --> 01:03:55.460
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01:03:55.800 --> 01:03:59.179
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01:03:59.219 --> 01:04:01.750
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01:04:01.809 --> 01:04:05.949
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01:04:06.030 --> 01:04:09.159
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01:04:09.199 --> 01:04:12.659
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1317
01:04:26.300 --> 01:04:27.860
Good nights are about the people.
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01:04:28.699 --> 01:04:29.159
The laughs.
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01:04:29.679 --> 01:04:32.449
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