IDLE CHATTER
As Monty Python nears its 50th anniversary, original member Eric Idle joined HANNAH STEPHENSON on a trip down memory lane
IT remains one of the most iconic comedy series of our time, spawning films, books, records and tours. Monty Python marks its 50th anniversary this year and is as loved as ever. Coinciding with the milestone date, 75-year-old founding member Eric Idle – who was born in South Shields – has written his ‘sortabiography’, Always Look On the Bright Side Of Life, which charts some of his recollections of the series and its spin-offs.
Eric, John Cleese and Graham Chapman worked together at the Cambridge Footlights (Cambridge University’s now famous dramatics club), later meeting their Oxford Revue rivals Terry Jones and Michael Palin at the Edinburgh Festival.
Terry Gilliam, whose animations would form a fittingly bizarre additions to Monty Python episodes, was introduced to the gang after John Cleese met him in New York while on tour with the Footlights Revue.
As the countdown to Monty Python’s big birthday in October begins, we join Eric for something completely different.
Did they think Python was going to be something big? ABSOLUTELY not. It was just a little late night show we were all doing, but which we were fortunate enough to have total control of.
We weren’t told what to do or stopped from doing anything. We suddenly had the opportunity to do a show exactly how we wanted to do it. That encouraged us to make it something completely different.
Did the show’s late-night slot on BBC allow you more freedom? THERE were fewer executives, who are, of course, the death of comedy. We had worked on light entertainment shows but didn’t feel we belonged in that slot. It was late at night, nobody cared and we were allowed to experiment.
Terry Gilliam made a tremendous difference because he was able to put that Victorian animated framework around it, which gave it a stamp look which other shows didn’t have. The sketches appeared to be connected by this odd surrealistic framework.
What was the initial reaction? THERE were lots of complaints but the BBC ignored them. They were trying to open up this late-night slot, and were suddenly finding there were people up that late who liked a comedy show on Sunday night.
Python wasn’t a popular show at first. We really annoyed people. Middle-class ladies would say, ‘Monty Python! We hate you lot!’ It was much more effectively insulting, rude and nastier than this cuddly group it now appears to be. People didn’t like our attitudes. We were mocking. Upper-class twits were mocked. All the things you were supposed to look up to were mocked. Pantomime Princess Margarets were raced around. It wasn’t respectful.
The show ran for 45 episodes. Did it help that it was one of the first series shown in colour? PYTHON began right at the start of the digital era, which meant that 50 years later, the show physically still doesn’t look as dated as it would had it been shot in black and white and on film.
Python isn’t just one type of humour, it is a compendium of styles. While the cast remains the same, the writers are constantly changing, though you never notice which hand is on the tiller. So there is visual humour, verbal humour, clever humour, silliness, rudeness, sophistication and brazen naughtiness, constantly alternating.
Do you have any favourite sketches?
WE only did the sketches once. Sometimes we did them on stage. I liked doing Nudge (Nudge, Nudge, Wink Wink) but I also liked to do the travel agent, with the guy who goes on and on about being on holidays, how they are awful, and never stops talking.
When we were on tour, I’d end up on the balcony ranting on and on. At the Hollywood Bowl, I ran among the crowd!
There have been five Python movies. Any memorable film moments?
OF all the films, the religious satire Monty Python’s Life Of Brian was the one which caused the most controversy. It’s the story of an ordinary chap called Brian Cohen, who is constantly mistaken for being the long-awaited Messiah. We anticipated some controversy but not quite the outrage it aroused. In America, it was on television news and they picketed the Warner Bros studios.
We didn’t have to do publicity on television for it because the protesters did it for us.
We anticipated that Mary Whitehouse would sue us. Some local councils wouldn’t let it be shown so people simply went into the next town, and in America some states banned it, so people would go to the next state to see it.
What’s the enduring appeal of the song Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life from the movie?
IT started about 13 years after the movie in the football terraces. Fans sang it when they were losing. Then it went up the charts – to number one in some charts – and it was completely unexpected.
People now sing it everywhere, at football matches and funerals. In fact, it’s the number one song requested at British funerals.
WEDDING guests watched as police searched the grounds of a County Durham hotel after a body was found there yesterday.
The death, which was discovered around 5am, is being treated as “unexplained” but there is not thought to be any third party involvement.
Police have not yet released any information about the identity of the deceased.
Police tape was strung up around play equipment and across part of the gardens at Derwent Manor Hotel, near Consett, after the tragic discovery.
While officers searched the nearby play area, a wedding was ongoing within the hotel.
Standing outside, some partygoers were able to see the the police operation. One guest said: “The police arrived some time this morning - I know they weren’t here last night, I was staying and there didn’t seem to be anything happening.
“We’ve been inside at the wedding most of the day so we don’t really know what’s been going on.”
One hotel resident spoke of the confusion after officers arrived.
She said: “We’ve got no idea what, why or how, all we’ve heard is that a body has been found.”
By around 1.30pm, the investigators had begun to wind down their search.
A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: “Police received a report from the ambulance service at about 5.15am on Sunday, January 6, reporting the death of a woman outside the Derwent Manor Hotel in Allansford.
“The death is being treated as unexplained at this time but there is believed to be no third party involvement.
“A report is being prepared for the coroner.”
WEDDING GUESTS SEE POLICE SEARCH