New article about Eric Idle [split topic]

[dissolute ocelot]

The idea of a comic film about elderly knights being old and weak could have been good in another universe. There's loads of pathos in aging former heroes ruing old idealism, and the fall of the Round Table has been well-portrayed in a more serious way by other creatives (TH White, etc). But the Pythons were never going tolerate being in the same room for long enough to make it, and they don't all have the acting ability to do it either. And Gilliam's The Fisher King is probably enough Grail anyhow; almost certainly better than any alternative.

[Terry Torpid]

I'm kind-of coming round to the idea that Cleese might actually be the worst Python, just because of how far he's fallen from being such an incredible comic performer and writer to being such an endlessly bitter, moaning old codger whinging about cancel culture and gladly taking the right-wing shilling.

Idle has always just been Idle, he was always a bit of a dick and in that respect isn't really as disappointing as Cleese's decline into miserable irrelevance.

I sort of like Idle as well. He's been doing the old greedy bastard shtick for yonks now, and while I don't  doubt it's a joke disguising the truth, at least he has a sense of self-awareness. I had to stop following the various Pythons on twitter because of how increasingly disappointing they were becoming, but I don't remember Idle having any particularly egregious political or social hot takes, just standard issue Trump- and Tory-bashing. He doesn't seem to have quite the white bloke victim complex as Cleese and Gilliam. Sure, he complains that he's not raking it in as much as he used to, but he's not up on the cross about pronouns and the like (or at least if he is, he doesn't go on about it)..

I don't care for Spamalot and all that luvvie theatre shite, but he's the only one who at least tried to breathe some life into Python over the years and keep the thing alive. I recall him being a bit miffed that the others weren't grateful enough that he'd made them about a million quid each from the musical, for doing nothing, when he was the one putting in all the work. If he wants to be seen as the torch bearer, then fair enough I reckon.

As for his point that the revenue has dropped off, the sad fact is Python is dead. I don't mean because they're not doing anything new, but because the whole thing isn't particularly popular any more. The Blu-ray release of Flying Circus was a flop. It just hasn't survived like the Beatles (to draw the most tedious comparison). I can't imagine a teenager getting into the show in the same way they're discovering music from that era. The only people who quote it these days are your Clarksons and Littlejohns. It's not even broadcast any more, whereas you still see Fawlty Towers all the time. Such a culturally significant thing, and it's just withered away.

[Pranet]

As for his point that the revenue has dropped off, the sad fact is Python is dead. I don't mean because they're not doing anything new, but because the whole thing isn't particularly popular any more. The Blu-ray release of Flying Circus was a flop. It just hasn't survived like the Beatles (to draw the most tedious comparison). I can't imagine a teenager getting into the show in the same way they're discovering music from that era.

You are not wrong at all generally speaking, I agree totally, but earlier this year I was doing a re-watch of the tv series and I looked to see if there was any podcasts doing the same and I found one, and it turned out to be two young people, maybe late teens early twenties. I only listened to a bit of it because it felt sort of wrong in some way to listen to it. But yeah it was weird. Assume they'd been introduced to it by their parents or something. They were pretty knowledgeable about it.

[Pranet]

There's a pretty significant difference between saying something relatively mild like what you cite in reference to Palin and stumping for GB News like Cleese or making repeated wildly overblown comments about political correctness, wokeness and the 'problems of white men' like Gilliam:


Terry Gilliam: 'I'm tired of white men being blamed for everything wrong with the world'


https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/terry-gilliam-interview-harvey-weinstein-victims-metoo-race-a9269136.html

I've read that before and I just feel like, ok grandad, I'm totally shocked, you've blown my liberal mind, can I go now? The Ellen Barkin stuff is more troubling.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

Saw that second photograph and thought "Gilliam's let himself go".

[Radicalised Sitcom Writer]

Any explanation for why he's so skint? He did joke about having to sell the house and sack all the help, so was it just too lavish a lifestyle? Or do they all really earn fuck all from their outputs?

Edit to say, his house looks nice but not mental at $6.5mil. Upkeep is probably crippling though without pulling a whack.

Don't blame him though for complaining, it is awful being in love with living somewhere and being priced out.

[Terry Torpid]

He's rich broke, not normal broke.

[Pranet]

I wonder if he feels broke because of who is comparing himself to. He sees his peers as being people who had major Hollywood careers like I dunno Steve Martin. If instead he was comparing himself to people like Graham Garden (who I'm sure is comfortably off) then he might look at himself differently.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I believe they did all have their little cliques, and I'm not sure he was welcome in any of them, which is maybe why he feels that "none" of them were friends. Chapman and Cleese were manifestly pals, likewise Palin and Jones. Gilliam was off in his own little world, as is the wont of cartoonists. Maybe none of them were friends with you, specifically, Eric.

Although those are the writing partnerships, from Palin's diaries (although I've only read the 70s and 80s ones myself) it does seem like they were all friends. Maybe it's just that they were all friends with Palin.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Come back to England and live somewhere like Burnley, Eric. You could buy a huge old cotton mill for a couple of hundred grand and live there.

[checkoutgirl]

I recall him being a bit miffed that the others weren't grateful enough that he'd made them about a million quid each from the musical, for doing nothing

Yeah fair play there. A million sounds low though. Those jukebox things earn hundreds of millions in some cases. Maybe it didn't make much of a dent in the alimony payments but still better than a kick in the hole.

[Kankurette]

The idea of a comic film about elderly knights being old and weak could have been good in another universe. There's loads of pathos in aging former heroes ruing old idealism, and the fall of the Round Table has been well-portrayed in a more serious way by other creatives (TH White, etc). But the Pythons were never going tolerate being in the same room for long enough to make it, and they don't all have the acting ability to do it either. And Gilliam's The Fisher King is probably enough Grail anyhow; almost certainly better than any alternative.

And they don't have Chapman or Jones. It just wouldn't be the same without either of them.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I wonder if he feels broke because of who is comparing himself to. He sees his peers as being people who had major Hollywood careers like I dunno Steve Martin. If instead he was comparing himself to people like Graham Garden (who I'm sure is comfortably off) then he might look at himself differently.

This is it, really. Idle is A Comedy Legend, but he was never a big film star in the way his American comedy mates were. He seems quite self-aware, but I don't think he's ever fully understood that being part of a hugely influential and beloved English comedy troupe won't reap the same financial rewards as, y'know, those Hollywood A-listers Steve Martin and Robin Williams.

[Ignatius_S]

Yeah fair play there. A million sounds low though. Those jukebox things earn hundreds of millions in some cases. Maybe it didn't make much of a dent in the alimony payments but still better than a kick in the hole.

They lost an expensive legal case against Mark Forstater about the musical; he had been getting a one-fourteenth share of the royalties and it was ruled that he should have twice that (i.e. an equal share to the Pythons).

The case ended about eight years after the musical premiered and although the final amount of royalties was yet to be worked out, he estimated it to be £200,000. If that was the case, during that time, each of the seven would have made £800,000 from royalties - so basically, £100,000 per year. That figure obviously wouldn't be net.

After the court case, it was reported that the Pythons were jointly liable to pay him for £800,000 for the back royalties and legal fees. From what I've read in one or two interviews with Forstater - but I'm relying on memory - at some points he had representing himself, so god knows what the legal fees for the Pythons were. It would be interesting to now exactly how much they've made as that was a very expensive court case.

Cleese has questioned how much royalties they should be getting and personally, I'd take with a pinch of salt what Idle has said about the figures. https://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/a356211/monty-pythons-john-cleese-eric-idle-in-flap-over-spamalot-royalties/

Neil Innes said that he was never paid for his music being used.

Going back to your point about how much musicals can make, they are expensive to produce - and that's before you get sued!

[checkoutgirl]

I was going by the very technical and mathematical technique of John Waters being worth 50 million and guessing most of it probably came from Hairspray the musical.

Rigorous process there we can all agree.

[Ignatius_S]

I was going by the very technical and mathematical technique of John Waters being worth 50 million and guessing most of it probably came from Hairspray the musical.

Rigorous process there we can all agree.

I do agree! And in fact, withdraw my previous post.

[Jake Thingray]

His repeated claim that the Pythons were "never friends" is bizarre given Palin's diaries feature plenty of occasions were they meet up in a non-work capacity over the decades. Not to mention the positive things the others have said about each other over the years. Idle's dismissive attitude says more about his wonky perception of where he sat in the group than anything, and all these musicals, one-man tours, half-arsed ideas, attempted films, reunions etc are blatant attempts to assert himself as THE Python genius. It seems like the second any of the others has tried to do something Python-related (or ajacent) not specifically spear-headed by him, he's refused to have anything to do with it (eg. the new material for their 30th anniversary).

Honestly, agree with every word of the above post.

If America's infatuation with Py-THON really is over, perhaps any Yanks on here could say if there are specific reasons for this, as with criticism of the BBC's repeats of MPFC in the 1980's and early 90's as showing it to be slow-paced, sexist and self-indulgent leading to the view that only 10% of it was any good and the Python films (and possibly records) were better, becoming commonplace in Britain. Or perhaps it simply doesn't interest Americans now.

[g0m]

You can't tell me the UMD versions of selected python sketches didn't rake in at least a cool trill

[Andy147]

And they don't have Chapman or Jones. It just wouldn't be the same without either of them.

The Holy Grail sequel was something Idle was proposing in the late 90s, but the absence of Chapman was one of Cleese's issues with the idea. Conversely, when Cleese wanted to do a stage show tour at about the same time, Palin thought the absence of Chapman would be a problem.

[buzby]

Any explanation for why he's so skint? He did joke about having to sell the house and sack all the help, so was it just too lavish a lifestyle? Or do they all really earn fuck all from their outputs?

Edit to say, his house looks nice but not mental at $6.5mil. Upkeep is probably crippling though without pulling a whack.

Don't blame him though for complaining, it is awful being in love with living somewhere and being priced out.

He doesn't live in that house anymore - he sold it last year:

He still ives in LA, though he has apparently downsized - he bought a bungalow in Silver Lake in 2018 for $1m. The mansion he sold last year for $6.5m (3131 Floye Drive) he bought in 1993 for $1.6m and was previously owned by Bobbie Gentry.

Before that he lived at 78 Carlton Hill in Maida Vale, which he bought in 1991. Prior to that, he lived down the street at 41 Carlton Hill, which he rented out to Carrie Fisher during the filming of Empire Strikes Back, while he was away filming Life Of Brian in Tunisia.

I believe he also has a house in the village of Cotignac in Provence as well that he bought in the early 70s.

[Glebe]

Idle's out promoting his book:

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Can't be arsed watching the old gimmer. Does he mention George Harrison at any point?