Eric Idle

Well, luckily, no. I can really spoil your shopping, you know. You get recognized from time to time, and that's just one of the pitfalls of being on television.

No, there was almost no reaction whatsoever because they put us on late on a Sunday night and the BBC were trying to find out if people were still watching television at 10.15. And so for all you knew, nobody was watching? Well, at first, absolutely nobody knew, and nobody was watching it, and then bit by bit, you know.

So we were very fortunate that we'd actually finished doing the show before it was actually played on American television. So we didn't have to suffer the same fate as people on Saturday Night Live and that. You know, we were quite anonymous and surprised by it all.

But yes, it was a nice surprise when we were suddenly on public television. It was great.

Well, yes, because there were six of us. We were mostly over six foot. And so we'd all got degrees and we were very smart and proud. And we would go and, you know, they would be very alarmed at that sight of us. But at first we were executive free, so it was absolutely perfect.

I think we were pretty surprised when we opened the Holy Grail in New York and suddenly there was Python Mania and we were trapped in the cinema and it was very surprising to us and quite funny. I mean, in Canada we were known and we were surprised then. We came through the...

through the customs and there was a big cheer and we looked behind us because we thought there was a rock and roll group behind us. And they were cheering for us and they'd all come to the airport. It was quite extraordinary. So we became what I call mock and roll.

Well, the biggest rock stars in Britain, anyway. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Genesis and Jethro Tull. They put money into that. And I still pay them from Spamalot.

Yes, of course.

I've always enjoyed it. We always had some good parties because, you know, I like to play music and we always have sing-alongs and ding-dongs and we still do that. Right.

Well, Carrie Fisher rented my house in London for filming The Empire Strikes Back. And they were very depressed. And Harrison Ford, they'd been in England for a long time. They were depressed. Yeah, that'll do it. So I pulled out a special liquor we bought from Tunisia. And the party started. And by chance, the Stones were around the corner in Abbey Road. And they all came round.

And this party went on all night. and they were finally picked up by their cars at 6 o'clock, and we all went off to bed, and I'm happy to say I ruined one of the scenes in Star Wars.

Well, because they stayed up all night. They blamed me. I mean, they're adults, you know. It was a scene where they meet Billy Dee Williams and they come off the plane and they, you know, Carrie says, hi. And they're all completely high, you know, they've been up all night. LAUGHTER

He was a huge fan, and I met Linda Thompson, who was his girlfriend, and she said at night in Memphis, when the television stopped about 2.30 in the morning, Elvis would make her do Monty Python sketches with him and not just anyone she'd go hello mrs thing hello mrs entity and i said well no i don't believe you and she she she convinced me finally that because she knew the words

I'm proud to say that it still is. It's been that for 20 years. Really? Yes. I'm happy to say it replaced my way.

No, they play the record, I'm happy to say. But unfortunately, they don't pay royalties. Funerals don't pay royalties? They don't. I think it's wrong, quite wrong.

Perhaps not. Could it be Friends?

So that leaves us with Jesus Christ, then.

I would say C. You're right again.

I loved my time in Chicago. I'm married to a Chicago woman, and I have lots of Chicago relatives. So I'm very, you know, I love Chicago. Yeah, that's really great.