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Speaker 1: Hello.

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Speaker 2: I am Paula Bennett and welcome to my New Zealand

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Speaker 2: Herald podcast Ask me any thank you Now. One thing

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Speaker 2: I've learned in life is it's never too late to

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Speaker 2: lean something new.

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Speaker 1: So on this podcast, I talk to people from all

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Speaker 1: walks of life.

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Speaker 2: To hear about how they got to where they are

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Speaker 2: and get some advice and guidance on some of life's

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Speaker 2: biggest questions. I am very excited, and I mean very

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Speaker 2: excited about today's episode. My guest is founding member of Montepison,

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Speaker 2: Eric Idle. Eric what a phenomenal career. He's an actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, author, screenwriter, playright.

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Speaker 1: His career spans.

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Speaker 2: Sixty three years and are we to saying your age?

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Speaker 2: At the age of eighty one, he doesn't appear to

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Speaker 2: be slowing down at all. He is heading to New

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Speaker 2: Zealand next month with his stage show Always Look on

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Speaker 2: the Bright Side.

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Speaker 1: Of Life Live. Eric Idle joins me.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning, Paula.

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Speaker 1: How are you now? You're coming to me from LA,

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Speaker 1: aren't you?

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Speaker 3: I am? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: So are we?

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Speaker 1: Good morning?

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Speaker 3: Uh? We are good afternoon, we're tea time.

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Speaker 2: What do you We're good morning, well, we're just lunchtime.

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Speaker 2: Let's go lunchtime. So that's all right. I came in

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Speaker 2: a warm up with a quick far question. If you

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Speaker 2: could go to the pub for a drink with anyone,

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Speaker 2: who would that person be?

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Speaker 3: Are you asking me?

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Speaker 1: Yes?

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Speaker 3: Well, I'm a tea total now I'm not a drink

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Speaker 3: for five years, so maybe somebody I'll be very envious of.

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Speaker 3: Who would I like to get to a pub with.

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I'd like to go to a pub

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Speaker 3: with no beer.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a few.

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Speaker 2: Mind, you've got zero beers and things now, don't you

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Speaker 2: You know there's some quite good.

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Speaker 3: Yes, but there's no point in going to a pub

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Speaker 3: and not getting drunk, is there? Really? You know what

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Speaker 3: I mean? What's the point? I don't I don't know.

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Speaker 3: Do you mean? Who? Do I like the company? Oh?

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Speaker 3: I always like musicians, So I'm always the people who

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Speaker 3: come over to my house. They always have to play guitar.

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Speaker 3: We always end up having after dinner. We have a

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Speaker 3: lot of what we call a ding dong and we

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Speaker 3: sing all the older is. And I've been playing with

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Speaker 3: a band who now play for the Monkeys and they're terrific,

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Speaker 3: and we just play oldiers and we get going, and

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Speaker 3: weird Al shows up and Puddles the clown shows up,

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Speaker 3: and we have we have We just love playing and seeing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fun, isn't it? And gets through all together

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Speaker 2: and just everyone loves it, don't they. Okay, Eric, let's

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Speaker 2: chat about the show first. You're coming to New Zealand

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Speaker 2: next month to perform Always Look on the Right Side

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Speaker 2: of Life Live. Tell me about the show, because I

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Speaker 2: hear it. It's a mix of comedy, it's got music,

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Speaker 2: it's got a bit of philosophy in there.

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Speaker 1: What does an Eric Idle's stage show look like.

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Speaker 3: Well, it looks like a bit of a hybrid. It's

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Speaker 3: like a one man musical. As I say, I am

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Speaker 3: bringing an artificial band, artificial stupidity to put together this

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Speaker 3: Monkey's band who have accompanied me, and we're going to

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Speaker 3: sing the Meaning of Life. And we're going to do

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Speaker 3: one or two oldies and nices of Python, Oldies and

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Speaker 3: Nices and talk about things, some memories of people I've

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Speaker 3: met along the way, you know, like George Harrison and

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Speaker 3: Robin Williams and clips and things. And I just like

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Speaker 3: to keep I like to keep it moving. I like

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Speaker 3: to interest myself and make people laugh. I think that's

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Speaker 3: a kind of a nice way of facing an evening,

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Speaker 3: you know.

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Speaker 2: With people, and those tributes to dear friends that you

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Speaker 2: just mentioned with George Harrison and Robin Williams, you know,

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Speaker 2: I mean that's obviously something that means a lot to

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Speaker 2: you and you want to share that with your audience.

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Speaker 3: Yes, because there were remarkable people, you know. I mean,

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Speaker 3: sometimes one to be very lucky is I've met lots

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Speaker 3: of very interesting people over my lifetime. And I don't

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Speaker 3: know whether that's because they like python and I was

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Speaker 3: the one that played the guitar and hang out and

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Speaker 3: talk and have fun, or or just that they you know,

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Speaker 3: it was happenstance. One got luckier. But I've met some

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Speaker 3: fascinating people. I still do. I mean, I spend quite

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Speaker 3: a lot of my time with Professor Brian Cox and

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Speaker 3: we talk about the universe. And you know, the great

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Speaker 3: thing about speculating about the universe, it doesn't matter how

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Speaker 3: much you know, because they know just as little, and.

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Speaker 1: You won't know around and you won't know if you're

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Speaker 1: right or wrong.

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Speaker 3: Well, nobody knows if you're right or wrong. But you

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Speaker 3: are allowed to speculate, and it is an extraordinary universe,

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Speaker 3: and I find that really reassuring and and interesting. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I won't be seeing the Galaxy song with Puddles the Clown,

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Speaker 3: which is going to be quite good, good fun.

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Speaker 1: I love it a little really hilarious.

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Speaker 2: And did you ever imagine when you wrote always Look

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Speaker 2: on the Bright Side of Life that it would endure

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Speaker 2: like it does? I mean, did I read someone that

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Speaker 2: it's like the most played song at a funeral or something.

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Speaker 3: Which is the the most requested song for twenty years

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Speaker 3: at British funerals, which I find really kind of touching.

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Speaker 3: I find it very nice that people want to smile

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Speaker 3: and laugh and sing along in memory of people who've passed,

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Speaker 3: and they usually requested it for their funerals. I find

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Speaker 3: that really very very very flattering.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what people want at the funerals, for their

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Speaker 2: family and their friends and their loved ones to always

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Speaker 2: look on the bright side of life.

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Speaker 3: I want be able to be really miserable at my funeral.

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Speaker 3: I think they shouldn't be at all happy or reconciled,

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Speaker 3: but no, I think you do. You don't want people

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Speaker 3: to go oh no and be just unhappy. They want

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Speaker 3: you want them to remember you in life, as you knows,

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Speaker 3: as a good person or a fun person, And that's

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Speaker 3: what I think. Laughter at the funeral is actually quite

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Speaker 3: a good thing because laughter and tears are very close together.

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Speaker 3: And I remember Graham Chairman's funeral when I first sang it.

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Speaker 3: Every bit there were a lot of laughs. But the

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Speaker 3: hardest thing to do is just actually just seeing that

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Speaker 3: song without crying. It was very difficult, Yeah, really emotional.

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Speaker 2: And then as you say it's you know, we remember

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Speaker 2: what people worth laughter, and you can't help but reflect

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Speaker 2: on Robin Williams with that massive personality and that incredible

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Speaker 2: entertainer y underneath was a flawed and tormented man, as

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Speaker 2: we discovered, And for me it was a shock. But

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Speaker 2: you know, we're not one dimensional, are we.

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Speaker 3: Not at all? And it was a big shock with

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Speaker 3: Robin because of course we didn't know and he didn't

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Speaker 3: know that he had this thing called Louis Body's disease,

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Speaker 3: which makes you very paranoid and depressed. And we were

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Speaker 3: doing oh two at the time, and I kept saying

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Speaker 3: to him, come on, we want you on stage. I've

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Speaker 3: written a bit called Celebrity Blackmail. I want you to

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Speaker 3: come on with a bag on your head, and people

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Speaker 3: have said, yes, who it is, and he said, oh, no,

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Speaker 3: I don't want to be on stage. And I should

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Speaker 3: have tweaked at the time. But of course, you know,

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Speaker 3: we were produce seeing I was directing the show. We

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Speaker 3: were on stage, and and I never really associated that

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Speaker 3: with him being in danger. Of course, that's what happens

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Speaker 3: with with suicides because they hide their depression and it

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Speaker 3: is a way out of a real, real torment. And

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Speaker 3: even if we managed to save him at the time,

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Speaker 3: he could only have been locked up in a straight jacket.

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Speaker 3: So now there are becoming treatments for it. But so

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Speaker 3: I think it is the you know, the funniest and

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Speaker 3: most giving man in the world ends up like that.

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Speaker 3: You have to it's you have to think very deeply.

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Speaker 3: Oh that's really sad and tragic.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, really really sad.

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Speaker 2: And so George Harrison literally mortgaged as home, didn't he.

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Speaker 3: George did the most incredible I think anybody's ever done.

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Speaker 3: We couldn't low grade backs out of making our film

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Speaker 3: you Know, The Life of Brian because he read it

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Speaker 3: and George kept saying, I'll find you the money, I'll

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Speaker 3: find you the money. He went to New York and

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Speaker 3: we went to Hollywood and it was like selling springtime

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Speaker 3: for Hitler. Nobody wanted to know. It's like, forget about it,

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Speaker 3: no chance, you know. So then finally said I've got

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Speaker 3: the money. I said what he said. And he'd mortgaged

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Speaker 3: his house and he'd mortgaged his office premises to raise

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Speaker 3: money from the bank to pay the four and a

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Speaker 3: half million dollars cash to film it. And I think

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Speaker 3: a lot of our guys didn't really know that there

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Speaker 3: was The Beatles always have plenty of money. But actually, no,

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Speaker 3: that was the last throw of his dice. He put everything,

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Speaker 3: he moved all in on that film. And when you

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Speaker 3: think about that, that's an extraordinary thing to do. And

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Speaker 3: that's the way he was.

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Speaker 2: That is extraordinary. I mean, it's not just giving your

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Speaker 2: own money. You're literally borrowing money.

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Speaker 3: You're well, you're putting your property on the line, borrowing

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Speaker 3: money from the bank and without a qualm because he

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Speaker 3: wanted to see the movie.

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Speaker 2: Wow, and well, what a genius, as you say, incredibly

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Speaker 2: talented men obviously, but then what a genius to know

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Speaker 2: what life of Pride would be.

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Speaker 3: You know, he knew absolutely. I don't think he particularly

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Speaker 3: read it. I mean, I think he just wanted to

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Speaker 3: see the next Python movie. I mean, I think it

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Speaker 3: was an act of love and an act of trust

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Speaker 3: and an act of sheer. I don't think any many

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Speaker 3: of us would do that.

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Speaker 1: Hey tell me about some of the early years.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you've said that they were tough, you know,

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Speaker 2: and you've sort of described them as being and then

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Speaker 2: of course it just leads me to go, well, how

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Speaker 2: on earth did you then go to comedy and become

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Speaker 2: such an extraordinary talented funny musician and man and writer

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Speaker 2: and you know everything else that you've done.

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Speaker 3: I think comedy is coming to terms with a lot

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Speaker 3: of bleakness. I was at the boarding school for twelve

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Speaker 3: years in Wolverhampton. It was very bleak and do all.

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Speaker 3: But I think you tell each other the truth and

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Speaker 3: how miserable it all is, and then you figure out

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Speaker 3: ways to have fun, go over the wall and fun

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Speaker 3: girls and it's to the off license. But I think

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Speaker 3: that when I was about sixteen or seventeen, I went

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Speaker 3: to London and I saw a show call Beyond the

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Speaker 3: Fringe and it had it had Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller,

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Speaker 3: Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore, and they just ripped apart

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Speaker 3: everything that was sort of tormenting us at school, like

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Speaker 3: you know, Army Royalty religion. They just laughed at everything,

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Speaker 3: and I thought, you can do this, this is allowed.

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Speaker 3: And I still got the album and I learned it

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Speaker 3: and from then on I just wanted to be funny.

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Speaker 3: And so when I got to Cambridge, I tried to

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Speaker 3: join the Pembroke College Comedy group and I was auditioned

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Speaker 3: by two of the goodies. I got in, they picked

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Speaker 3: me out, they put me in the show and the

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Speaker 3: next term I got to perform in front of John

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Speaker 3: Clees who came up, Sidy mus come and join the

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Speaker 3: foot Lights, and so suddenly I was in show business

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Speaker 3: and we're at the Edinburgh Festival. It was really strange.

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Speaker 1: Wow, how old were you then?

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Speaker 3: What do you think i'd been about nineteen or twenty? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: What an experience.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was just I mean sometimes life

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Speaker 3: is very well written as Barry Kraft then, you know.

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Speaker 3: But I spent the rest of my time I came

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Speaker 3: he is doing comedy and learning from people who did

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Speaker 3: it and how to write and to do cabaret. And

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Speaker 3: that's how you do comedy. By trying it and learning

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Speaker 3: it and performing it. And so that was really my

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Speaker 3: big part of my education was just doing that. And

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Speaker 3: I became president of the Footlights, which is an old

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Speaker 3: club and in night it was eighteen from eighteen eighty

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Speaker 3: three and they didn't allow women, and I thought that

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Speaker 3: was completely stupid. So I changed the laws when I

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Speaker 3: was president and allowed women to join. Yay, And the

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Speaker 3: first woman through the door was Jermaine Grea. Oh, really

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Speaker 3: a good honor and she was hilarious, hilarious, came straight

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Speaker 3: from I think Australian University where she was and she

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Speaker 3: was doing a doctor in a PhD. And she was

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Speaker 3: just really really very funny. And she came to the

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Speaker 3: door with Clive James.

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Speaker 1: Oh wow, what a story.

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Speaker 2: Hey, So Telly, what do you put the success of

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Speaker 2: Monty Python down to.

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Speaker 3: It's still a surprise to me. I think what it

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Speaker 3: was was that our show was written by us, six

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Speaker 3: of us and five of us are writers, and ones

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Speaker 3: an American animator. We created a show that we wanted

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Speaker 3: to see. There were no executives. They just said do

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Speaker 3: thirteen come back and you get on with it. And

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Speaker 3: so we had had our we'd had a lot of

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Speaker 3: experience writing for other people. We know, the two Ron heirs.

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Speaker 3: We'd done Frost reports and things, so we made something

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Speaker 3: that we wanted to see and we messed about with

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Speaker 3: the audience. We would do strange jokes on them. We

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Speaker 3: pretend it's a pirate film starting it was the wrong program.

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Speaker 3: So we played with the form a lot, and it

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Speaker 3: was clear that we were messing with them, and we

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Speaker 3: didn't and so I think that spirit came across and

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Speaker 3: we always stayed true to writing just what we wanted

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Speaker 3: to do next. We didn't try and please them, We

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Speaker 3: didn't listen to dermographics. We just got on with it.

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Speaker 3: And it was late on a Sunday night and we

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Speaker 3: had no idea who was watching. And I think about

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Speaker 3: two years later we did a live show at a

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Speaker 3: Coventry Arts festival and suddenly all these people came and

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Speaker 3: they were fanatics, and they knew all the words, and

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Speaker 3: they were dressed up and it was like, what just happened?

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Speaker 2: You know?

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Speaker 3: So we didn't know that, because you know, if you're

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Speaker 3: doing television, you do it, record it and then it

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Speaker 3: goes out into the etho and who knows do you think?

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's the unexpected right as an audience watching it,

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Speaker 2: you didn't know what was going to happen. Nixt so

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Speaker 2: often think that's the sort of glory of it, and

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Speaker 2: we don't see enough of these days.

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Speaker 3: Taking ourselves seriously, I don't think we were trying to

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Speaker 3: be stars. We didn't bill ourselves. We didn't know who

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Speaker 3: anybody was except for John Clees, who had already done

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Speaker 3: TV shows. We didn't. We didn't. You know, it wasn't

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Speaker 3: a show busy kind of show. It was very much

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Speaker 3: and we pretend to be intellectual. You know, you'd be

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Speaker 3: summarizing Proost, but it wasn't really intellectual. It's just silly jokes,

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Speaker 3: a lot of it. And there were five writers and

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Speaker 3: you never knew which writer was on, so there were

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Speaker 3: different strains of humor. So well people would say, oh

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Speaker 3: I liked a lot of it. It was dependent on

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Speaker 3: who was writing. They liked a certain strain of comedy,

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Speaker 3: and they were quite wildly different forms of comedy written

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Speaker 3: by Chapman and Clees was different from Paynan and Jones,

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Speaker 3: which are different from the things I was writing. So

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Speaker 3: it was like a Milan shoot and that I think

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Speaker 3: that was that also was of interest.

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Speaker 1: So did you produce it?

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Speaker 2: So I read that you predominantly wrote alone while the

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Speaker 2: others wrote in peers.

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Speaker 1: Is that correct? And is that your creative creativity?

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Speaker 2: That means that you are better if you like when

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Speaker 2: you're sort of playing with your own mind.

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Speaker 3: I don't think it's to do with better. I think

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Speaker 3: I'm still with me. I think that I like writing.

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Speaker 3: I like exploring what's in my brain. I do it

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Speaker 3: every day. It's an exercise. I start off the day

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Speaker 3: by writing, and I think I was intrigued by wordplay.

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Speaker 3: I think I sidetracked into writing lyrics and scripts and

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Speaker 3: songs and it was an interesting position. And when I

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Speaker 3: met George Harrison, he was in a similar role in

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Speaker 3: his group because he was between Lendanon McCartney and that's

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Speaker 3: between Please Chapman and Palin Jones. And so we sort

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Speaker 3: of bonded like that, you know, because we were kind

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Speaker 3: of the outsiders in a group formed of outside Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

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Speaker 2: You know you've had pank creator cancer and a few

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Speaker 2: years ago, and you didn't tell anyone about it.

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Speaker 1: Do we overshare these days?

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Speaker 2: I mean, god, it feels like every celebrity needs to

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Speaker 2: tell you everything that's going on.

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Speaker 1: With them.

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Speaker 3: I just I didn't because you know, first of all,

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Speaker 3: obviously your family knows and they and you know you're

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Speaker 3: relieved to be over it. And then I think I

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Speaker 3: just didn't. I didn't come out with it until I

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Speaker 3: think I did the mask singer, and I thought they

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Speaker 3: asked me to do it, and I thought, I wonder

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Speaker 3: if I can still do this, because you know, do

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Speaker 3: I have any energy? And so when I did that

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Speaker 3: and it was time to sort of do a bit

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Speaker 3: of publicity, I thought, you know, it's time I spoke

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Speaker 3: up and said I was fortunate to survive this. It

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Speaker 3: is survivable, and it can bring optimism and hope to

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Speaker 3: people who are also in similar positions, and you know,

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Speaker 3: also do a bit of good work raising money and

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Speaker 3: consciousness about it because we can now test it. You

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Speaker 3: can get it from blood tests and it was very

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Speaker 3: early on and I had a brilliant doctor who spotted

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Speaker 3: it through a blood test and that was very fortunate.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but what a strong message you gave out there.

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Speaker 2: You were right, What a strong message to either those

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Speaker 2: go and get tested or if you have got it,

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Speaker 2: life is not necessarily over.

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Speaker 1: It's a big life, a here to you.

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Speaker 3: I think it was a big deal for me. I

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Speaker 3: think it was a smart decision. I think it was

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Speaker 3: a good decision. It only good came from it. And

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Speaker 3: I do go every year and I meet all the

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Speaker 3: survivors and they are a growing number, and the percentages

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Speaker 3: of the survivors are growing, and I really like that.

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Speaker 3: I think we can conquer these things are very smart species.

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Speaker 2: Now, so you live in la as we've seen, and

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Speaker 2: you've been here for like forty years?

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Speaker 1: Is that right?

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Speaker 3: I've been here thirty years. But I do spend my

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Speaker 3: summers in Europe if I possibly can, because I like it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So what made you move to America?

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Speaker 3: I think first of all, you know, we had a

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Speaker 3: kid and she was getting to be three or four,

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Speaker 3: and you had to put him in school, and I

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Speaker 3: couldn't face sixteen winters in Saint John's would have rain

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Speaker 3: and cold, and my wife's American, she's from Chicago, and

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Speaker 3: we thought, well, I like the idea of California. It's

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Speaker 3: a beautiful place, you know. So it was a good decision.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's much nicer to drive your kids to

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Speaker 3: school in California than it is in Saint John's would

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Speaker 3: really And we also had to make any sort of

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Speaker 3: interesting choice between do we bring up an English girl

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Speaker 3: or an American girl. And I thought that, well, you know,

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Speaker 3: American goes a state of the art at the time.

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Speaker 3: So and by the way, I don't think we'd make

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Speaker 3: that decision today because of all the guns. Oh that

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Speaker 3: was that was not a problem then, but it is

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Speaker 3: a problem now. And the idea that you should be

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Speaker 3: fearful of taking your kids to nurse it kindergarten because

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Speaker 3: somebody might kill them but is absolutely insane.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and very real, right, I mean, we.

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Speaker 3: Are very very real. They're taught safety procedures and that's

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Speaker 3: that's you know, very scary. And that's not freedom to

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Speaker 3: own rifles. That's insane. Yeah, you see year olds with

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Speaker 3: the deign sixteen year olds should not be allowed to

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Speaker 3: possess military grade weapons.

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Speaker 2: And I mean, you've got elections coming up this year,

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Speaker 2: of course.

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Speaker 1: Can you see change in the horizon.

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Speaker 2: Or do you think that it's just a trajectory of

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Speaker 2: the level of American freedom and my right to bear

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Speaker 2: arms and the being any kind of I can't see

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Speaker 2: it changing.

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Speaker 3: I don't disagree with you. I'm not American, and I

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Speaker 3: don't get a vote so I am coming to New

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Speaker 3: Zealand during the election. But I do think that the

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Speaker 3: gun in American history is an iconic thing that captured

390
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Speaker 3: the web, you know, the Remington that the law man.

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Speaker 3: The gun is a very it's a straight it's a

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Speaker 3: strange and powerful position in the in the image of themselves.

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Speaker 3: And this has got somehow modeled up with freedom. I mean,

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Speaker 3: you really wouldn't want, you know, a sixteen year old

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Speaker 3: to have a nuclear weapon, would you. I mean, there's

396
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Speaker 3: no limits to how much. So I think there's got

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Speaker 3: to be a point in which you say this is

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Speaker 3: this is insane. We're killing kids once and I think

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Speaker 3: that's the point. I mean, it happened in Australia and

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Speaker 3: that they stopped it overnight. It happened in Scotland, they

401
00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:40,600
Speaker 3: stopped it overnight. But I think in America, I don't

402
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Speaker 3: think you have that sensible appeal. You know, you see

403
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Speaker 3: all over Florida they say, you don't take my gun

404
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Speaker 3: from me, you don't take this and that and the other.

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Speaker 3: I don't think that's a freedom. I think that's that's

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Speaker 3: that imposed impinges on the liberties of other people to

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Speaker 3: stay alive.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, But as a politics like because at the moment,

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Speaker 2: I mean, imagine if you were doing a Monty python

410
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Speaker 2: s get on it. I don't think I don't think

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Speaker 2: you would could have been ludicrous enough. And I never

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Speaker 2: thought i'd say it about No.

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Speaker 3: I think that's true. I think you're right. I think

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Speaker 3: that something's just Begar belief, and that the idea that

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00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:22,560
Speaker 3: some of these people say what they say would be

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Speaker 3: just comedy back in the day when we were writing

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Speaker 3: it and you said, no, that's too far, I don't

418
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,720
Speaker 3: think they say that far. But you know, and I

419
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Speaker 3: think there are comedians now who call it out. So

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Speaker 3: I think comedy is about being young. I think it

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Speaker 3: is that being singers. You know, when you were teenagers,

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Speaker 3: you have favorite singers, you have favorite comedians, and they

423
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,199
Speaker 3: move up with you that you stay with them, and

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Speaker 3: that's your generation. And I think we were in a

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Speaker 3: generation where a sort of absurdity was was fine and

426
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 3: it can still appeal, but we're not actually speaking to

427
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Speaker 3: the generation. Really.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, very true.

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Speaker 2: Okay, when we come back, we're going to chat about

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Speaker 2: sticking around and get some advice because that's something that

431
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Speaker 2: Eric is very good at. So we're going to take

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Speaker 2: an air breaking with me back really shortly. Okay, we're

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Speaker 2: back with Eric Idle, and I want to get into

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Speaker 2: your incredible career and I think the key to longevity.

435
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,160
Speaker 2: I mean, we see so many come and go, and

436
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:38,439
Speaker 2: you have reinvented yourself continuously, music all the way through.

437
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Speaker 2: I mean, you've been in Showbaz since nineteen sixty one,

438
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:42,560
Speaker 2: So what keeps you going?

439
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:43,560
Speaker 1: Why do you love it?

440
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:49,240
Speaker 3: I think it's a fascinating metier. I think why people

441
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,040
Speaker 3: like things, and I think, of course you get involved

442
00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:56,160
Speaker 3: with longer and longer form things. I got suddenly into

443
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 3: the musical. You know, Spam a Lot led me into

444
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 3: a whole other world of which I found fascinating. You

445
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 3: have different problems to solve, and in fact, they're just

446
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 3: publishing my Spam a Lot diaries, which I discovered last year.

447
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,879
Speaker 3: I'd kept, I'd forgotten completely, and then we read it

448
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,399
Speaker 3: and going, oh my gosh. Because what's nice about a

449
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 3: diary is you're day to day, you don't know it's

450
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,960
Speaker 3: going to become a success. You think, oh is this

451
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:25,520
Speaker 3: going to work? Oh my gosh, what do we do?

452
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:29,119
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh. And so there's a sort of tale

453
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,640
Speaker 3: in it which I find is actually quite interesting, because

454
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 3: until we hit the audience in Chicago, we don't know

455
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:39,120
Speaker 3: if we're funny, and we certainly don't know how they're

456
00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 3: going to embrace the show and love it. And last

457
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:46,399
Speaker 3: year I got the very great, wonderful delight of seeing

458
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:50,439
Speaker 3: it again on Broadway. That's two times in my lifetime,

459
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,400
Speaker 3: which is which is a great honor and a fabis

460
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,800
Speaker 3: feel that you think, well, this is actually going to

461
00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,080
Speaker 3: go on. People will be doing this long after I'm gone,

462
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,080
Speaker 3: and I like that because I like making people laugh

463
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 3: and happy.

464
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,199
Speaker 2: So do you make opportunities or do you take opportunities?

465
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,440
Speaker 3: I don't quite know. I mean, I write, I've been

466
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 3: working on a book for five years. I pick it up,

467
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 3: I throw it away, I pick it up. Some books

468
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,520
Speaker 3: come easily and effortlessly. I like to write. That's what

469
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,720
Speaker 3: I do. Basically, if I didn't have to go out

470
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 3: and unperform, I would be okay, because as long as

471
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,120
Speaker 3: I can go and write first thing in the morning,

472
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 3: I'll find out what's inside your brain. I think that's

473
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 3: quite that's a kind of a luxury. And I've learned

474
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,440
Speaker 3: a bit about how to do it, And so you

475
00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 3: pick up a few tips and what you need and

476
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,520
Speaker 3: you meet one. For people like Mike Nichols, who's in

477
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 3: throughout my diaries, who is the most inspiring person I've

478
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 3: ever worked with, and he was of the most helpful,

479
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,400
Speaker 3: and he says things that preach the moral. If you're

480
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 3: doing anything, you must preach them. You must. There's so

481
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 3: many tips and things I learned just simply working with him.

482
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 3: He said in the music All the Street, most important

483
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 3: things are the play, the play and the play. And

484
00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:14,560
Speaker 3: that's also fascinating to me. You know, it isn't about

485
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,680
Speaker 3: a bunch of songs put together. Everything has to develop

486
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,680
Speaker 3: the story, the plot, because narrative is how we teach

487
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,399
Speaker 3: each other or tell each other about the world we

488
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 3: live in.

489
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:27,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's storytelling.

490
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 3: That storytelling absolutely, and.

491
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 1: You're taking me along as an audience member.

492
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 2: And it makes sense to me if you have actually

493
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 2: got that narrative, and I understand it here.

494
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 3: And I even do that on my stage show. I

495
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 3: try and make it about a couple of things I'm

496
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,640
Speaker 3: interested in once that one's the meaning of life, which

497
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 3: I sing the song about and then talk about, and

498
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,840
Speaker 3: the other is mock and roll, which I find something

499
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 3: I've stumbled on, which is I think that Monty Python

500
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,480
Speaker 3: was the first group, you know, with the Beatles had

501
00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 3: done everything, they did this and the other. They ended

502
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,439
Speaker 3: up at the Hollywood Bowl. Well, Monty Python became the

503
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,919
Speaker 3: first group to become mock and roll and we started

504
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,560
Speaker 3: to play bigger and bigger stadiums. We played the Hollywood Bowl.

505
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 3: We finished up at the O two for ten nights,

506
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 3: eighteen thousand people. This would be unheard. This was unheard

507
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:20,480
Speaker 3: of when we began as comedians. So I think nowadays

508
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 3: we're used to it because people comedians can play football stadiums,

509
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,439
Speaker 3: they can go on tours. But I think it was

510
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:29,120
Speaker 3: new when we first did it.

511
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, and groundbreaking and so did you just take those

512
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,920
Speaker 2: opportunities as they came up, and even though no one

513
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 2: else had done it, you just sort of went, we can.

514
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 3: I think so, I mean, certainly as far as the

515
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:47,960
Speaker 3: Hollywood Bowl is concerned, I think when we did O two,

516
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,119
Speaker 3: we had no idea and we were sold out the

517
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 3: first show in thirty four seconds. It's eighteen thousand tickets.

518
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 3: So then we said, they said five won't sold out

519
00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,320
Speaker 3: by the end of the morning. They said, do you

520
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:01,520
Speaker 3: come and do five? So I mean I think We

521
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,639
Speaker 3: could still have been doing that around the world, you know,

522
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,640
Speaker 3: but Michael didn't really want to tour, so we turned

523
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:10,399
Speaker 3: down lots and lots of money.

524
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 2: Well and that has vault all right, Well, well that's

525
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,600
Speaker 2: out there properly now, it's for sure. With the success

526
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 2: of Monty Python you just touched on it, you would

527
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 2: have thought that these royalties would keep rolling in.

528
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 1: But it hasn't been. The great kesh Cow has it No.

529
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 3: Because I tell you why, because people have now found

530
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,760
Speaker 3: ways to avoid paying royalties. Don't really pays music voralties anymore.

531
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,960
Speaker 3: Because Murdoch went off shore, he went up into the

532
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 3: satellite said, oh, the laws don't apply. YouTube steals everything,

533
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:44,159
Speaker 3: spotifyce pays nothing, support organisicians get nothing, They don't get

534
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,159
Speaker 3: any of their royalties. And even you know, even then,

535
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,120
Speaker 3: once you've got the streamers like Netflix, they don't tell

536
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,600
Speaker 3: you how much money they're making or how many people

537
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 3: are watching. They just take it. So you've got a

538
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,879
Speaker 3: few billionaires and it's not been read around. And I

539
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,560
Speaker 3: think that's something that the next lot need to sort out,

540
00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 3: really because a lot of it's theft.

541
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,320
Speaker 2: Yeah it is, And certainly we've had some big artists

542
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,359
Speaker 2: that are speaking out and actually developing their own platforms

543
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:17,920
Speaker 2: so that they can and see it happening.

544
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:23,520
Speaker 3: But it's Taylor Swift, you know, God, that's absolutely her.

545
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 3: I think she deserves everything she gets because she has

546
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,320
Speaker 3: been so brave courageous to go and say no, I'm

547
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:33,000
Speaker 3: going to rerecord all my songs. You cannot take my music.

548
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 3: You may not do this, And I think that a

549
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 3: few more people need to come out about that because

550
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 3: they're not. I think that one of the metaphors for

551
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 3: show business is the goose that laid the golden egg,

552
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 3: and if you don't feed the goose, you don't get

553
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 3: the golden eggs. I think you have to. It's just

554
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 3: a little bit of corn. But they need some incentivization

555
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 3: to make sure that their work is rewarded.

556
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, and equally. And it is related, as you know,

557
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 2: because those platforms are more they're more or less cowboys

558
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,080
Speaker 2: and writing their own rules as they want to. And

559
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 2: certainly we're in New Zealand have been very focused on

560
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 2: trying to put some limits in place because some of

561
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 2: the content that they're doing, you know, recording people live,

562
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,920
Speaker 2: shooting someone, you know, like how obscene and as we know,

563
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 2: unfortunately there's people that will go out there just to

564
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,280
Speaker 2: be seen and you know, to not have any controls.

565
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 2: I think is something that society needs to start getting

566
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:32,840
Speaker 2: its head around.

567
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 3: I think law is an important thing and that it

568
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 3: doesn't need to be done. I start my show with

569
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,280
Speaker 3: a new song I've written court Please don't film my

570
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 3: show tonight stick it on YouTube, because they do. And

571
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:53,760
Speaker 3: the point is that's just completely unfair because you can't

572
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:55,840
Speaker 3: just and then YouTube. So you've got to come and

573
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 3: complain about it. Well, that's completely wrong. They did. They

574
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,080
Speaker 3: just get rid of all all of responsibility and people

575
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 3: can come and put it on and start getting money

576
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 3: from your show. Well that's wrong. That's playing out wrong.

577
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.

578
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 3: It is.

579
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:12,160
Speaker 2: But the answer to it is going to be people

580
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,840
Speaker 2: like Taylor Swift and others like yourself standing up calling

581
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 2: it out.

582
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:20,440
Speaker 1: Yeah.

583
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 3: Absolutely.

584
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 2: So do you prefer live to recording or you know,

585
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 2: do you like the live show? I?

586
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 3: You know what we do in the industry, have a

587
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:33,680
Speaker 3: lot of musicians get together and we have a ding dong,

588
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,080
Speaker 3: So I love that. That's my most happy. We just

589
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 3: play oldies and we play and sing along but doing

590
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 3: it and I'd love to do that sometime with a band.

591
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 3: But I've only got a I've used artificial stupidity, and

592
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 3: I have a virtual band and they're on screen, so

593
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 3: they come with me and they're the Monkeys band. The

594
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:54,960
Speaker 3: people have played with the Monkeys, so they're kind of

595
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 3: rather nice and they play very well, so I play

596
00:30:57,920 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 3: along with them, so it's quite nice.

597
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:01,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, I absolutely love that.

598
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 2: So we're expecting you in New Zealand in just a

599
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 2: few weeks.

600
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 1: How long are you here for?

601
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 3: I'm not here very long. I do three gigs, I think,

602
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 3: and then I do a tour. I got to go

603
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 3: to Hobart I've never been. I got a chamce Mania Chazzy,

604
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,880
Speaker 3: and then I do a tour of Australia for most

605
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 3: of November, and then and then I go and see

606
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:29,160
Speaker 3: my son who lives up on the Sunshine Coast.

607
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 2: Ah. That's awesome. Okay, So a last piece of advice

608
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,719
Speaker 2: then from you? You've been married I read forty three years.

609
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:40,719
Speaker 3: I'd be with my current wife forty seven years.

610
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 2: Have you?

611
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 3: As I say in my show, I gave that woman

612
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 3: two of the best years of our life.

613
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: Not concurrently, well, not.

614
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:57,400
Speaker 3: Now, oh no, obviously, Well, I do feel rather proud

615
00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 3: that we've actually stayed together for forty seven years. I mean,

616
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:03,000
Speaker 3: it was love at first sight. On my part, I said,

617
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 3: I'm never going to leave you, and she said she thought, yeah,

618
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:10,000
Speaker 3: right right right, you know, but I never have so,

619
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 3: and you know, I think being able to create a

620
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,000
Speaker 3: relationship with someone for that long is it's hard work

621
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 3: for both. It takes work. But I think it's it's pleasant.

622
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 3: It's nice.

623
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely is. I always liked the song which is

624
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 2: if you Leave Me can I Come to?

625
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 3: That's a very good Cowboys song. I like it.

626
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,080
Speaker 2: And our parting segment on the podcast, I would love

627
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,320
Speaker 2: to know what do you think is some of the

628
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 2: best advice that you were given.

629
00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 3: Hm in life? You mean, or in show business or well.

630
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got the microphone.

631
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,920
Speaker 3: My first my first agent, it was called Roger Hancock

632
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:10,520
Speaker 3: and he was the brother of a comedian called Tony Hancock,

633
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 3: and his only advice was be available. I thought that's

634
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 3: rather good advice. You be open to other things. Just

635
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:21,800
Speaker 3: be available. And if they say that this is they

636
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 3: well maybe I'll do that or yes, let's I'll do that.

637
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,600
Speaker 3: So I quite like that as a bit of advice.

638
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,480
Speaker 2: I like that because We've got too many young people

639
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 2: that think that the world should revolve around them, when actually,

640
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:38,080
Speaker 2: if we turn up and we're available, goodness knows, more

641
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 2: opportunities actually open for us.

642
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 3: I think that's good. It's just take your chances and

643
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,479
Speaker 3: you know, be available to new things, which I think

644
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:48,280
Speaker 3: it'd good.

645
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,400
Speaker 2: I really like it. Okay, Eric Hardilek you so much

646
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 2: of joining me today. It's been a real treat. You

647
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 2: can catch Eric and his stage show Always Look on

648
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:02,080
Speaker 2: the Bright Side of Life live in October. He's touring Auckland,

649
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,640
Speaker 2: Wellington and christ Church. Tickets are on sale now. And

650
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:07,880
Speaker 2: that's it for another episode of Ask Me Anything. If

651
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,880
Speaker 2: you have enjoyed this episode, please follow Ask Me Anything

652
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:14,719
Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio or rarely get your podcasts. While you were there,

653
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:17,799
Speaker 2: you got some of our past episodes. Planning to choose from.

654
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 2: I'm Paula Benich Ask Me Anything. Goodbye,