Python on the loose
Eric Idle breaks away from the pack and passes the collection bucket.

By Nate Denver

NEARLY 40 YEARS have passed since Monty Python stomped into the world, probably with one of those giant feet they always use to crush things on their TV show, Monty Python's Flying Circus. Since then the Pythons have delighted people all over the globe with highbrow, lowbrow, and weird-brow comedy. They've delivered their jokes via TV, film, print, record, and stage, and most of them are as funny now as they were on the day their original show debuted on BBC 1, Oct. 5, 1969.

But in the past decade the Pythons have become quite reclusive. Sure, they make movies, pop up in sitcoms (watch Will and Grace to get a glimpse of John Cleese), and do an occasional reunion, but for the most part, Python fans have to watch the old stuff (on Fridays and Saturdays, BBC America reruns episodes of Flying Circus). Don't misunderstand: the old stuff is brilliant, and there's lots of it, so one would be hard-pressed to get tired of the back catalog. But there's something special about seeing material performed today: the old stuff by the old guys along with some new stuff by the old guys – the thought of it brings a tear to the Python fanatic's eye and dollar signs to the Pythons' eyes.

And so we have the Greedy Bastard Tour, brought to you generously, or greedily, by original Python Eric Idle. The tour is a mixture of old Python favorites, new material, and for the first time, Idle stand-up. The skits and songs are performed with a small cast, but the stand-up consists of him, alone, without a friend or a dead parrot to save him.

"This one is entirely me," Idle said over the phone. "The last one I did was a Python show flat-out. This is all my favorite things to do. If I feel like doing something, I'll do it. I do have sketches, and I have people with me, and we do favorites like "Nudge" and "The Bruces," but in between them, I talk to the audience – my life, my background. I make 'em laugh, and I make 'em cry at one point, so it's a bit of everything.... What's nice about being a writer and a performer is you can call into the show at any point something you want to do. I really like that – that's a very fine way of showing off."

It seems like an easy task for a comedy veteran to knock out a stand-up routine, but in reality, stand-up is totally different than sketch comedy. Sketches are written out, rehearsed, and done with other people. Stand-up is one person, armed only with words, versus an entire crowd, possibly a mob. But Idle has fought with words before. When asked if he thought his comedy skills could be used to save himself, he laughed. "I have once managed to escape a beating by being funny. I was hilarious, and they let me go. I think that it can be disarming, but you might piss 'em off so much they want to kill you. By and large it's some recognition of truth that can be the saving power."

Comedy instead of karate as self-defense. All right, what belt is he?

"This tour has been about me proving that I was a comedian, a comedy sketch person – I definitely think I've got my black belt now," he said. "I know I can survive onstage with the best of them talking, just me alone. I've never done that before."

The stand-up is a little different every night, with certain elements dropping in and out of the routine, but the final bit, when the encore collection bucket is in place – that's right, they put out a bucket, and if the audience wants an encore, they have to pay – really relies on repetition, as he jokes with the people who walk up and drop a buck into the bucket.

The bucket started out as a joke. It's still a joke, but at the first show in Rutland, Vt., Oct. 3, they put the bucket out and waited backstage. The plan was for Idle to walk out, look in the bucket, and do a little routine about how no one had paid and how dare they expect the cast to continue the show for free. When Idle looked in the bucket and saw a bunch of money, he improvised. All proceeds from the encore bucket go to a charity – it turns out he's not that greedy after all.

He isn't mean either. Talking to Idle is a pleasure. He's every bit as nice, witty, and fun as he appears to be on television. His online journal (www.pythonline.com) is full of lighthearted and upbeat accounts of the tour, and our interview was like that, too. The guy is an optimist. "Yeah, well we're kinda lucky to be alive," he said. "People need to remember that – it's a good thing. A lot of people don't realize they're alive, because they get stuck in a grind, and you have to go and say, 'Excuse me,' to wake them up. Comedy is good for you. I always sit around after the show and sign things for people, so I meet a lot of people and I see they've had a great time.... They don't leave the venue and go kick chairs."

Bay Guardian: Are you good at soccer?

Eric Idle: I'm good at watching it. Nobody's better than me at watching it. At home I have satellite dishes, and I watch five games a weekend, but my playing days have been over for about 30 years. Marriage and children do that to you; they just ruin your life. You're staying home with the babies. What the hell happened? I'm very much against it now, at my age, having been married to my wife for 26 years. She's pissed off that I've taken this "what are we doing wasting our time with this marriage?" [attitude].

BG: How could she be mad at such a romantic sentiment?

EI: [laughing] Exactly.

BG: Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?

EI: Fly.

BG: What if they catch you and want to dissect you?

EI: Well, I don't know. I'll submit gently and hold out for per diem.

BG: Do you smoke cigarettes?

EI: No, I don't smoke cigarettes. George [Harrison] got me smoking, but all my friends who smoke are now dying at 58 and 57. It's a shame.

BG: I hate the smell of cigarettes.

EI: Oh, me too. It's awful.

BG: I pet a raccoon the other day.

EI: They've got those big eyes – like spectacles, aren't they? I think if you corner them and get into a fight, they're kind of dangerous, but otherwise they're quite pleasant.

BG: What's your favorite thing about San Francisco?

EI: Aw, probably the food. I love the dim sum. I love the oysters and the fresh fish. Also, my friend lives there, Robin [Williams]. I love to see him. It's a great place. It can be so beautiful. You also have theater, unlike L.A. It's a little uphill for me. You can have a car in San Francisco – it's just hard to park the damn things.

BG: Why is cuddling so enjoyable?

EI: Hugging and cuddling are very enjoyable. I think we're physically responsive animals, and we like to curl up at night. The idea that we have single beds is a modern thing. In the Middle Ages, everyone would be in the same bed. So I think it's mammalian behavior.

BG: What's your favorite thing about yourself.

EI: Tough question. I will sometimes say something really funny and I don't know where that comes from, so I can be really witty at times, especially in defensive situations – it's like a rapier. When attacked, I can be very lethal, and that's almost without thinking, so I can't really take credit for it.

BG: That's proof you're a comedy black belt.

EI: Right.

Eric Idle performs Wed/10-Thurs/11, 8 p.m., Fillmore, 1805 Geary, S.F. $50. (415) 346-6000; Fri/12, 8 p.m., Flint Center for the Performing Arts, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino. $30-$50. (408) 864-8816.