“Monty Python” star Eric Idle
He can’t afford to retire
Eric Idle can’t afford to retire.
© imago/Starface
Despite legendary status with Monty Python: Eric Idle still has to work for a living even at the age of 80.
Eric Idle (80) became a legend with the Monty Python comedy troupe – but that didn’t make him financially secure. Even at the age of 80, he has to continue working to finance his life. He also recently had to sell his house. In a series of tweets The Brit now complains about his suffering on X (formerly Twitter).
“I don’t know why people always assume we’re rich,” explains Eric Idle, among other things. Monty Python was “a disaster”, at least from a financial perspective. He has to continue working in his old age, which is not always easy.
Monty Python split up in 1983. That was half his life ago, Idle reminded an X-User when asked why he couldn’t live off the troupe’s successes. There was a reunion for one gig in 2014, but there was never any new material.
According to his own statement, Eric Idle recently earned well from “Spamalot”. He wrote the musical for the Monty Python cult film “Knight of the Coconut”. But the premiere on Broadway was almost 20 years ago; the curtain fell for the first time on December 21, 2004.
Eric Idle is not involved in the Life of Brian musical
There will probably be no money blessing for Eric Idle in the future. He is not involved in the musical that Python colleague John Cleese (84) wants to make from the film “The Life of Brian”. Idle denied via X corresponding rumors in spring 2023. The cult song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” written by Idle will not appear in the musical.
Eric Idle apparently doesn’t like John Cleese anyway, as can be seen from several tweets. They haven’t seen each other for over seven years. According to Idle, the Monty Python members were never friends, but always just colleagues. Eric Idle founded Monty Python in 1969 together with Cleese, Graham Chapman (1941-1989), Terry Gilliam (83), Terry Jones (1942-2020) and Michael Palin (80).
The comedy show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” started at the end of the 1960s, and the first film “Monty Python’s Wonderful World of Gravity” was released in 1971 – a kind of highlight reel for the series. The first “real” film finally came to the screen in 1975 and is still considered a milestone in weird slapstick: “The Knights of the Coconut”. This was followed by “The Life of Brian” (1979) and the episodic film “The Meaning of Life” (1983), the troupe’s last film.