Eric Idle - Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, LIVE!

In this one man musical, Eric, accompanied by The Virtual Band, a sort of Infinite Monkees Cage band, bids a fond farewell to old friends like George Harrison, Robin Williams and Neil Innes with rare footage from and a salute to The Rutles. The Beatles parody movie he created, which was the world’s first ever mockumentary about the legendary pre-fab four, Dirk, Nasty, Stig and Barry.

Eric Idle, star of stage, screen and crossword puzzle, has often been compared to Noel Coward.

But never favourably.

A legend in his own lunchtime, he reveals how he accidentally fell into comedy in 1963 and has been unable to climb out ever since.

He has been in show business since 1963. “Unfortunately, I can’t find the exit” he says.

“My role in life seems to be cheering people up,” he adds glumly.

Idle’s last solo UK performance was in front of a global audience of two billion at the London 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony. Leading an 80,000-strong crowd in a sing-along of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, he was surrounded by a lively spectacle of Morris dancers, a choir of rugby players, and even skating nuns.

Two years later, in 2014, he reunited with Monty Python for Monty Python Live (Mostly)—a sold-out, ten-night run at the O2 which he wrote and directed.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, coincidentally the title of his best-selling Sortabiography, has been the Number One most requested ditty at British funerals for over twenty years.

It also appears in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Broadway hit Spamalot, which Eric wrote with John Du Prez, and which returned to Broadway a year ago with rave reviews and packed houses and which starts a tour of the US in September.

His recent book, The Spamalot Diaries, an intimate look at the making of that show, was released last year.