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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
If you love the humor of Monty Python (specifically for me The Holy Grail), this book is for you. He quips throughout and I was constantly laughing. I did the audiobook, which was fantastic because I feel like you hear the intended inflection and occasionally his own kind of chuckles trying not to laugh too hard at a particular story. What a life Eric Idle has had and it is most definitely interesting. I would love to just hang out in a room with him. He's so damn likeable haha.
A highly enjoyable & snappy little book that manages to drop more names than I thought was humanly possible without annoying the hell out of you. That's mainly because I think Idle's life story is impossible to tell without introducing us to the rich and famous.
The thing about the members of Monty Python was before they were Pythons they were already mixing & mingling with comedians as part of other television series and that they were almost as much a rock 'n' roll band as a comedy troupe in the sense that they gathered a fandom around them that hadn't really existed before. People talk about comedy being the new rock 'n' roll when the Mary Whitehouse Experience popped up but Monty Python were genuinely the moment comedy became rock 'n' roll.
And musicians seemed to love Monty Python. George Harrison famously helped bankroll Python films. Indeed some of the best bits of this book - certainly some of the most moving - feature George Harrison. I perhaps learnt more about what Harrison was like as a person than I did Idle.
That's the other thing about all the name dropping. It's like chaff fired to distract missiles. It's all so entertaining that you don't realise that you haven't learned much about Eric Idle himself. Or at least that's what appears to happen but between and behind the lines you do I think get to know him a little bit.
You find yourself wanting a little more, but then that's a good thing. You also get to realise that behind Michael Palin's niceness is a steelier person than one might think.
Definitely worth a read
The thing about the members of Monty Python was before they were Pythons they were already mixing & mingling with comedians as part of other television series and that they were almost as much a rock 'n' roll band as a comedy troupe in the sense that they gathered a fandom around them that hadn't really existed before. People talk about comedy being the new rock 'n' roll when the Mary Whitehouse Experience popped up but Monty Python were genuinely the moment comedy became rock 'n' roll.
And musicians seemed to love Monty Python. George Harrison famously helped bankroll Python films. Indeed some of the best bits of this book - certainly some of the most moving - feature George Harrison. I perhaps learnt more about what Harrison was like as a person than I did Idle.
That's the other thing about all the name dropping. It's like chaff fired to distract missiles. It's all so entertaining that you don't realise that you haven't learned much about Eric Idle himself. Or at least that's what appears to happen but between and behind the lines you do I think get to know him a little bit.
You find yourself wanting a little more, but then that's a good thing. You also get to realise that behind Michael Palin's niceness is a steelier person than one might think.
Definitely worth a read
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
I have a feeling that I’m going to contradict myself several times during this post. For those who don’t know, Eric Idle is one of the writers and members of Monty Python, so maybe being odd and contradictory is the best way to review this book. Sure, let’s go with that.
I found myself laughing uproariously several times during this book, of course. Eric Idle has the gift of stating the saddest things in a way that neither diminishes what happened, or dwells on it. Kind of a like a “Yeah, that sucked, but it’s life” attitude (you’ll see what I mean when you read about what happened to his dad). He’s well aware of his talents, but equally well aware of his faults and finds humor in them.
This book both needed to be longer, but could have been condensed. See what I mean about being contradictory? At less than three hundred pages, there’s really not much to the book length-wise, so being longer wouldn’t have been bad IF there was more that could be said. Of course, I also found myself thinking that parts dragged. Some of it read like sitting with someone who suddenly switches from telling you a story to muttering to themselves about it.
Eric Idle would be the perfect person to hang out with at Thanksgiving, or during a family reunion: he has the most interesting reminiscences. However, some of that was lost in the writing. I really liked his stories of the random weirdness he got into. Because of that, I wish there was also a book with memories written in collaboration with all the members of Monty Python. That would be epic. Of course, Graham Chapman would have to come back from the dead for that, and who would cheat death just to argue with editors?
All in all, the funny parts were hilarious, the little-known tidbits were fascinating, and the rest was just there. Would I recommend it? Ummmm…maybe? It wasn’t a bad way to ring in a new year of reading, but it wasn’t incredible.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2019/01/01/always-look-on-the-bright-side-of-life-a-sortabiography-by-eric-idle/
I found myself laughing uproariously several times during this book, of course. Eric Idle has the gift of stating the saddest things in a way that neither diminishes what happened, or dwells on it. Kind of a like a “Yeah, that sucked, but it’s life” attitude (you’ll see what I mean when you read about what happened to his dad). He’s well aware of his talents, but equally well aware of his faults and finds humor in them.
This book both needed to be longer, but could have been condensed. See what I mean about being contradictory? At less than three hundred pages, there’s really not much to the book length-wise, so being longer wouldn’t have been bad IF there was more that could be said. Of course, I also found myself thinking that parts dragged. Some of it read like sitting with someone who suddenly switches from telling you a story to muttering to themselves about it.
Eric Idle would be the perfect person to hang out with at Thanksgiving, or during a family reunion: he has the most interesting reminiscences. However, some of that was lost in the writing. I really liked his stories of the random weirdness he got into. Because of that, I wish there was also a book with memories written in collaboration with all the members of Monty Python. That would be epic. Of course, Graham Chapman would have to come back from the dead for that, and who would cheat death just to argue with editors?
All in all, the funny parts were hilarious, the little-known tidbits were fascinating, and the rest was just there. Would I recommend it? Ummmm…maybe? It wasn’t a bad way to ring in a new year of reading, but it wasn’t incredible.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2019/01/01/always-look-on-the-bright-side-of-life-a-sortabiography-by-eric-idle/
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Standard autobiography. Some interesting stories but mainly name dropping.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Technically didn’t finish. Life’s too short. Some good bits about the song otherwise just not that compelling.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced