Comedy, music, philosophy. . . And one fart joke.
Audiences can expect an evening of gluten-free comedy when star of stage, screen and crossword puzzle Eric Idle brings his nostalgic, one-man musical to Australia.
‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life LIVE!’ Explores what Eric calls ‘mock and roll’, a weird hybrid of comedy and music, with tributes to George Harrison and Robin Williams as well as a salute to ‘The Rutles’, a Beatle parody movie he created which was the world’s first ever rockumentary about the legendary pre-fab four.
Eric has been in showbusiness since 1961: “Unfortunately, I can’t find the exit” he says. “My role in life seems to be cheering people up,” he adds glumly.
His song ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’, which is also the title of his best-selling ‘Sortabiography’, has been the most requested ditty at British funerals for more than 20 years. He even performed it before two billion people, at the London 2012 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony.
The song also appears in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical (2005) ‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’, which Eric wrote with John Du Prez. The show returned to Broadway last November with rave reviews.
Eric is a rare survivor of pancreatic cancer. This will be his first full tour of the antipodes since surviving. On his last visit to Australia, in November 2022, he performed a sold-out show at the State Theatre in Sydney, with Shaun Micallef, and closed the Just For Laughs Festival that year.
He’s lived in LA since 1994, has written several novels and plays, and he was in several movies, but he forgets which.
Oh – and he was in ‘Monty Python’.
Tickets are on sale now.
Eric Idle 2024 Australia Tour Dates
31 October – Wrest Point Entertainment Centre (Hobart)2 November – Llewellyn Hall (Canberra)
4 November – Hamer Hall (Melbourne)
6 November – Queensland Performing Arts Centre
9 November – Star Theatre (Gold Coast)
11 November – Newcastle Civic Theatre
13 November – State Theatre (Sydney)
18 November – Perth Concert Hall
20 November – Adelaide Festival Theatre
