Eric Idle - Has He Lost It?
CBollocks
I can't say I'm too excited. First off all, censoring the word "nigger" in
Never Be Rude to an Arab is completely inexcusable as far as I'm concerned - I
thought the bad taste was the whole point? I guess it's ok to say words like
"spic" and "kraut" - is Eric worried that people will take the song "seriously"
or has he just turned into an idiot? Second point: only signing items bought
at the show sucks in a major way, I could understand if he wanted to limit the
amount of stuff he'll sign or just not sign anything point blank, but the first
rule of celebrity is that your audience is your bread and butter and if you
piss on it you'll still have to eat it. I don't know about you, but selling
autographs to dedicated fans who have already spent money on overpriced tickets
(which is essentially what Eric is doing), brings up the following words in my
mind: pathetic, greedy, egotistical, asshole-y (not sure if that's a word, but
you get the point). Thirdly, having other actors perform the classic python
sketches seems to be a desperate move - I was under the impression that this
would be an Eric show (of course with Python stuff), but I guess he wanted the
Python reunion so badly that he brought in "replacements" for the other
Pythons. I don't care how talented they are, if they're doing the Python stuff
it sucks. The least he could have done is come up with some new stuff and
leave the Python stuff to be performed by himself exclusively. I understand
that there is some new material, but I have a feeling that it's nothing special
(The Vagina Song sounds like it must be very uninspired - of course working off
The Penis Song - not exactly brilliant). Maybe Eric just isn't funny anymore,
and the other Pythons have some brains, and some dignity (they know when to say
no to the reunion).
I could be very wrong about this, but I guess I'll find out in a few days (even
if the show's good, the censoring of "Never Be Rude to an Arab" will stick in
my mind).
Madeleine BAROUKHEL-MOUREAU
CBollocks a écrit :
I'm going to see Eric on Monday night, but after reading some of these postings
I can't say I'm too excited. First off all, censoring the word "nigger" in
Never Be Rude to an Arab is completely inexcusable as far as I'm concerned - I
thought the bad taste was the whole point? I guess it's ok to say words like
"spic" and "kraut" - is Eric worried that people will take the song "seriously"
or has he just turned into an idiot?
I agree, it's very disappointing. Cleaned up bad taste is bad enough, but it's even worse than that : the original song was democratic, in a sense that the "races" submitted to mock racialism remained unselected. If the niggers are out, it can mean two things : "You can be rude to a nigger" or, on the opposite, "Dear niggers, I know how much you're suffering from racialism, whereas the spics and the krauts don't really mind". And both are disgusting.
Eric did something like that before, when he agreed to suppress his own Jewish nazi scene in "Life of Brian", though it made a hole in the whole film concept. OK, so the movie was then in bad terms with censorship. It was a pity, but it was understandable. Now, I can't think of any good reason for being so tame.
Second point: only signing items bought
at the show sucks in a major way, I could understand if he wanted to limit the
amount of stuff he'll sign or just not sign anything point blank, but the first
rule of celebrity is that your audience is your bread and butter and if you
piss on it you'll still have to eat it.
Here you are transposing a moral matter into some questionable show of strength. Only signing items bought at the show doesn't suck, but it's petty and, once again, disappointing. It's ONE particular way of considering ONE part of the audience : it appeals to addict consumers and only addict consumers will buy it. I hate this idea that a celeb should do this or that because "hey we pay, we're the masters". I ain't no master of no celeb, but no celeb is going to be my master either, even Eric, especially Eric. I just would have stood aside, sad to be in another audience for another Eric... The ones who bought surely didn't feel like they were being pissed on, that's for sure.
I don't know about you, but selling
autographs to dedicated fans who have already spent money on overpriced tickets
(which is essentially what Eric is doing), brings up the following words in my
mind: pathetic, greedy, egotistical, asshole-y (not sure if that's a word, but
you get the point).
You're going too far. Pathetic, yes - he needs money because one needs money for a revue, and a revue might not have been necessary IMO... It also prevented him from coming to see us overseas, and I resented it. But then, that's the freedom of the artist. Asshole-y : no. If you really think this and you're going to his show, then you're a worse asshole than him.
Thirdly, having other actors perform the classic python
sketches seems to be a desperate move - I was under the impression that this
would be an Eric show (of course with Python stuff), but I guess he wanted the
Python reunion so badly that he brought in "replacements" for the other
Pythons. I don't care how talented they are, if they're doing the Python stuff
it sucks. The least he could have done is come up with some new stuff and
leave the Python stuff to be performed by himself exclusively.
I think he'll do that later on. It's only his first step in a totally new direction, after all.
I understand
that there is some new material, but I have a feeling that it's nothing special
(The Vagina Song sounds like it must be very uninspired - of course working off
The Penis Song - not exactly brilliant).
I'd REALLY like to know the words to this Vagina song !!!!
Maybe Eric just isn't funny anymore,
and the other Pythons have some brains, and some dignity (they know when to say
no to the reunion).
Then again, you mix up different things. You perfectly know that Eric will always be funny, and that he's the brainiest of them all. As for the dignity...
I could be very wrong about this, but I guess I'll find out in a few days (even
if the show's good, the censoring of "Never Be Rude to an Arab" will stick in
my mind).
I hope you'll give us your impressions. I'm interested in the critical fans' opinions. Do you allow me to put this analysis in the "Negative Criticism" section of my Eric Idle forums ?
The Eric Idle Grovelling Site's Living Room
Regards !
Zep77
python) show and you will like it too.he was very funny between songs/skits and
a couple of the new songs were great-getty song & vagina song.
the python material with other actors worked better than i thought it would.it
was only questionable when they did pyhon stuff without eric,like albatross.
my only real disappointment was that he didn't sing any rutles tunes.
t-shirts were $30,so i didn't buy one,but thats about going concert rate.
at least he is signing something,thats fairly rare for someone playing 6,000
seat arenas (universal ampitheatre)
mike
Thomas Hansen
made...@baroukhel.claranet.fr wrote:
> Eric did something like that before, when he agreed to suppress his own
> Jewish nazi
> scene in "Life of Brian", though it made a hole in the whole film
> concept. OK, so
> the movie was then in bad terms with censorship. It was a pity, but it
> was
> understandable. Now, I can't think of any good reason for being so tame.
Is this a scene that was cut from the movie? What scene is this?
--
Thomas Hansen : <vio...@online.no>
Madeleine BAROUKHEL-MOUREAU
his fanatical fans agreeing all together that yes, they were all different. As
he sat somewhere, blue and confused, a fanatical looney of another kind called
Otto came up to him to thank him for restoring the Judean self-confidence into
its Master Race rights and offer him to die with his suicide squad for Brian's
alleged cause. The scene was shot, but deleted, and the kamikaze army who
committed suicide at the end, right under Brian's cross, remained as an
obscure and pointless reminder of this original dimension.
This scene was, IMO, utterly hilarious, powerful and meaningful. It functioned
as the right wing counterpart to Reg's lefties, showed how universal both
extremisms can be in *any* society and completed the painting of religious
fundamentalism. Furthermore, it was an intelligent way to show respect to the
Jewish people, by refusing to give them a different status as far as human
nature is concerned.
But of course it could be considered ambiguous and Eric probably shied away at
the thought he might be accused of anti-semitism. Which is a great pity, and I
hope the movie will be shown one day in its artistic integrity.
Thomas Hansen a écrit :
> In article <391D89FD...@baroukhel.claranet.fr>,
> made...@baroukhel.claranet.fr wrote:
>
> > Eric did something like that before, when he agreed to suppress his own
> > Jewish nazi
> > scene in "Life of Brian", though it made a hole in the whole film
> > concept.
>
Glenn Wallace
> Forgot to mention that there were no Rutles songs - just a video "tribute
to
> Sir Dirk McQuigley" (really nothing more than a few clips from All You
Need Is
> Cash)...
The original newspaper ad said "Special Appearance by Sir Dirk McQuickly"
which
was later changed to "Special Tribute to....".
I was very disappointed; as the live CD has "I Must Be In Love" on it,
I assumed he'd perform it in Seattle too.
Eric nicely signed my original Rutles album (well it was purchased
merchandise
after all... just some time ago).
Heartily agree on "Never be Rude to An Arab". PC gone wild. The whole point
of
the song is that it offends everyone and the singer gets blown up/whatever.
I can't see how spic, dago and wop are any more or less acceptable than
nigger.
I spoke briefly with the tall American (Peter Crabbe) with the bad British
accent
and tried to correct his "poofter" pronunication (I am Australian). He was
saying
"pooooof-terrr", or "pewf---terrr". We say it "poofda". Quite a good sport
about
it, he said he's had a bunch of Aussies come and give him different
pronunciations.
I went both nights, and enjoyed the second night more, I was closer to the
stage (could hear/see a little better) and overall it seemed funnier.
Badly off key in the Money Song both nights.
He didn't do the Dachau story tonight though. Probably offended some Jews
the night before.
Glenn
Glenn Wallace
> my only real disappointment was that he didn't sing any rutles tunes.
> t-shirts were $30,so i didn't buy one,but thats about going concert rate.
> at least he is signing something,thats fairly rare for someone playing
6,000
> seat arenas (universal ampitheatre)
T-shirts were $20. Programs were $10. I bought one of each and it
cost me $30 total.
CBollocks
>opinions. Do you allow me to put this analysis in the "Negative Criticism"
>section
>of my Eric Idle forums ?
I don't know if you are serious about the "Negative Criticism" forum, but if
you are, then yes you can by all means, be my guest, etc.
I saw the show last night and unfortunately I can't say that I was wrong about
my suspicions. I may have gone too far with the "asshole-y" remark, but
generally I think the show was little more than a pathetic attempt to grab some
cash (I couldn't blame Eric if he was in a really dire situation financially,
but I really don't think that's the case).
I'll add some spoiler space if anyone is going to the show and doesn't want to
know...
Basically the show centered around old Python routines, and had almost the
exact same structure as a Python stage show, only it was missing the Pythons
(except for Eric of course). There were several sketches performed in addition
to songs. Replacement actors were brought in to take the place of the missing
Pythons, and this failed miserably. There was an audience participation part
of the show, where Eric and his "doctor" assistant (made up to look like Graham
in The Meaning of Life) put a woman from the audience into a box and wheeled
her off stage, where they proceeded to "remove her liver" on a video screen
hovering over the stage (as opposed to The Meaning of Life it seems like they
went out of their way to avoid blood and gore, and it was really pretty lame),
while a "liverdance" (parody of Riverdance that was about as funny as something
you might see in a "comedy" starring Leslie Nielson) was performed on stage.
Large portions of the show were performed entirely without Eric (I'd say Eric
was only in about 50-60% of the stuff). Eric performed Python sketches and
songs that he never actually did during Python, such as The Argument Clinic
(which was actually ok), and Eric the Half a Bee. This was during a part of
the show directly after the intermission (which was inserted for the sole
purpose of giving people time to buy merchandise, as the video monitor said
"Intermission - Time to Buy") and deviated from the rest of the show slightly
in that Eric talked a little about each of the Pythons before performing
something related to them (or having one of the other actors perform) - the
show would have actually been better if it were like this througout, instead of
trying to be a Python show. It was a little sad that Eric tryed to justify
playing the other Pythons parts by claiming that "this is a tribute for John.."
(or one of the others - as if any of them were watching). Never Be Rude to an
Arab was indeed censored ("nigger" replaced by "dago" - incidentally this was
performed by one of the other actors), a pathetic move. I couldn't really
understand how saying words like "dago" and "spic" are considered ok, but
"nigger" isn't (of course all of them are insults, but I thought that was the
point in the context of the song). It was even more puzzling that while Eric
was apparently trying to be "PC" by censoring "Never Be Rude to an Arab," he
proceeded to sing "I Like Chinese" while his female dancers, wearing chinese
farmer hats, proceeded to mimic stereotypical Chinese gestures and pictures of
Eric with photographically altered "Chinese eyes" flashed on the video screen.
The dancers themselves weren't that bad, but I couldn't help but feel
embarrassed for them. The show was taken way too far in it's "exploiting Monty
Python," the dancers even did a rendition of The Life of Brian Song (I hardly
think a real Python show would bother). The worst example of other performers
doing Python stuff had to be one of the actors doing the Albatross routine that
John Cleese used to do in the stage shows, and adding insult to injury by
having one of the actors do a long monologue as "The Colonel." I think part of
what made it so bad was that all these actors were obviously American doing bad
English accents - it was almost as though Eric picked up some ultra-geeky
Python fans off the streets who already had the material memorized and put them
on stage. The new material was generally pretty lame. There was a song called
The Getty Song, which would probably only be funny to people living in LA (and
even then, it's not THAT funny). The Vagina song was basically a replica of
The Penis Song ("isn't it awfully nice to have a pussy, isn't it awfully swell
to own a clit," etc.) performed by Eric in drag. There was some kind of Vegas
lounge singer routine (which Eric didn't appear in) which was mildly amusing
only because of the costume (might have actually been trying to be Graham from
the end of Meaning of Life) - the humor was nothing special (basically this
lounge singer would sing about how great he was while the dancers would respond
in the chorus by saying things like "he has a small penis" or "not very good in
bed" - really inventive stuff, I know). There was also this really bad
appendage to the Nudge Nudge sketch where after Eric says "what's it like?,"
the dancers come out dressed in "hip hop clothes" and start dancing with the
characters to this really horrible "dance song" with soundbites from the sketch
- when the song ends the dancers stop in a "hip hop pose" and the actor
replacing Terry Jones says "it's a bit like that." A lot of the audience
seemed to enjoy the show, but I'm not sure whether this was a genuine reaction
or a trained response (some parts of the show were so embarrassingly bad it
made me think that the portions of the audience who cheered loudly were
mentally disabled - perhaps the first 100 to show up got a free lobotomy). The
show ended with the "Piss Off" on the video monitor that the Pythons used to
end shows with. I have to think that people paying $50 or more to see this
must have at least seen the Hollywood Bowl video (don't think anyone there was
not a big Python fan), so I was a bit suprised that many people seemed to react
to this as though it was a clever little suprise. The show was not all bad, I
would say I enjoyed about 10% of it, but the overall feeling I got from it was
sadness. I feel sorry for Eric. It was like watching Ringo perform as "The
Beatles" with replacements (I'm not saying Eric = Ringo in the Pythons, but
going on last night's evidence alone I would sadly have to report that Ringo is
more talented)...
CBollocks
Glenn Wallace
strength. Only signing items bought at the show doesn't suck, but it's petty
and, once again, disappointing. It's ONE particular way of considering ONE
part of the audience : it appeals to addict consumers and only addict
consumers will buy it. I hate this idea that a celeb should do this or that
because "hey we pay, we're the masters". I ain't no master of no celeb, but
no celeb is going to be my master either, even
He signed my Rutles album, very kind of him. He even took enough care to
sign the album near his (Dirk's) picture.
The sign said "autographs for purchased merchandise only".
They didn't say _what_ merchandise and _when_ it had to have been purchased.
:))
I also had the program open at the Rutles pages which was where he signed
first.
I didn't see anyone enforcing this, just the signs. I think if you had 20
Monty Python boks he might have drawn the line; my assumption was that he
has a soft spot for Rutles fans. (notwithstanding not actually performing
any songs...)
HOWEVER the chap two places in front of me was chatting to him incessantly
about God knows what and Idle all but told him to Piss Off.
I'm sure he wanted to get to his hotel room though.
Glenn
IntHarvstr
>which
>was later changed to "Special Tribute to....".
>
>I was very disappointed; as the live CD has "I Must Be In Love" on it,
>I assumed he'd perform it in Seattle too.
That's funny because he performed I Must be in Love as Dirk McQuickly in
Phoenix on opening night. Wonder why he dropped it.
sneedy
Gary St. Lawrence
<gl...@nospam-drizzle.com> wrote:
}Heartily agree on "Never be Rude to An Arab". PC gone wild. The whole point
}of the song is that it offends everyone and the singer gets blown up/whatever.
}I can't see how spic, dago and wop are any more or less acceptable than
}nigger.
Well, obviously it's not meant to be taken literally. It refers
to any manufacturer of dairy products.
Likewise, it's quite clear that in the very politically correct
new millenium, Eric feels that niggers have become far more sensitive
to racial slurring than your average big, smelly, turban-wearing Arab
(they're right next to each other in the dictionary, you know ...).
Saint.
Still the Nigh-Exhalted Grand Old Sage of A.F.M-P and one who knows
that a great, stinkin' Arab can go a whole year on one grain of rice.
Saint.
"If you try to fail, and you succeed, which have you accomplished?" -- George Carlin