Book Description

A stunningly witty exploration of the American landscape -- not to mention a brilliant comic's mind -- this diary is chock-full of everything you ever wanted to know about Eric Idle, Monty Python, America, and sleeping on a bus. In these pages, the sixth-nicest Python is cheeky, touching, and funny when recounting the riotous tales of his beginnings, his affectionate reminiscences of his fellow Pythons, traveling the world, and taking us backstage at the smash Broadway hit Spamalot.

Customer Reviews (1)

BRINGS THE WORK OF A GREAT HUMORIST TO CHILDREN
In an age when children are all fed the same diet of movies and TV shows, Eric Idle's work speaks to the individual, the special creative person in each child.The story, the style, the humor lets me laugh while reading it to children, and lets them laugh while hearing it (not to mention the laugh they get watching me laugh).The point?This is a wonderfully written story that pleases and amazes children and adults.If there is a person on AMAZON who hasn't already enjoyed Eric Idle's other work (not to mention his Monty Python work), then this is a great start ... Read more

Book Description
The man who brought you the anthems "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" and "Sit on My Face and Tell Me That You Love Me" shows his naughty bits -- and so much more

A stunningly witty exploration of the American landscape -- not to mention a brilliant comic's mind -- this diary is chock-full of everything you ever wanted to know about Eric Idle, Monty Python, America, and sleeping on a bus. In these pages the sixth-nicest Python is cheeky, touching and funny when recounting the riotous tales of his beginnings, his school days in a Dickensian academy for boys, and his affectionate reminiscences of fellow Pythons, traveling the world, as well as his longtime friend, George Harrison.

Astonishing, moving, at times even amusing, this chronicle of Idle's road trip during his Greedy Bastard Tour will improve your sex life dramatically. After only a few pages you will begin to feel intelligent, charming, and clever, then aroused, then funny. And after a few chapters whatever personal or health problems you are experiencing will immediately vanish. So come experience 80 days, 15,750 miles, and 49 cities as you never have before! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Great book!!
I recieved this book for Christmas, and being a fan of Monty Python, and Eric Idle especially, it was a joy to read. Eric Idle is a fantastic writer, and it's nice to get to see the world the way he sees it. Some of my favorite parts of the book were his stories he told about George Harrison and himself. The book is great for fans, or anyone who'd like a laugh (or a cry.).

A Surprising Gem
Well, I picked up this book expecting a fast, pithy read from one of the great comics of recent memory.I also expected that he would focus on his annoyance with America (which he does to some extent) and his interactions with the audience.
Sure, he does give one some observations, however I was more impressed by this book than I ever expected to be.That's why I am writing this review, dear reader.Idle's description of the American countryside is well, at times, sheer poetry.I was surprised that I wanted to see these parts of the country for myself after reading his affectionate odes to them.
The most poignant thing about this work is that it is the work of a man (as he admits) who is at the end of his comedic career, but still wants to celebrate every moment he has left.His allusions to his personal relationships with his wife, daughter and the tragic deaths of his mother and father took me totally aback.I actually feel I garnered some true insight into this man.That's a difficult thing for comedians to do when they write a book, in my personal reading experience.
I really would highly recommend this book, and, I can't believe I am writing this, the main reason is because I found this book actually inspirational.A lovely story of a man who triumphed over tragedy and, in the end, reveals what many would never contemplate:this guy is just like the rest of us, insecure and not immune to the slings and arrows of life.Highly recommended.And no, I am not his agent :)

One of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time
I laughed out loud at this story of Eric Idle's bus tour for his Broadway show Spamalot. I've sent this book as a gift to several people and insisted they read it.

The book shows a cult celebrity who is indeed overly full of himself
The way Idle in his book badly treats anyone who saw his performance but didn't care for it shows how truly stuck up he is. Everyone over 10 who watches his performances has to believe he's every bit as great as he thinks he is or he gets negative about it. The drawing of Idle as a lady is thankfully missing from the new paperback version.

To the most recent reviewer here before me I say this. George Harrison was part of the arguably biggest bunch of musicians in history (The Beatles). There was a moment in the 1960's when almost every youngster in the US, England and Australia
between 13 and 18 years of age was into the Beatles. There was never a moment when the Pythons had such a fan following. Comparisons between Beatles and Pythons are ridiculous.
When Idle's time comes the only people who'll blab about him in their own books would be the surviving Pythons (even Carol Cleveland).

Just what you'd expect...
I don't know why reviewers are constantly "surprised" by the serious writings of comedians.Great comedians have always been very serious people, and I think a lot of comedians' best work has been more dramatic than comedic, including Robin Williams in "Good Will Hunting" and "Fisher King" as well as Jim Carrey in "Truman Show" and "Man on the Moon".

This book establishes this fact yet again.Eric Idle is a hilarious and seemingly wonderful guy, but he's obviously quite philosophically inclined.You can't write a great philosopher drinking song unless you're already acquainted with those philosophers. As he admits in this book, comedy was a defense mechanism by which he coped with what sounds like a harsh childhood.He raised that coping mechanism to an art form.

I really enjoyed this book simply because I could spend a few hours sharing the thoughts of a smart, funny man, whose work I've always admired.It's a diary. It rambles a bit.It's serious, funny, witty, poignant and at times a bit too much, but that's why I think it's probably an accurate depiction of the mind of Eric Idle.You don't write the sketches Monty Python gave us while wielding the mind of a charter accountant.

Cheers.Buy the book, and I think you'll enjoy it a lot.The tribute to George Harrison was beautiful, and I'm sure there will be many to pay similar tribute to Eric when his day comes.

... Read more

Amazon.com
The Road to Mars is the second novel by Eric Idle--yes, that Eric Idle, the guy from Monty Python's Flying Circus. No, the book isn't like a Monty Python skit (and a good thing too, since silly sketches are no basis for a successful novel). Yes, Monty Python is mentioned in the book, but the self-referentiality is blessedly confined to two paragraphs. Yes, The Road to Mars is funny. It's also genuine science fiction. And it's satirical, sharply characterized, well-written, thoughtful, fun, and more complex than you'd expect from its picaresque structure, in which a stand-up-comedian odd couple and their robot knock around the outer planets in search of decent gigs. Well, Alex and Lewis are looking for work (and sex); their android, Carlton, unfazed by his own irony impairment, is trying to write a thesis about comedy. The trio quickly find themselves mixed up with a mysterious beauty, a famous diva, the captain of the solar cruise ship Princess Di, and a band of terrorists determined to blow up Mars.

In addition to The Road to Mars and Monty Python scripts, Eric Idle is the author of the SF/fantasy novel Hello Sailor (1975), the play Pass the Butler (1982), and the children's book The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat. --Cynthia WardBook Description
With Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eric Idle proved he was one of the funniest people in the world. And with The Road to Mars he reaffirms this with a raucously sidesplitting vengence.

Muscroft and Ashby are a comedy team on "The Road to Mars," an interplanetary vaudeville circuit of the future. Accompanied by Carlton, a robot incapable of understanding irony but driven to learn the essence of humor, Alex and Lewis bumble their way into an intergalactic terrorist plot. Supported by a delicious cast, including a micropaleontologist narrator (he studies the evolutionary impact of the last ten minutes) and the ultra-diva Brenda Woolley, The Road to Mars is a fabulous trip through Eric Idle's inimitable world, a "universe expanding at the speed of laughter." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (64)

Road to Nowhere
I am a huge Python fan and a particularly devoted fan of Eric Idle.Keeping this in mind, this book is a huge disappointment.In this sci-fi novel, the humor is so untraceable that the Starship Enterprise crew members could not be less funny.

What was Eric Idle thinking?Terry Jones wrote a successful science fiction novel with Douglas Adams.Yet in the forum of science fiction, Idle's humor seems non-existent.In the story, a b-level comedy team and their robot attempt to foil a terrorist plot.While this plot unravels, Carlton the robot writes a thesis on comedy which seems more like an excuse for Idle to mock 20th Century humor.Even when Carlton dresses in women's clothes, I sensed Idle was desperately trying to find humor that was not there.The attempts at humor fall very flat.

Python fans and fans of literature can skip this book.Finding exactly where this book went wrong may require Carlton the robot to write a new thesis.While this book is a good idea in principle, the final product is unworthy of recommendation.

Perhaps not a masterpiece...
I belong to the generation that grew up on Monty Python. Therefore I had to get this book. I do have mixed feelings about it. First, do not expect a Monty Python style book! All the members of the Monty Python group are now making their own careers, on their own merits - not their Monty Python merits. Second, some parts of it are really good, others, shall we say, not so good....
Basically, the story is about a not very succesful comic duo and their robot. Superimposed on their story is a rather bland crime story, involving interplanetary terrorists.
The book has its funny moments, that is true, but that is not the reason for reading it. Rather, Idle uses the book to explain the nature of comedy and the character of the comedian. That is a serious and interesting topic. It is the robot who is not happy with its station in life and wants to become a comedian itself. To achieve that it must first work out what comedy is and how it works.

A decent read
I'm a huge Python fan so I thought I'd give the book a shot.To his credit, Eric Idle does write a decent book.I think that it's got some really awkward phrasing and an awkward plot line that detract from the overall fun.The funny moments are definitely funny but it takes some patience to get there with this book.I'm sure that it helps that I'm a Python fan because I'm not sure that all readers would have stuck with it.

Sci-fi fun!
A cross between Monty Python and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Engaging story. Great characters. And some truly insightful thinking about the roots of comedy. Wonderful. Highly Recommended.

The Road to Oblvion for Eric Idle if He Keeps This Up
Eric Idle tries very hard here to be funny while offering deep insights into the meaning and function of comedy, but unfortunately doesn't succeed at being either funny or meaningful.This is really more of Idle's excuse for why comics are so f***ed up and why we should really feel sorry for them.The first part of the story reads like bad Douglas Adams, but then Idle just starts trying too hard and the book gets worse.Ironically, the mystery of what is going on with the cruise ship Keppler on which Idle's fictional comedy team of Lewis and Muscroft gets stuck is more interesting than his musings on comedy.

I should have realized the book was going to be weak when I read Steve Martin's front cover testimonial, which says "I laugh. I cried.Then I read the book."Funny, but not exactly a testimonial, more like the thing your friend says when he wants to give you a good quote but doesn't really like the book.If you're jonesing for good science fiction comedy and have run out of Douglas Adams' books, try the British sci fi comedy series"Red Dwarf," or buy Sharyn McCrumb's "Bimbos of the Death Sun," which is dated but nevertheless excellent. But skip this book unless you really have nothing better to fall back on.It's readable, and it's moderately enjoyable, but it's not really very good.A disappointing effort from a genuine hero of the comedy world. ... Read more

Book Description
For the first time all surviving Pythons have agreed to create the definitive story of Monty Python's Flying Circus and the 'genius' who created it. Over thirty years ago, a group of five Englishmen - and one wayward American - rewrote the rules of comedy. Monty Python's Flying Circus, an unheralded, previously unseen half-hour show of sketches, hilarities, inanities and animations, first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact has been felt on the world ever since. From its humble beginnings, it blossomed into the most influential movement in modern comedy. THE PYTHONS' AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE PYTHONS is a unique look at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age, lavishly illustrated with 1000 photographs, many culled from the team's own personal collections, many more seen for the first time. This is the definitive word on all things Pythonesque. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

And now for something completely not funny, yet indispensible.
...but that's not a bad thing (explanation below).

I got this book for Christmas and was concerned that because of it's size I would probably end up just thumbing through and reading select parts.Not the case.I started reading it and couldn't stop.

It covers the group and individuals from their pre-Python lives through discussions of working together again after The Live at Aspen event - though I won't tell you what conclusion they came to.In between is chock full of every detail about their influences, TV show, the movies, the stage shows and more.And because each member contributes (hence...autobiography) you get a great insider's perspective on the dynamics of the group.You learn first hand who doesn't like who, what they enjoyed and how, at times, they really struggled, and a bunch more behind the scenes insights into their personalities.

I found the book to be fascinating.It is formatted such that each event is discussed by multiple members of the troop.So you get a 360 degree view of their writing sessions, their fights, their good times, their movie productions, their business and artistic relationships.

The only downside (and here is why I titled this as such) is that it was rarely funny.That is by no means a fault, but could come as a surprise (as it did me) to the reader who expects it to be silly and funny like their performances.As a result this book is probably only going to be of interest to a true Python fan.And a true Python fan will find it indispensible.

Wonderful book
The Pythons were like the British Marx Brothers, Anti-authority,
subversive, surreal, and very very funny.Particularly interesting are the Python's accounts of their childhood and pre-fame days.

It seems "A Careful Reader" wasn't so careful after all.The picture of Dudley Moore (and it is most assuredly him) is on page 68 NOT 88.Here's a clue for ACR...he's about 30 years younger than he was when he appeared in the movie "10."Thank you and good night!

A few points about this Monty Python book
On page 88 it says that one of the four men in the photo is Dudley Moore. The fellow in the picture doesn't look at all like Dudley Moore. Furthermore, it says, on another page,that Ian MacNaughton is beseeching Terry Jones. But the man MacNaughton is begging seems to actually be Michael Palin. On a different note, in his autobiography part of the book Eric Idle seems too proud of his anti-authority stances. The 60's are very long gone now. Idle should grow up and not be so flaunting of his anti-societial ways. Being part of society is back in fashion. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by The Register Guard on December 5, 2003. The length of the article is 1396 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Nudge nudge, wink wink: It's Eric Idle.(Entertainment)(The self-proclaimed `fifth-nicest' Python slinks into town tonight)
Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: December 5, 2003
Publisher: The Register Guard
Page: T25

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
Word count: 4781. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
Not very interesting sf, and mostly not at all funny comedy.Therefore, this book is a waste of time.Unless it is aiming to be something else entirely, and I completely missed that in the middle of Red Dwarf ultra-lite, and other elements like that, to notice.For something like that though, you would be much better turning to Ben Elton and books like Stark.


... Read more

Book Description
In one of the most imaginative books you'll pick up this year, photographic artist Glen Wexler fuses reality and fantasy to create an alternative world where cows can do just about anything. Awards and recognition for Wexler's work come from such prestigious sources as Communication Arts, ZOOM, French PHOTO, Creativity, Graphis, Photo District News, New York Art Directors' Club, Beldings, NPPA, and Key Art Awards. Wexler's digitally enhanced photo-illustrations are paired with udderly funny musings from the likes of Dave Barry, Ogden Nash, and Eric Idle, who authors the book's foreword and happens to "know a bit about cows in comedy." Wexler put more than 75 days of photography and over 600 post-production hours into this book, working with EmmyAward-winning production designer Anthony Tremblay, Muppet wardrobe designer James Hayes and pyrotechnic expert Joe Viskocil, among others. No detail or pixel has been overlooked in the creation of this "mooving" photographic exposé.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Any collection specializing in 'alternate reality' color photos will relish THE SECRET LIFE OF COWS
Full-page color photos of cows are anything but your usual field grazers: they present an alternate form of cow reality and depict cows in strange circumstances indeed, from science lab neo-robots and in secret agent dress to cows dressed for construction work and various kinds of jobs. Any collection specializing in 'alternate reality' color photos will relish THE SECRET LIFE OF COWS, with its zany and oddball cow photos and the potentials of truly odd lifestyles.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Love It!
I have been a fan of the California Cheese commerical cows for years and this book was an "added-upon" appreciation for the beautiful cow.The book was so funny and I loved the imagination used to create the photos.A great talent!The new book "The Secret Life of Cows" sits with a place on honor on the coffee table in my living room to share with all that come to visit.

Cowabunga Mooed
Glen Wexler sees things a bit differently than the rest of us....and thank god for that. Glen's work has always been discribed as 'visionary.' As in, have you seen Glen's 'visionary' Van Halen Album cover? In "The Secret Life of Cows" he harnesses his 'visionary' powers to bring out only the very best in bovine humor. If you don't smile, laugh out loud or even snort milk out of your nose when you read this book, you better call 911, because you proably don't have a pulse. And if that wasn't enough to get you to part with ten-dollars-and-seventeen-cents, it turns out that Eric Idle fella is pretty funny, too...

A New Breed of Cow
I know a little bit about photography, and have considered myself a purest in my enthusiasm forthe "traditional" medium.But this book has opened my eyes, and shown me a new way of "seeing."I am impressed with not only the creative genius and technical expertise of Glen Wexler, but with how detailed, imaginative and outright funny his work is. It boggles my mind when I ponder how he came up with and then executed the ideas which he so skillfully depicts here; I can't help asking myself, How did he do this?I really enjoy this book, and think it makes a great gift.Each image is not only visionary, but a state-of-the-art result of what can happen when you cross a camera with a computer.

Everyone Needs To Own This Book
For all of those who've ever wondered what cows were doing when not chewing their cud, this book offers the viewer entree into the very busy lives of these seemingly placid creatures. The photo-illustrations are perfectly executed, the text is very funny and more importantly you'll spend a lot of time smiling even after the book has been closed. I cannot think of Casino Cow without laughing. ... Read more

Book Description

Now that he's won the chocolate factory,what's next for Charlie?

Customer Reviews (1)

A Masterpiece
I recommend this audio CD 110%, for people of all ages.There is none better than Eric Idle, and he does supremely with this particular item.His voice, his narration, and his actions through words really bring Roald Dahl's book to life.It is highly enjoyable, as well as hilarious. ... Read more

Book Description
Eric Idle selects his favorite moments from the world-famous Monty Python films and TV series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not Really A Book At All
Do not be fooled, dear readers- this is not really a book at all, but a mere compilation of some of the different Python sketches throughout the Flying Circus series, with some pictures and artwork thrown in.You can 'read' it within much less than an hour.However, those who love pictures will get plenty in here, and those Python nuts who like to recite the skits line by line can now have a chance at doing so with this pocket-sized book.

Great Material
There is some very, very excellent stuff in here, and enough to make up for the fact that it's a very blatant repackaging of old Python material. It seems a little like exploitation to tell you the truth, but the skits are so good that it's forgivable. Some of the best are Lumberjack Song, Madame Palm, Constitutional Peasants, Every Sperm is Sacred, and especially the Oxford Simplified Dictionary. Also included is a very funny preface by Terry Gilliam.

Glorious, simply glorious
Spamtastic!It's so nice and little, I can carry it around with me in my purse and backpack!It's great when I need a Python fix.It has "The Lumberjack Song" and "Spam" and "Every Sperm is Sacred" Lyrics, but it also has really funny, lesser known skits like "Constitutional Peasants" (from Holy Grail) and "What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?" (from Life of Brian).I was really torn between this one and John Cleese's Pocketful of Python, but the "Truth About Protestants" skit (from Meaning of Life) made me get it.Every Python fan should own this. It's a funny and wonderful mix of popular and unpopular Python and will make you [at least] giggle every time you read it. ... Read more