Eric Idle on the Graham Norton Show

trying to meet my next guest as a member of the Monty Python team and a creator of the hit musical Spamalot this man is one of our great comedy Legends recently he went public about a devastating Health scare which he's here to talk about tonight it is quite the story please welcome Eric idle things you know each other yes it's tough It's fine for men and you know everyone Eric I don't know everybody but I've I've we were on a talk show David and live vaguely I forget who it was we crossed paths yeah Jamie I know of course yes all right listen you're here to tell us this I say it is an extraordinary story and it's a it's a very frightening story so before we get into it I think we should just reassure people you are well yes I am very well yes okay so the show is dedicated [Laughter] so okay so in order to tell the story do you go back to 2019 or do you go back later uh I go earlier okay it starts at about you know 2009 and I'm uh I'm writing a play uh it's after spam a lot and I'm writing a plan I think it's a really great idea for a play it's going to go really well on Broadway it's called Death the musical try and sell that one you know so anyway to me I like it because I'm I'm writing a play about a guy who's writing a play called Death the musical and he finds out he's dying so that's I like irony yeah that's my premise so I'm writing away that I need I need some you know I need some medical background so I got to see my doctor and and he says come to the Dodgers game so we're sitting at the Dodgers game I say what is the fastest way to get rid of a character and he said it's very simple pancreatic cancer you've got about three weeks if you're lucky and it's inevitable you know so I said great that's perfect I'll start writing away and then 10 years later he's still my doctor and I'm going for a routine checkup and I'm having a blood test and MRI and he said put a little bit of iodine in there and so and he said you're coming in should sit down a minute and he shows me on the screen and I said what's that he said pancreatic cancer and I laugh because it's hilarious I have the right of the play about a writer writing a play about death the musical now has bloody pancreatic cancer and you know so you've got to break it to the wife and the kids and so we agreed we call it Kenny because it's such a scary term you know I'm suffering from Kenny we're going to go to the Kenny Center and have a Kenny operation and so um he said the good news is it's really early stage we've seen it we don't we've never seen it this early so you've got a very good chance of surviving So within about 10 days I'm whipped into Cedars and uh during a cancer specialist who actually after five hours operation takes it all out and so I was extremely fortunate I was very very lucky and um you know we didn't tell anybody but but you know I was very fortunate and then you revealed this diagnosis in a very Eric idle way where how and when did you reveal that you'd had pancreatic cancer well I revealed it after and um in America this isn't a spoiler yeah it was on the mask singer and it was the premiere episode of the season and I I thought well you know afterwards they ask you to be interviewed by and you go on the shows and you you know you plug your book or your film or whatever you're plugging and I thought you know what I I think what I ought to do is to is to come out to cancer and and tell people that I actually survive pancreatic cancer because this is very good news for everybody yeah so what what I thought I'd do is I started a fund called uh the bright side fund as I'm looking on the bright side you know and then people can you know contribute and we can put it to research and encourage early testing and so that's what what I'm doing I mean we started it and people are contributing and it's going very well and when you went into Hospital didn't you use the man who sings uh also at the bright side the man who starts the song was it his name you used oh yeah because in Cedars you know they they said well you better go under a pseudonym you know because uh you don't be bothered by the tabloids I thought well actually you don't really have it's not one of my worries but still I think so what is unicorn yourself and I think oh I don't know um I couldn't think of my name so I said Mr cheeky because she's the character in The Life of Brian so I'm sitting there ready for my operation I go Mr cheeky Mr cheeky that's the name I'm known actually lucky I didn't call myself biggest dickers actually [Applause] you are dressed as a hedgehog we've got a picture of the Hedgehog I mean that's me it doesn't seem like in a minute he's going to tell us he survived cancer I survived being run over by a car maybe but you sang a beagle song I did I I sang Love Me Do so I rather I like that song and I um it was it's not easy to get a Beatles song and uh a friend of mine said well why don't you ask Paul because he wrote it when he was 16. and it's not a beetle copyright it's Paul's copyright so I wrote him a letter and I said can I use your song and he said all right yes of course you can you can use my song but please tell me when the show airs so I can be sure to miss it so I I wrote him and told him when it was on you know and uh I said well it may not be the best rendition you've ever heard of Love Me Do but it's the best ever done by a hedgehog and listen you you clearly are feeling very well tell me this because you you know because you were told this thing that you kind of thought well that's it that's curtains but now it's not curtains yes what's your life like are you living differently um I think I think I am in a way that I'm more grateful uh you know you you think well I've got a bit more life than I expected and so I can I thought what was nice about coming out to cancer was I could do a bit of good so I made an alliance with stand up to cancer which is a charity and yeah they've been helping me and on the bright side fund has helped me and so yeah I mean I'm I'm very I'm grateful to be alive yeah well it's I hope it helps other people and we are so grateful you're alive thank you so much for being here and sharing my stories Eric idle everybody it's an amazing story I'm so happy for you it's time for music this British pop super

Channel: Jess

Views: 744,797

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Id: S3W2uRWCFxA

Length: 7min 1sec (421 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 30 2022