Customer Reviews

The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a shameful confession to make for someone of my generation but I somehow missed most of the Monty Python juggernaut in its prime. Aside from friends through the ages citing lines and jokes, and glimpses on American television, I've mostly come to MP through its members' other, unironic projects like Michael Palin's travelogues and Terry Jones' medieval histories. All of which is to say, I can't tell you if this book will disappoint a canonical MP fan or if it will enhance the love, but I enjoyed it for what it is: a genuine diary of a creative soul on the road and a record of a certain time.

By "genuine diary" I mean that while it was back in 2003 an early adaptor to what would later be called the "blog" phenomenon and thus a public document, it remains an extemporaneous, personal laboratory of observation, record of current events, travelogue, memory pieces and jokes, with a coda written in July of 2004 recounting how the soon to debut Spamalot! came into being. Most of it is very witty, with fine descriptive accounts of the terrain the bus passes through and the venues (lots of Moorish theaters), but there are also some somber memory passages--growing up without a dad (killed in WWII when Idle was a baby), the death of his mother, the death of a friend during the tour, the intruder attack on his pal George Harrison and the latter's passing. Despite some silly marriage and sexual jokes, he celebrates his marriage and parenthood, and provides a nuts and bolts account of how a show goes on the road and evolves during the course of the tour. He also reflects insightfully on the nature of writing, diary-keeping and the difference between being a comedian and a comic actor.

Idle is a life affirming guy and this diary is very pleasant company.

I grabbed this book from a local bargain table to get me through (somewhat ironically) a rather long bus ride. As the "professional" reviewer blurbs on the back cover called it "very funny", I figured why not. Several pages in, I began to wonder if we were talking about the same book.

There is much humor in this book, witty asides as well as lyrics to a few Monty Python songs... but it is much more than a book of jokes. Part travelogue and part autobiography, the author tells tales of his travels all the while musing on fame, aging, and death. Reading his account of Graham Chapman's funeral left me comforted; hearing the story of his mother's passing made me weep for my own. I finished the book in one sitting - a quick and captivating read.

While unlikely to be reread, this book is highly likely to be re-gifted. Four stars.

I love Eric Idle's acting and wanted to read his book. It is really good! I don't laugh out loud very often and this book makes me do that on almost every page! I would suggest this book to people who are interested in learning more about Eric Idle and his life, also for people who read autobiographies. I LOVE this book... some bad language and other stuff but over all a GREAT read!

I was quite surprised by the fact that I simply did not find the great majority of Idle's writing here to be either interesting, or funny. Honestly, despite the self effacing humor reflected in the title, it rather sums up the content of the book - as much of a Python fan as I am, this seems like a rather shallow ego stroke, and when Idle occasionally gets sexual I found it rather embarrassing, I guess because his observations and humor just seem pedestrian here and not particularly insightful. I also find his attitude of milking the python thing to any extent he can, even if it means going it alone, a bit distasteful, but this was not really in my thoughts BEFORE reading this book. Honestly, even as a tour diary or a glimpse in to the life of a legendary comedian on the road, it comes across as uninteresting and the kind of thing, dare I say it, that seems more suited to a blog, where you might choose to spend a few hours reading it for free. And yes I know how unfair that sounds. If you actually read it though, see if you disagree with me.