Three years after being diagnosed, the 79-year-old has been given the all-clear. He reflects on losing his friends George Harrison and Robin Williams – and how he still manages to always look on the bright side of life
Eric Idle is a survivor. We’ve known that for decades. After all, it’s 53 years since Monty Python formed, and the bunch of absurdist jokers are still regarded as the Beatles of comedy. But it was only last week that we discovered what a survivor he is. Idle revealed that three years ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and that he has come through it. His medical team has now told him that thanks to early diagnosis and surgery, he’s likely to be around for the foreseeable.
Idle has always loved his ironies. And none come bigger than this, he says. About 15 years ago, he started working on a project. Death: The Musical became his obsession, even though countless people told him it didn’t work and would never get made. (It hasn’t been.) The basic plot was simple – a man writing Death: The Musical finds he is dying. Idle asked his doctor for advice. “I said: ‘What’s the quickest way to get rid of a character?’ and he said: ‘Pancreatic cancer.’ This is the same doctor who ended up diagnosing me. That was the fucking plot! So I had to laugh. And when it’s on yourself it’s even funnier.”
