Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

by Eric Idle

Another time, Jack Black asked me to sing at Festival Supreme on Santa Monica Pier, a whole-day concert he was organizing for comedians who played instruments. My pal Jeff Davis did the set with me with the assistance of my hilarious assistant Alana Gospodnetich. I had a gag I wanted to try. To introduce us, Jack Black came on and gave me the biggest showbiz intro ever. “You know him from this, you know him from that, one of the original Montys, will you all please welcome Eric Idle!” Thunderous applause, and on came Billy Idol. The crowd did a double take. What? And then laughed themselves silly. Billy played up the moment perfectly, strutting around the stage, pouting, pumping his fists, singing “I’m a lumberjack …” After a few minutes I came on, looking daggers at Billy. “What the hell are you doing?” “I’m doing the show.” “It says Eric Idle.” “No, it doesn’t. It says Billy Idol.” “Not on the poster.” “Yeah, on the poster.” We argued. We pushed. We shoved. We fought until Jeff brought out the poster and showed him. “Oh. Alright then.” Reluctantly, he left the stage to an enormous ovation. We continued our set without him, but he came on at the end and sang “Bright Side” with us. It was one of my favorite gags ever. A visual pun. Billy was such a pro, he came to my house three times to rehearse the bit.