Monty Python’s Eric Idle, 82, on Spamalot return, losing friends and love for comedy

But when Spamalot made its long-awaited return to LA on March 24 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, Idle took the stage only briefly, and not as a cast member. His job was to pop on and “say something funny or rude, which sadly, comes quite easy to me,” he says in a recent interview at a cocktail lounge just north of the theatre.

Explaining his scaled-back involvement in this iteration of his meta-musical, Idle says that at the golden age of 82, “I can’t do anything eight times a week” – though his agenda that day begged to differ.

He had woken up around 6am for his daily writing session, powered through a meeting with his book publisher and capped off the sunlight hours with some Spamalot promos and a photo shoot, all before sitting down to dinner.