Monty Python comedian Eric Idle on cancel culture: ‘A lot of bullying in the name of decency’

British comedian of Monty Python fame Eric Idle has revealed why he’s not afraid of political correctness and cancel culture.

British comedian Eric Idle, of Monty Python fame, is in Sydney for Just For Laughs at the Sydney Opera House. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Monty Python great Eric Idle wouldn’t mind being cancelled. In fact, he looks forward to it.

In a world obsessed with political correctness, Idle is not afraid to push back.

“I would like to be cancelled so I can go home and read a book and not have to make an arse of myself all over the world,” Idle told The Daily Telegraph. “I am cancer culture is what I am.”

Idle, 79, recently underwent treatment for pancreatic cancer. He is in Australia to perform as part of the Just For Laughs 10th anniversary alongside Shaun Micallef at the State Theatre on December 1.

He is considered an icon of comedy, most known for his work with irreverent and controversial British sketch group, Monty Python, with the likes of John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

Iconic British comedian Eric Idle says he wants to be cancelled. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“Comedy is saying the wrong thing at the right time,” Idle explained. “You have to remember that Python was offensive when it started. We were not the cuddly old f***ers we are now. It was very offensive. The point was absolutely to upset and insult the bourgeois.”

He continued: “I think the point of comedy is to feel the boundaries of these things, to say the unsayable. And so who are the people saying you can’t do that? I don’t understand that. Who is the committee that does this? It sounds a bit like the French Revolution committees, who said, ‘off with his head’. I think a lot of bullying goes on in the name of decency.”

The sketch comedian wears many faces. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Monty Python of course pushed societal boundaries of what was acceptable through sketch comedy and famous films including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.

He said Life of Brian would not have been made if it weren’t for the late George Harrison, who mortgaged his home to fund the $4 million project.

“You could not make The Life of Brian today and we still wouldn’t have been able to make it if it weren’t for George Harrison. We couldn’t sell it for love nor money. You don’t laugh at religion, you are not allowed to. If you call the Emperor has no clothes, they get very cross. That is why comedy is very healthy for us, because it says what is actually there.”

You can’t stop humour, he said.

John Cleese (left) And Eric Idle (right) in iconic 1975 comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

“It is like comedy in Russia, everybody would say it but nobody would say it out loud,” he said. “I am sure there are lot of good (Vladimir) Putin jokes but they don’t say them on television.”

There is a line in comedy, Idle said, being anything that legitimately hurts a person.

“Some things are legitimate and some things seem to me to be just a story,” he said.

“We have all matured from that time where we would just laugh at anybody or shame people, some things are legitimate and some things are just hounding people. I think you can laugh at arseholes, it is important. Comedy’s role to a certain extent is to explore the boundaries of this, to see what we think.”