SAY NO MORE! MONTY PYTHON'S ERIC IDLE DOES AMERICA ON HIS 'GREEDY BASTARD' TOUR.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

As long as there's a lone nickel to be wrung from the gullible Monty Python-starved public, Eric Idle promises he'll be there, dressed in silly frocks, singing rude songs and sprinting straight to the bank afterward.

And by the way, he cheerfully adds, if you've bought a ticket to Friday's ``Greedy Bastard'' tour date in Hollywood, do try and dress for the occasion. A lumberjack get-up peppered with a little something from Victoria's Secret might be appropriate. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

Idle, the comedian, actor, singer and co-founder of the brilliantly absurd British sketch comedy troupe Monty Python, has been going well over the top for ages. Among his memorably subversive skits is ``Nudge Nudge,'' where a harmless pub conversation becomes a master class in double entendre. In ``The Four Yorkshiremen,'' Idle outdoes his companions with stories of childhood deprivation.

One indelible image of the comic is from the 1979 biblical film parody ``Monty Python's Life of Brian,'' where Idle croons (and whistles) ``Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'' dangling from a cross.

During a recent Greedy Bastard show in Missouri, the St. Louis Post- Dispatch noted that Idle offered a wildly mixed bag of material: ``There was untouched classic Python ('The Philosophers' Song,' which can be summarized by one line: 'I drink, therefore I am'). There was updated classic Monty Python. ('The Money Song' now has this line: 'You can spend it on Iraq/But you'll never get it back'). There was material borrowed from other revues. There was new material and blue material.''

In its review, the Seattle Times mentioned Idle's intro to a Python anecdote: ``In 1969, a group of strange men got together, wearing strange clothes and talking in mysterious voices. But enough about Prince Charles and the royal family.''

Idle, who has lived in the Valley for a decade (he's married to a Yank), has been taking his own notes. On his Web site (pythonline.com/eric- idle.html), he's posted a daily journal since the tour began. On Day 70, for example, he reports: ``My wife came to visit me here in San Francisco. I had to run out to Victoria's Secret and buy lots of sexy lingerie. It's amazing what I have to wear to attract her attention these days.''

The other week, Idle was nominated for a Grammy Award for best children's spoken word album for his reading of Roald Dahl's ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.'' In an addendum that could've been lifted from a Python sketch, the competition includes Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren.

Although revered for his pre-Fab Four parody the Rutles, there's no denying the enduring legacy of ``Monty Python's Flying Circus,'' currently in reruns on the BBC America cable channel. After the 44-date Greedy Bastard trek wraps Friday at the Henry Fonda Theater, Idle will adapt 1975's Arthurian take-off ``Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' to Broadway in '05 as a musical under the tentative title ``Spamelot,'' helmed by director Mike Nichols (``Angels in America'').

Oh, and as for any apparent fascination with marine life, as suggested by several skits including the hysterical Nemo-esque moments in the film ``Monty Python's the Meaning of Life'' (recently issued on DVD to mark its 20th anniversary), Idle pleads the fish, er, fifth. We caught the rarely idle Idle, 60, on tour somewhere in America.

Q: What can we expect from the Greedy show?

A: Stand-up, classic Python, rude songs. Talking about my life. Skits. Some Rutles. I give them a good laugh. They come expecting a good time after all. It's not just me - I've got a small cast and there might be guests of some sort. I mean, it's Hollywood we're talking about, innit?

Q: You're asking the audience to dress up.

A: We had a family of Gumbys one night. That was good. Transvestite lumberjacks. People get in the spirit of it.

Q: Congrats on the Grammy nomination. You were up for one in 1997. What happened?

A: Well, I lost to a dead guy, Charles Kuralt. It wasn't fair. I honestly think you should have to be alive to compete. Dead guys will win every time. So, now I've got Clinton, Gorby and Sophia Loren to contend with. Last I heard, they're all alive, but still.

Q: The last nomination was for a kids' record, too. Are children smarter these days or are they faking it?

A: They're much smarter now. Eleven-year-olds love ``Holy Grail'' and ``Brian.'' I always thought 16 was about right for that one. But it's the ridiculousness of TV constantly inundating them. They seem to have developed a sense of the absurd earlier than children before them, I think.

Q: You're quoted in ``Tragically I Was an Only Twin: The Complete Peter Cook,'' a new anthology of greatest skits by the groundbreaking free-associating comic. What kind of fellow was Cook?

A: Well, Peter really was a genius. I loved him. Incredibly funny. All of it off the top of his head. I introduced him to Robin Williams once. We went to lunch and sat around in hysterics for hours and hours. It was unforgettable. He was extremely important in British comedy.

Q: Who's funny today?

A: Billy Connolly - he's got a lot broader. Eddie Izzard goes off on some wonderful tangents. That guy that's got the talk show on TV (Graham Norton), I don't like him as much.

Q: By the way, did I see you on a whale-watching boat off Santa Barbara last spring?

A: Not me. Never. I hate watching animals. Especially fish. They don't do anything. They just swim and come up for air, I guess. I wouldn't waste my time watching fish, especially whales and dolphins.

Fred Shuster, [phone]

fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com

ERIC IDLE

Where: Henry Fonda Theater, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Friday.

Tickets: $35 to $55. Call [phone].

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(1 -- cover -- color) IDLE THOUGHTS

Monty Python veteran muses on his `Greedy Bastard' tour

(2) no caption (Eric Idle)