Eric Idle bought a crumbling farmhouse in Provence in 1971, two years after Monty Python’s Flying Circus launched — a purchase he spent fifty years turning into the subject of a memoir. On Thursday, October 1, he brings Idle in Provence: A Brief History of Thyme to Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs for an evening of stories, Q&A, and singalongs.
About the Show
The night celebrates the release of Idle’s memoir (Ebury Press, September 10, 2026), which he describes as spanning fifty years of mishaps, friendships, heartbreak, and hilarity. It begins in 1971 when Idle purchased the decaying Provence property two years into Monty Python’s run — the place where he would go on to write iconic songs and scripts, host friends including George Harrison and Robin Williams, and find, in his own framing, a rare kind of peace far from the madness of showbiz. The renovation was a journey “from a shack into a shackeau”; the book, he says, is “travel writing for those who love to stay at home.”
The format Idle has been running throughout this tour: discussion, audience Q&A, and singalongs. After opening in Glasgow on September 12 and playing London’s Lyceum Theatre, Brighton, and Bath, the tour moves to the United States in late September and October; the Saratoga stop is co-sponsored by the Saratoga Book Festival and Northshire Bookstore. Every ticket includes a signed copy of the memoir. There is no separate post-show signing.
His career context fills in quickly. Idle appeared in all four series of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and the films Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life. He created the Beatles parody band The Rutles in the 1980s and wrote Spamalot for Broadway in 2005. He is 81. An evening like this one, where the conversation is the show, suits this chapter of his career in ways that a conventional comedy tour wouldn’t.
Venue & Logistics
Universal Preservation Hall is at 25 Washington Street in Saratoga Springs, part of the Proctors Collaborative network of performing arts venues serving the Capital Region. The hall holds 1,100, and for a speaking-format event, that means sight lines throughout the house stay workable. Show starts at 7:00 p.m. A comparable Idle in Provence event at Symphony Space in New York City (September 29) ran 75 minutes.
Tickets
Tickets are $56–$79; every ticket includes a signed copy of Idle in Provence: A Brief History of Thyme. Buy tickets