Event Program
Eric Idle: The Spamalot Diaries
ERIC IDLE: THE SPAMALOT DIARIES
TUE, OCT 08
DISCUSSION
Eric Idle and Alan Zweibel
A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUDIENCE
Look for the table at the back of the house when you enter to submit your question for Eric Idle!
If you purchased a copy of The Spamalot Diaries with your ticket, you will receive your book as you enter the theater.
Please keep your ticket available for proof of purchase.
Additional books by tonight’s artists are available for purchase at the back of the theater.
There will not be a book signing at this event.
The Artists
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is a comedian, actor, author, and singer-songwriter who found immediate fame on television with the sketch-comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Following its success, the group began making films that include Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Eric wrote, directed, and created The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, the world’s first-ever mockumentary, as well as writing the book and lyrics with John Du Prez (music) for the Tony Award–winning musical Spamalot. His memoir, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, was a New York Times bestseller. The Spamalot Diaries was published today.
Eric Idle is a comedian, actor, author, and singer-songwriter who found immediate fame on television with the sketch-comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Following its success, the group began making films that include Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Eric wrote, directed, and created The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, the world’s first-ever mockumentary, as well as writing the book and lyrics with John Du Prez (music) for the Tony Award–winning musical Spamalot. His memoir, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, was a New York Times bestseller. The Spamalot Diaries was published today.
Alan Zweibel
An original Saturday Night Live writer, Alan Zweibel has won five Emmy Awards for his work in television, which includes It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. His theatrical contributions include his collaboration with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award–winning play 700 Sundays, Martin Short’s Broadway hit Fame Becomes Me, and six off-Broadway plays including Bunny Bunny – Gilda Radner: A Sort of Romantic Comedy, which he adapted from his bestselling book. Additional titles include the 2006 Thurber Prize–winning novel The Other Shulman, the popular children’s book Our Tree Named Steve, a cultural memoir, Laugh Lines – My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier, and a parody of the Passover Haggadah that he co-wrote with Dave Barry and Adam Mansbach titled For This We Left Egypt? He co-wrote screenplays for Dragnet, North, The Story of Us, and Here Today with Billy Crystal, which was directed by Crystal. Zweibel received an honorary PhD. from the State University of New York and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers Guild of America, East. A regular guest on all talk shows, he has also appeared in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Law & Order and can be seen in the documentaries The Last Laugh; Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling; Remembering Gene Wilder; and Love, Gilda, which he executive produced with his wife Robin.
An original Saturday Night Live writer, Alan Zweibel has won five Emmy Awards for his work in television, which includes It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. His theatrical contributions include his collaboration with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award–winning play 700 Sundays, Martin Short’s Broadway hit Fame Becomes Me, and six off-Broadway plays including Bunny Bunny – Gilda Radner: A Sort of Romantic Comedy, which he adapted from his bestselling book. Additional titles include the 2006 Thurber Prize–winning novel The Other Shulman, the popular children’s book Our Tree Named Steve, a cultural memoir, Laugh Lines – My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier, and a parody of the Passover Haggadah that he co-wrote with Dave Barry and Adam Mansbach titled For This We Left Egypt? He co-wrote screenplays for Dragnet, North, The Story of Us, and Here Today with Billy Crystal, which was directed by Crystal. Zweibel received an honorary PhD. from the State University of New York and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers Guild of America, East. A regular guest on all talk shows, he has also appeared in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Law & Order and can be seen in the documentaries The Last Laugh; Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling; Remembering Gene Wilder; and Love, Gilda, which he executive produced with his wife Robin.
MORE INFORMATION
This program is made possible thanks to the generous support of Susan Bay Nimoy, Seedlings Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Charina Endowment Fund, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, PECO Foundation, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, Michael Tuch Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, and The Isambard Kingdom Brunel Society of North America.
This program is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Symphony Space thanks our generous supporters, including our Board of Directors, Producers Circle, and members, who make our programs possible with their annual support.
Kathy Landau Executive Director
Peg Wreen Managing Director
Isaiah Sheffer*
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Artistic Director (1990-2010)
Founding Artistic Director (2010-2012)
Allan Miller
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Jennifer Brennan Director of Literary Programs
Drew Richardson Lead Producer of Literary Programs
Vivienne Woodward Producer of Literary Programs
Mary Shimkin Director of Broadcast & Literary Initiatives
Matthew Love Consultant for Literary Programs
Magdalene Wrobleski Literary Assistant
Leigh Reid Literary Intern
Mia Testa Literary Intern
*in memoriam
