The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book

by Eric Idle

Irreverent Comedy from Monty Python's Eric Idle

Genres: Humor

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author and composer of comedic songs. He wrote and performed as a member of the internationally renowned British comedy group Monty Python.

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it is interesting that a book the title of which explicitly associates it with one TV show is identified on its cover as being by "Eric Idle of Monty Python"--evidently, despite being a tie-in book to Idle's subsequent show, that was not seen as a sufficiently sure marketing thing. (The cover image shown here does not include the Pythons reference, but my copy does. Also, the sticker on the front indicating that the book stars The Rutles is a total lie.) Actually, I have no idea how much, if anything, the contents might have with the TV show--not much, I would guess, though I assume that at least some of the photographs are from Rutland Weekend Television. Some of the material was, in fact, subsequently recycled for Python projects. Anyway, this book is a real hodge-podge, but is often quite funny, and it is certainly a well-designed and creative artifact itself (e.g. it includes an insert that is a quite funny parody of Rolling Stone magazine, among other sections designed as parodies; there are even two pages I haven't read, as they are uncut--and, of course, I can't cut them). Idle's style is quite distinct; it certainly seems as if he wrote all of it (except the Michael Palin guest page, anyway), and while some bits are dated or fall flat, there's still a lot to laugh at. Probably primarily a book for Python fans, as it is very similar to the Python books (also assembled by Idle), but it should be amusing to anyone with a taste for absurd British humour.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddness from Eric Idle of Monty Python. As far as I know, not available elsewhere.

[Christabel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as a child.


Go unsupervised reading, I guess.

[Casey McKinnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this in my daddy's library when I was a teen. It was pretty hilarious, and now I wish I had a copy of my own.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally forgot I had this book. Probably in the basement somewhere. For Python fans, others beware. Definitely was noticeable on the shelves in 1979 or whenever it came out. Cheeky Brit humour.