Eric Idle

Birthday: 29 March 1943, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, UK

Height: 186 cm

Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, playwright, director and songwriter. Co-creator of Monty Python on TV, stage and five films, including The Life of Brian and The Holy Grail, which latter he adapted for the stage with John Du Prez as Monty Python's Spamalot, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2005, a Grammy, a Drama Desk Award, and playing for almost five years on Broadway. They also wrote the comic oratorio Not The Messiah, He's a Very Naughty Boy, in 2007, which played round the world and at The Hollywood Bowl and was filmed live at The Royal Albert Hall, and a musical play What About Dick? available soon on I Tunes. He created and directed the first mockumentary The Rutles for NBC, starred as Ko-Ko in the English National Opera version of The Mikado, in London and Houston, and appeared last year in The Pirates of Penzance in Central Park and in Not The Messiah at Carnegie Hall. He is also one of the conceiver's of the musical Seussical. In 2012 he appeared live in front of a billion people worldwide singing his song Always Look On the Bright Side of Life at the Closing Ceremony of the London Olympics. Last year he created, directed and appeared in the sold out final Monty Python reunion show One Down Five To Go at London's O2 Arena for ten nights, whose final performance was broadcast live round the world.He has also acted in several movies, such as Nuns On the Run, Splitting Heirs, Casper, Shrek The Third, and The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen and written two novels, The Greedy Bastard Diary and Pass The Butler a West End play. Show less «

I've been trying to write musicals since I did The Mikado (1987) with Jonathan Miller and the ENO in...Show more »

I've been trying to write musicals since I did The Mikado (1987) with Jonathan Miller and the ENO in 1987. I'd do new gags each night. I thought, "I like this - we should find a subject". It took me about 20 years to find a subject. Show less «

We [Brits] like to call it [soccer] "football" because, unlike American football, it is played with ...Show more »

We [Brits] like to call it [soccer] "football" because, unlike American football, it is played with the feet. Show less «

I'm just trying to earn enough to get my daughter through college and my wife through collagen.

The secret of a good marriage is separate rooms. I've been with my current wife for 33 years and I c...Show more »

The secret of a good marriage is separate rooms. I've been with my current wife for 33 years and I can tell you that it works. I don't mean not having sex - you can shag anywhere. I think Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own applies to all human beings at all stages. Show less «

[on meeting George Harrison for the first time] He never shut up. Thank God.

If the studios paid the artists, how would they ever be able to afford the executives?

I like being a foreigner. For me to live in California is very pleasant - I'm more comfortable not f...Show more »

I like being a foreigner. For me to live in California is very pleasant - I'm more comfortable not feeling a part of everything, not feeling responsible for the government or the roads or the health system. Show less «

[on his favourite sexual position] Flat on my back with my wallet open.

[on his last correspondence with Robin Williams] Robin was supposed to come and do the last night, a...Show more »

[on his last correspondence with Robin Williams] Robin was supposed to come and do the last night, and all the time I was getting emails from him, and he was going downhill. Then he said he could come, but he didn't want to be onstage. I said, 'I totally get that.' Because he was suffering from severe depression. Through my friend Bobcat Goldthwait we were in touch, and in the end he said, 'I can't come, I'm sorry, but I love you very much.' We realized afterwards he was saying goodbye. Show less «

There was a time when we were almost universally hated by large sections of society. Now that we are...Show more »

There was a time when we were almost universally hated by large sections of society. Now that we are the cuddly old farts of comedy, I rather miss the hatred. Show less «

[on his education] I did S Level. Nobody's ever done S Level, because it's above A Level and I once ...Show more »

[on his education] I did S Level. Nobody's ever done S Level, because it's above A Level and I once found somebody else who'd done it and we reckoned we were the only two people in England who ever did S Level! Show less «

[1975] A comedian must never be vulnerable. The great comedians are always apparently invulnerable o...Show more »

[1975] A comedian must never be vulnerable. The great comedians are always apparently invulnerable on stage although off stage they were not such supermen. Show less «

[on a YouTube comment accusing Monty Python's film Life of Brian of blasphemy] It's odd, isn't it, t...Show more »

[on a YouTube comment accusing Monty Python's film Life of Brian of blasphemy] It's odd, isn't it, that people still, after, what is it, 30 years?, still don't understand that Jesus Christ is in that movie twice in his own guise and they still insist on making it Brian. But when you're stupid, there's nothing that can be done. Well, this is exactly the sort of people we wish to upset. Thank you. Well done, job well done! Show less «

At school we had a very soggy, muddy playing field and I wasn't very good at football, so on a Thurs...Show more »

At school we had a very soggy, muddy playing field and I wasn't very good at football, so on a Thursday afternoon, instead of changing for compulsory games, I'd put on my school cap, march out the front door, go down town to Wolverhampton and watch a movie. I did this regularly every Thursday afternoon, for ages and ages, marching boldly past the headmaster's study and nobody ever caught me, because if you've got your cap on and you're walking through the front door, you're clearly doing some school business, right? So, I learnt very early on that if you're brazen, nobody questions you. If I'd been sneaking out I would probably have been caught. Well I finally was caught in my penultimate year. The headmaster sent for me and he said, 'Did you enjoy the movie this afternoon?' And I annoyed him by saying, 'No, not very much sir, it wasn't very good.' Show less «

Secondary music is really bad for you. It's worse than smoking. At least smoking doesn't stop your t...Show more »

Secondary music is really bad for you. It's worse than smoking. At least smoking doesn't stop your thinking, but Muzak makes me resentful and gloomy. Show less «

When we got to North America it was extraordinary to find that everybody assumed that we were totall...Show more »

When we got to North America it was extraordinary to find that everybody assumed that we were totally stoned all the time while making it up. You had to point out to people that actually you can't write comedy when you're stoned, you can't find the typewriter, but a lot of people still say to this day, 'Oh when I was a college kid, man, we'd just get a joint and watch Python and we'd laugh and laugh.' And you think, 'Well, actually you didn't need Python, you could just look at the wallpaper!' Show less «

John Cleese once told me he'd do anything for money. So I offered him a pound to shut up, and he too...Show more »

John Cleese once told me he'd do anything for money. So I offered him a pound to shut up, and he took it. Show less «

Comedians are not normal people. It is not a normal thing to do. You don't become a comedian without...Show more »

Comedians are not normal people. It is not a normal thing to do. You don't become a comedian without some early traumatizing experience, so comedy is also a coping mechanism. Show less «

[on the BBC in the 1960s] It was fabulous. It was the golden age of executives, there weren't any.

I think there's something very seductive about the glamour of dressing up and playing somebody else,...Show more »

I think there's something very seductive about the glamour of dressing up and playing somebody else, and that comes from a sadness. I think I only became any good eventually through Python by being disguised and by being other people and it was only latterly in my life that I have been able to be funny as myself or be confident. I don't have to put on a disguise or wear a wig now but that's what I used to do. Show less «

[asked why Terry Gilliam insisted on him shaving his head for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (19...Show more »

[asked why Terry Gilliam insisted on him shaving his head for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)] Pure sexual jealousy. Show less «

Being an ex-Python is weird. I suppose we are all mistaken for the people we once were, that's what ...Show more »

Being an ex-Python is weird. I suppose we are all mistaken for the people we once were, that's what the fossilization of fame is all about, but we're not really them, are we? Those young men are long since gone. We have to talk about them as though we still are them, but we're not, you know. They were smart, young, and terribly clever. We older, wider, and grayer men are their descendants. I used to be Eric Idle in Monty Python. But now I'm not. I'm not even like him. He drank and smoked and ate meat. He was married to a blond Australian. I'm none of the above. Show less «

The odd thing is I knew that if [Spamalot] was going to be successful it would have to appeal to peo...Show more »

The odd thing is I knew that if [Spamalot] was going to be successful it would have to appeal to people who weren't just Python fans. What happened was that Middle America discovered Python through Spamalot. Show less «

I was a war baby. My earliest memories are of a Wellington bomber crashing in flames into the field ...Show more »

I was a war baby. My earliest memories are of a Wellington bomber crashing in flames into the field beside my nursery school. I remember being forced into a Mickey Mouse gas mask, instilling a lifelong fear of rubber masks and the eponymous rodent. Show less «

He [Bill Murray] has such a lived-in face, and how rare it is to see a decent wrinkle on the screen....Show more »

He [Bill Murray] has such a lived-in face, and how rare it is to see a decent wrinkle on the screen. Hollywood is into facial prejudice in a big way. Age denial is the national sport. Show less «

The dreadful thing about getting older is you cry at the drop of a hat. I used to make fun of Richar...Show more »

The dreadful thing about getting older is you cry at the drop of a hat. I used to make fun of Richard Attenborough for crying. Now I'm turning into him. I can't remember anybody's names, so I call everybody "darling" and I cry all the time. Show less «

There's a legendary story of one of the Monty Python boys being interviewed on a tape recorder by a ...Show more »

There's a legendary story of one of the Monty Python boys being interviewed on a tape recorder by a pretty Canadian journalist while actually in flagrante, but wild horses would not drag the name of the recipient of this in-depth interview from my lips. To talk seriously on the radio about comedy while porking the questioner is still something of a high spot in the history of irony. Show less «

[talking about the orphanage/boarding school he grew up in] I still have nightmares that I'm back at...Show more »

[talking about the orphanage/boarding school he grew up in] I still have nightmares that I'm back at the Ophney. It was a physically abusive, bullying, harsh environment for a kid to grow up in, a boarding school where nobody had any fathers. The terms were interminable, fourteen weeks with no emotional support. Show less «

I remember the stripper in Bradford [who ended up being given a non-speaking part as a topless newsa...Show more »

I remember the stripper in Bradford [who ended up being given a non-speaking part as a topless newsagent in the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch "The Dull Life of a City Stockbroker"]! Oh God, that was wild. I remember it very, very well. Ian MacNaughton insisted on filming this stripper in Bradford, and we said, 'But Ian we haven't written a stripper sketch.' 'Oh, I promised her a part, it's great, and she'll be great.' So we said, 'Oh right, we'll be undertakers.' We might have written the thing about the undertakers and we probably said, 'They're sitting there watching a stripper.' So we have to sit and watch this stripper and I find strip shows offensive. They're aggressive and women who do it are very aggressive, it's not at all sexy or erotic. She was a bit of a scrubber and she did this thing and I remember going, 'Oh, fucking hell.' Show less «

Of course I'm not ashamed to lose it in public anymore, but a blubbing comic just ain't entertaining...Show more »

Of course I'm not ashamed to lose it in public anymore, but a blubbing comic just ain't entertaining. Show less «

I can be very angry and acerbic. Therapy is really useful. It gives me a triangulation on myself: "I...Show more »

I can be very angry and acerbic. Therapy is really useful. It gives me a triangulation on myself: "I was this asshole the other day; why did I do that?" Show less «

No gentleman talks to anyone before noon. One of the reasons I write alone is that I can't bear spea...Show more »

No gentleman talks to anyone before noon. One of the reasons I write alone is that I can't bear speaking to anyone first thing in the morning. Show less «

I used to bridle when people used to describe us all as 'public school' - it's not true. Graham was ...Show more »

I used to bridle when people used to describe us all as 'public school' - it's not true. Graham was Leicester Grammar, Terry was grammar, I was this nightmare school and Michael was Shrewsbury, which is a public school, and John was at Clifton, also a public school. That's two out of six. Show less «

Americans like to think Python is how English people really are. There is an element of truth to tha...Show more »

Americans like to think Python is how English people really are. There is an element of truth to that. Show less «

[on gay marriage] It's about time they suffered too.

We couldn't get [Life of Brian (1979)] made then. We looked and looked for money and we couldn't fin...Show more »

We couldn't get [Life of Brian (1979)] made then. We looked and looked for money and we couldn't find anyone to back it. Only George Harrison would back it - and that's because he mortgaged his house. Show less «

[on Graham Chapman's funeral] The reaction was uproarious as he [John Cleese] became funnier and fun...Show more »

[on Graham Chapman's funeral] The reaction was uproarious as he [John Cleese] became funnier and funnier, and in the end the spirit of Graham was released, and we all felt liberated. Yes of course everyone was sad and in tears, but we were laughing. After that, the hardest thing I ever had to do was sing 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.' For a moment trying to sing it was just terrible for me, because music makes you weep, while comedy makes you weep and laugh , but because of all the earlier laughter I got through it. Show less «

Eric Idle

Eric Idle's FILMOGRAPHY

Eric Idle'S roles

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