Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idleis an English comedian, actor, voice actor, author, singer-songwriter, musician, writer and comedic composer. Idle is a member of the English surreal comedy group Monty Python, a member of The Rutles and the author of the Broadway musical Spamalot...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth29 March 1943
comedy man secret simplicity truth
I think he's the most intelligent man I've ever met. Honesty, simplicity and truth are the secret to his comedy.
comedy drunk fresh happy perfectly rest sorry sort
We're all over 60. I'm sorry to say this, but comedy is really a young man's game. It's sort of about what you had to say when you were fresh and young. And I'm perfectly happy to get drunk with the rest of them.
accord amount claim claiming clearly comedy comment deal freedom function groups healthy humour immunity laughter licensed light obviously permits privileges release responsibility safety satirical searching society special survive taboo
At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.
writing comedy performing
When we graduated [ from Cambridge], we were grabbed right into television. I was grabbed straight into the practice of writing comedy. It was all writing and performing. You wrote something in order for you to perform it.
comedy tradition
I got locked into a tradition [at Cambridge] of doing comedy.
comedy
Executives do not on the whole do well with comedy. They can't understand it, they can't read it, they can't spot it.
comedy
I don't necessarily know much about comedy, I don't spend a lot of time watching it. Mainly because all my life for about 50 years I've had comedy.
trying tragedy comedy
Life is a comedy when watching and a tragedy when experiencing. I try and share anything I have.
wrong
But we were wrong and we were amazed.
Nudge nudge, know what I mean, say no more
drunk earned happy hate perfectly rest
Because we hate each other. I'm perfectly happy to get drunk with the rest of them. I was just in London, and we had a really spectacular dinner. But I think it should go no further. We've earned that.
best funny musical
To me, the musical is best when it's a musical comedy, ... So if you have a very, very funny show, and very good, funny songs, that's what the musical does best.
people
It's such fun to take a lot of people and create something silly.
became boarding funny people school soon speak spending
Probably spending 12 years at boarding school - comedy became a survival gene. But I think some people are funny right off the bat, as soon as they can speak or be naughty.