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
rain years house
I used to have a house in London, but couldn't face 20 more years of St John's Wood in the rain.
writing python years
Monty Python paid me £20,000 to write, direct and assemble them - the cheapskates! I told them I'd never earned less in a year since leaving Cambridge. The first show sold out in 43 seconds and we ended up performing ten in total. We had no idea there would be such demand.
fashion years mind
So it became in my mind a nine-carol service; an oratorio and orchestral concert all in one, but with narration. That's something I've learned about, because it's the story that keeps you in there. I wrote a libretto and I gave it to John [Du Prez, Idle's co-writer of many years]. We normally don't work in this fashion but I said off you go, and he went off for about three months. He brought me back this demo which blew my mind.
running years water
Many years ago I also bought a house in Provence for about 70,000 francs. It had no electricity or running water, and no road leading to the house, but gradually we made improvements. It's my escape and I love it.
crazy years nuts
You could feel the place going crazy because we hadn't been on stage together for maybe 35 years and the audience could just feel us in the darkness come on and they went nuts. It made the little hairs stand up on the back of my neck and we sang Sit on My Face, which I thought was wonderfully appropriate for George's memorial, and then we bowed and we showed our bare asses.
years enjoy evolve
Life took over 4 billion years to evolve into you, and you've about 70 more years to enjoy it. Don't just pursue happiness, catch it.
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.
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.