Eric Idle

Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, author and musician. Idle is a former member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python, a member of the parody rock band The Rutles, and the writer, for the music and lyrics, of the Broadway musical Spamalot (based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail).

Eric Idle
Idle in 2014
Born (1943-03-29) 29 March 1943
South Shields, County Durham, England, United Kingdom
Alma materPembroke College, Cambridge
Occupation
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • composer
  • musician
  • singer-songwriter
  • writer
Years active1967–present
Notable work
Monty Python
The Rutles
Spamalot
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1969; div. 1975)

Tania Kosevich
(
m. 1981)
[1]
Children2
Websiteericidle.com

Known for his elaborate wordplay and musical numbers, Idle performed many of Python's songs, including “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” (from Life of Brian), and the “Galaxy Song” (from The Meaning of Life).[2] After Monty Python's Flying Circus, he hosted Saturday Night Live in the US four times in the first five seasons. Idle's initially successful solo career faltered in the 1990s with the failures of his 1993 film Splitting Heirs (written, produced by, and starring him) and 1998's An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (in which he starred). He revived his career by returning to the source of his worldwide fame, adapting Monty Python material for other media. Following the success of the musical Spamalot (which won the Tony Award for Best Musical), he also wrote Not the Messiah, an oratorio derived from the Life of Brian.[3] He featured in a one-hour symphony of British Music when he performed to a global audience at the London 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony.[4]

Early life and education

Idle was born in Harton Hospital, in South Shields, County Durham, to which his mother had been evacuated from the north west of England. His mother, Norah Barron Sanderson,[5] was a health visitor and his father, Ernest Idle,[6][7] served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, only to be killed in a road accident while hitchhiking home for Christmas in December 1945.[8][9] Idle spent part of his childhood in Wallasey on the Wirral peninsula,[10] and attended St George's Primary School.[11] His mother had difficulty coping with a full-time job and bringing up a child, so when Idle was seven, she enrolled him in the Royal Wolverhampton School as a boarder. At this time, the school was a charitable foundation dedicated to the education and maintenance of children who had lost one or both parents.[12] Idle is quoted as saying: "It was a physically abusive, bullying, harsh environment for a kid to grow up in. I got used to dealing with groups of boys and getting on with life in unpleasant circumstances and being smart and funny and subversive at the expense of authority. Perfect training for Python."[12]

Idle stated that the two things that made his life bearable were listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and watching the local football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers.[13] Despite this, he disliked other sports and would sneak out of school every Thursday afternoon to the local cinema. Idle was eventually caught watching the X-rated film Butterfield 8 (suitable for audiences aged 16 years and over under the contemporary film certificates) and stripped of his prefecture, though by that time he was head boy. Idle had already refused to be senior boy in the school cadet force, as he supported the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and had participated in the yearly Aldermaston March.[12] Idle maintains that there was little to do at the school, and boredom drove him to study hard and consequently win a place at Cambridge University.[12]

Career

Pre-Python career (1965–1969)

Idle attended Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied English. At Pembroke, he was invited to join the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club by the president of the Footlights Club, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Footlights Club member Bill Oddie.

I'd never heard of the Footlights when I got there, but we had a tradition of college smoking-concerts, and I sent in some sketches parodying a play that had just been done. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie auditioned me for the Footlights smoker, and that led to me discovering about and getting into the Footlights, which was great.[14]

Idle started at Cambridge only a year after future fellow-Pythons Graham Chapman and John Cleese. He became Footlights President in 1965 and was the first to allow women to join the club.[15] Idle starred in the children's television comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set co-starring his future Python castmates Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Terry Gilliam provided animations for the show. The show's cast also included comic actors David Jason and Denise Coffey. Idle also appeared as guest in some episodes of the television series At Last the 1948 Show, which co-featured Cleese and Chapman.[16]

Monty Python (1969–1983, 2014)
Further information: Monty Python

Idle wrote for Python mostly by himself, at his own pace, although he sometimes found it difficult in having to present material to the others and make it seem funny without the back-up support of a partner. The other Pythons usually worked in teams and Cleese admitted that this was slightly unfair – when the Pythons voted on which sketches should appear in a show, "he (Idle) only got one vote". However, he also says that Idle was an independent person and worked best on his own. Idle himself admitted this was sometimes difficult: "You had to convince five others. And they were not the most un-egotistical of writers, either."

Idle's work in Python is often characterised by an obsession with language and communication: many of his characters have verbal peculiarities, such as the man who speaks in anagrams, the man who says words in the wrong order, and the butcher who alternates between rudeness and politeness every time he speaks. A number of his sketches involve extended monologues (for example the customer in the "Travel Agency" sketch who won't stop talking about his unpleasant experiences with holidays), and he would frequently spoof the unnatural language and speech patterns of television presenters. Unlike Palin, Idle is said to be the master of insincere characters, from the David Frost-esque Timmy Williams, to small-time crook Stig O'Tracy, who tries to deny the fact that organised crime master Dinsdale Piranha nailed his head to the floor.

The second-youngest member of the Pythons, Idle was closest in spirit to the teenagers who made up much of Python's fanbase. Python sketches dealing most with contemporary obsessions like pop music, sexual permissiveness and recreational drugs are usually Idle's work, often characterised by double entendre, sexual references, and other "naughty" subject matter – most famously demonstrated in "Nudge Nudge." Idle originally wrote "Nudge, Nudge" for Ronnie Barker, but it was rejected because there was 'no joke in the words'.[17]

A talented guitarist, Idle composed many of the group's most famous musical numbers, most notably "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", the closing number of Life of Brian, which has grown to become a Python signature tune. He was responsible for the "Galaxy Song" from The Meaning of Life and "Eric the Half-a-Bee", a whimsical tune that first appeared on the Previous Record album.

Post-Python career (1973–present)
Eric Idle in 2003

After the success of Python in the early 1970s, all six members pursued solo projects. Idle's first solo work was his own BBC Radio One show, Radio Five (pre-dating the real Radio Five station by 18 years). This ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 and involved Idle performing sketches and links to records, with himself playing nearly all the multi-tracked parts.

On television, Idle created Rutland Weekend Television (RWT), a sketch show on BBC2, written by himself, with music by Neil Innes. RWT was 'Britain's smallest television network'. The name was a parody of London Weekend Television, the independent television franchise contractor that provided Londoners with their ITV services at weekends; Rutland had been England's smallest county, but had recently been 'abolished' in an administrative shake-up. To make the joke complete, the programme went out on a weekday. Other regular performers were David Battley, Henry Woolf, Gwen Taylor and Terence Bayler. George Harrison made a guest appearance on one episode.

A legacy of RWT was the creation, with Innes, of the Rutles, an affectionate parody of the Beatles. The band became a popular phenomenon, especially in the U.S. where Idle was appearing on Saturday Night Live – fans would send in Beatles LPs with their sleeves altered to show the Rutles. In 1978, the Rutles' mockumentary film All You Need Is Cash, a collaboration between Python members and Saturday Night Live, was aired on NBC television, as written by Idle, with music by Innes. Idle appeared in the film as "Dirk McQuickly" (the Paul McCartney-styled character of the group), as well as the main commentator, while Innes appeared as "Ron Nasty" (the band's stand-in for John Lennon). Actors appearing in the film included Saturday Night Live's John Belushi, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, as well as fellow Python Michael Palin, but also real musicians of the 1960s such as former Beatle George Harrison, as well as Mick Jagger and Paul Simon. Idle wrote and directed the Rutles comeback in 2008 for a live show Rutlemania! to celebrate the 30th anniversary.[18] The performances took place in Los Angeles and New York City with a Beatles tribute band.[19]

In 1986, Idle provided the voice of Wreck-Gar, the leader of the Junkions (a race of robots built out of junk that can only speak in film catchphrases and advertising slogans) in The Transformers: The Movie. In 1987, he took part in the English National Opera production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado, in which he appeared in the role of the Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko. In 1989, he appeared in the U.S. comedy television series Nearly Departed, about a ghost who haunts the family inhabiting his former home; the series lasted for six episodes as a summer replacement series.

"Idle has always, it seemed, been happy to have been a Python, happy to talk about Python, happy to revisit the group's glory days. Even though he has gone on to his own work – dozens of films, plays, TV shows, albums, books and screenplays – he is perhaps the most active standard-bearer for the group. It was Idle who toured extensively in 2000 and 2003, performing Python songs with a band and back-up singers. He went on the road with the Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python Tour, then with the Greedy Bastard Tour, which was documented extensively on the Python website he launched in 1996."

—Dave Eggers in The Guardian, September 2006.[2]

Idle received good critical notices appearing in projects written and directed by others – such as Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), alongside Robbie Coltrane in Nuns on the Run (1990) and in Casper (1995). He also played Ratty in Terry Jones' version of The Wind in the Willows (1996). However, his own creative projects – such as the film Splitting Heirs (1993), a comedy he wrote, starred in and executive-produced – were mostly unsuccessful with critics and audiences.

In 1994, Idle appeared as Dr. Nigel Channing, chairman of the Imagination Institute and host of an 'Inventor of the Year' awards show in the three-dimensional film Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!, which was an attraction at the Imagination Pavilion at Walt Disney World's Epcot from 1994 until 2010 and at Disneyland from 1998 until 2010. The film also stars Rick Moranis and other members of the cast of the 1989 feature film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In 1999, he reprised the role in the short-lived second incarnation of the Journey into Imagination ride at Epcot, replacing Figment and Dreamfinder as the host. Due to an outcry from Disney fans, the attraction was reworked in 2001, reintroducing Figment into the ride while also retaining Idle's role as Nigel Channing. Idle is also writer and star of the 3-D film Pirates – 4D for Busch Entertainment Corporation.

In 1995, Idle voiced Rincewind the "Wizzard" in a computer adventure game based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. In 1996, he reprised his role as Rincewind for the game's sequel,[20] and composed and sang its theme song, "That's Death". In 1998, Idle appeared in the lead role in the poorly received film Burn Hollywood Burn. That same year, he also provided the voice of Devon, a dragon, in Warner Bros. Animated film Quest for Camelot and as Slyly, the albino Arctic fox in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie.

In recent years, Idle has provided voice work for animation, such as in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, in which he voiced Dr. Vosknocker. He has also made three appearances on The Simpsons as famous documentarian Declan Desmond, so far the only appearance on the show by a Python. Idle provided the voice of Merlin the magician in the DreamWorks animated film Shrek the Third (2007) with his former Python co-star John Cleese, who voiced King Harold. He has also narrated the audiobook version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and Spanque in an episode of The Angry Beavers.[21]

In late 2003, Idle began a performing tour of several American and Canadian cities entitled The Greedy Bastard Tour.[2] The stage performances consisted largely of music from Monty Python episodes and films, along with some original post-Python material. In 2005, Idle released The Greedy Bastard Diary, a book detailing the things the cast and crew encountered during the three-month tour.[2]

Idle (right) and Terry Jones performing the “Nudge Nudge” sketch at the Python reunion in 2014.

In 2004, Idle created Spamalot, a musical comedy based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The medieval production tells the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they journey on their quest for the Holy Grail.[2] Spamalot features a book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by Idle and John Du Prez, direction by Mike Nichols, and choreography by Casey Nicholaw.[22]

Idle's play What About Dick? was given a staged reading at two public performances in Hollywood on 10–11 November 2007. The cast included Idle, Billy Connolly, Tim Curry, Eddie Izzard, Jane Leeves, Emily Mortimer, Jim Piddock and Tracey Ullman.[23] The play returned on 26–29 April 2012 in the Orpheum Theatre with most of the cast returning with the exception of Emily Mortimer who was replaced by Sophie Winkleman. Russell Brand also joined the cast. The play was made available for digital download on 13 November 2012.

Idle performed at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in London on 12 August, singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". He was the creator and director of the live show Monty Python Live (mostly) – One down, Five to go which took place at the O2 Arena, London between 1 and 20 July 2014.[24]

In December 2016, Idle was the writer and co-presenter of The Entire Universe, a "comedy and musical extravaganza with the help of Warwick Davis, Noel Fielding, Hannah Waddingham and Robin Ince, alongside a chorus of singers and dancers," broadcast by BBC Two.[25]

Other credits

Writing

Idle has written several books, both fiction and non-fiction. His novels are Hello Sailor and The Road to Mars. In 1976, he produced a spin-off book to Rutland Weekend Television, titled The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book. In 1982, he wrote a West End farce Pass the Butler, starring Willie Rushton. During his Greedy Bastard Tour of 2003, he wrote the diaries that would be made into The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, published in February 2005.

Idle also wrote the book and co-wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Monty Python's Spamalot, based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It premiered in Chicago before moving to Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Musical of the 2004–05 season. Idle won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.

In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedians' Comedian" (UK), he was voted 21 in the top 50 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.[26][27]

An example of Idle's idiosyncratic writing is "Ants in Their Pants" – a poem about the sex life of ants. It starts as follows:

'Where does an ant get its rocks off?
How does the ant get it on?
Do ants have it away, say three times a day,
Is it once a week sex, or p'raps none?'

Songwriting

Idle is an accomplished songwriter, and has about 150 songs to his credit.[2] He composed and performed many of Pythons' most famous comic pieces, including "Eric the Half-a-Bee", "The Philosophers' Song", "Galaxy Song", "Penis Song" and, probably his most recognised hit, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", which was written for the closing scene of the Monty Python film Life of Brian, and sung from the crosses during the mass crucifixion. The song has since been covered by Harry Nilsson, Bruce Cockburn, Art Garfunkel and Green Day. Idle, his fellow Pythons, and assorted family and friends performed the song at Graham Chapman's memorial service. Idle performed the song at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on 12 August 2012 and as the farewell song of the last show of the Python's reunion at the O2 arena, 20 July 2014.[28]

Idle (left) and Carol Cleveland performing the “Galaxy Song” (from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life) at Monty Python Live (Mostly) in 2014

As Ko-Ko in the 1987 English National Opera production of The Mikado, Idle wrote his own 'Little List' on "As some day it may happen". In 1989, Idle co-wrote and sang the theme tune to the popular British sitcom One Foot in the Grave and although the series became immensely popular, the song did poorly in the charts. However, when "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was adopted as a football chant in the late 1980s, Idle's then neighbour Gary Lineker suggested Idle re-record and release the popular track. With help from Radio 1 breakfast show host Simon Mayo, who gave the song regular airplay and also used the chorus within a jingle, it became a hit, some 12 years after the song's original appearance in Life of Brian, reaching number 3 in the UK charts and landing Idle a set on Top of the Pops in October 1991.[29] The following month Idle, accompanied by opera singer Ann Howard, sang the song at the Royal Variety Performance.[30] He recorded a special version for Mayo's own use on air ("Come on Simon, get another song on now; why don't you put on a nice Cliff Richard record?") and changed the line "life's a piece of shit" to "life's a piece of spit" in order to get daytime airplay on radio. Idle presented Mayo with a model human foot, akin to the one used in the Monty Python title sequence, as a thank you gift for promoting the song.

Idle performing “Bruces sketch” in 2014. Involving stereotypical "ocker” Australians, Idle said he based it on his Australian friends from the 1960s "who always seemed to be called Bruce".[31]

In 2004, Idle recorded a protest song of sorts, the "FCC Song", in which he lambasts the U.S. FCC for fining him $5,000 for saying "fuck" on national radio. The song contains 14 uses of the word. The song can be downloaded in MP3 and OGG Vorbis format at the Internet Archive.[32]

In 2004, the musical comedy Spamalot debuted in Chicago and opened in New York's Shubert Theatre on 14 February 2005. Idle wrote the lyrics and book for Spamalot, collaborating with John Du Prez on much of the music. The original 2005 Broadway theatre production was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won three: Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Sara Ramirez), and Best Direction of a Musical (Mike Nichols). In 2006 he wrote, produced and performed the song "Really Nice Day" for the movie The Wild.[33]

In June 2007, "Not the Messiah", a comic oratorio by Idle and John Du Prez premiered at the inaugural Luminato arts festival in Toronto. Idle performed live during this 50-minute oratorio, along with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and members of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. The composer, John Du Prez, was also present. Shannon Mercer, Jean Stilwell, Christopher Sieber, and Theodore Baerg sang the principal parts. The American premiere was at Caramoor (Westchester County, New York) on 1 July 2007. Soloists were the same as in the Toronto performance, but the accompanying chorus was made up of members of New York City's Collegiate Chorale. The show was revised and expanded for a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2007, including two sell-out nights at the Sydney Opera House.[34] A tour during the summer of 2008 included performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and the Delaware Symphony Orchestra at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.[35][36][37][38]

Idle contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Raining in My Heart" for the tribute album Listen to Me: Buddy Holly, released 6 September 2011. He also wrote and sang a variant of the galaxy song for Professor Brian Cox's show, Wonders of Life as well as the new theme for Cox's radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage.[39]

Personal life

Idle has been married twice. His first marriage was in 1969 to actress Lyn Ashley, with whom he had one son, Carey (b. 1973), before their divorce in 1975. He met Tania Kosevich, a former model, in 1977 and they married in 1981.[40] They have one daughter, Lily (b. 1990), and reside in Studio City, Los Angeles.[41]

He is a first cousin of Canadian conductor Peter Oundjian[42][43] and Nigel Wray, former Chairman of Saracens Rugby Club.[44]

Idle holds atheist views, but does not like using the term.[45]

Tributes
  • An asteroid, 9620 Ericidle, is named in his honour.[46]
  • Idle was voted the 21st favourite comedian out of 50 in The Comedian's Comedian 2005 poll by comedians and comedy insiders.[47]
  • The default Integrated development environment (IDE) of the programming language Python, is called IDLE. Although officially IDLE stands for "Integrated DeveLopment Environment", the name has been chosen in allusion to Eric Idle, as the name of the programming language Python itself has been chosen in allusion to Monty Python.[48][49]
  • The eric IDE for the programming language Python is named in allusion to the aforementioned IDLE IDE and Eric Idle.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1971 And Now for Something Completely Different Various roles Also writer
1975 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1979 Monty Python's Life of Brian
1982 Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl Concert film; also writer
1983 Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Also writer
Yellowbeard Commander Clement
1985 National Lampoon's European Vacation The Bike Rider
1986 The Transformers: The Movie Wreck-Gar (voice)
1988 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Berthold / Desmond
1990 Nuns on the Run Brian Hope
Too Much Sun Sonny
1992 Mom and Dad Save the World King Raff
Missing Pieces Wendel
1993 Splitting Heirs Tommy Butterfly Rainbow Peace Patel Also writer and executive producer
1994 Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! Dr. Nigel Channing Short film
1995 Casper Paul "Dibs" Plutzker
1996 The Wind in the Willows Mr. Rat
1997 Pirates 4-D Pierre Short film; also writer
1998 An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn Alan Smithee
The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue Evil Martin (voice) Direct-to-video
Quest for Camelot Devon (voice)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie Slyly (voice)
1999 Dudley Do-Right Prospector Kim J. Darling
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Dr. Vosnocker (voice)
2000 102 Dalmatians Waddlesworth (voice)
2002 Pinocchio Medoro English dub
2003 Concert for George Himself / Barber / Mountie Documentary
Hollywood Homicide The Celebrity Cameo
2004 Ella Enchanted Narrator (voice)
2005 The Aristocrats Himself Documentary
2006 The Wild Composer/performer: "Really Nice Day"
2007 Shrek the Third Merlin (voice)
2008 Delgo Spig (voice)
2014 Monty Python Live (Mostly) Various roles Concert film; also writer and director[50]
The Boxtrolls Composer: "The Boxtrolls Song"
2015 Absolutely Anything Salubrious Gat (voice)

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1967–1970 No – That's Me Over Here! Co-creator and writer
1967–1969 Do Not Adjust Your Set Various roles 27 episodes; also writer
1969–1974 Monty Python's Flying Circus 45 episodes; also co-creator and writer
1972 Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus 2 episodes; also co-creator and writer
1975–1976 Rutland Weekend Television Dirk McQuickly / Various roles 14 episodes; also co-creator and writer
1976–1979 Saturday Night Live Himself 6 Episodes
1978 All You Need Is Cash Dirk McQuickly Television film; also writer and director
1981 Laverne & Shirley Derek DeWoods Episode: "I Do, I Do"
1982 Faerie Tale Theatre Narrator Episode: "The Tale of the Frog Prince"
also director and writer
1985 Faerie Tale Theatre The Pied Piper Episode: "The Pied Piper of Hamelin"
1989 Around the World in 80 Days Jean Passepartout 3 episodes
Nearly Departed Grant Pritchard 6 episodes
1991 One Foot in the Grave Mervyn Whale Episode: "The Man in the Long Black Coat"
1996 Frasier Chuck (voice) Episode: "High Crane Drifter"
1998 Pinky and the Brain Pinky's Mom and Dad (voice) Episode: "The Family That Poits Together,
Narfs Together"
1998–1999 Hercules Mr. Parentheses (voice) 11 episodes
Recess Galileo (voice) 2 episodes
1998 The Angry Beavers Spanque (voice) Episode: "Open Wide for Zombies/Dumbwaiters"
1999–2000 Suddenly Susan Ian Maxtone-Graham 22 episodes
2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Guzelian (voice) Episode: "War and Peace and War"
2001–2002 House of Mouse Pluto Angel (voice) 2 episodes
2002 MADtv Zookeeper Episode: "#8.18"
The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch Narrator / Various Television film; also writer, director and producer
The Scream Team Coffin Ed Television film
2003–2012 The Simpsons Declan Desmond (voice) 4 episodes
2003 National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2 Plane passenger Television film
2004–2005 Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! Scrapperton (voice) 3 episodes
2016 The Entire Universe Himself (host) Television special; also writer

Video games
Year Title Role Notes
1995 Discworld Rincewind Voice
1996 Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!?
Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail Various roles Voice
Also producer and writer
1997 Monty Python's The Meaning of Life Voice

Stage
Year Title Role Notes
2000 Seussical Co-conceiver
2004 Spamalot Writer and co-lyricist
Tony Award for Best Musical
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics
Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album
Nominated—Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
Nominated—Tony Award for Best Original Score
Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical
2007 Not the Messiah Various roles Also writer
2009 An Evening Without Monty Python Director
2012 What About Dick? Piano Also writer and co-director
2014 Monty Python Live Various roles Also co-writer and director

Bibliography
  • Hello Sailor, novel, 1975, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-76929-4
  • The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book, 1976, Mandarin ISBN 0-413-36570-0
  • Pass the Butler, play script, 1982, ISBN 0-413-49990-1
  • The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat, children's book, 1996, Dove Books, ISBN 0-7871-1042-6
  • The Road to Mars, novel, 1998, ISBN 0-7522-2414-X, Boxtree, (hardcover), ISBN 0-375-70312-8 (paperback)
  • Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python Souvenir Program, Green Street Press (U.S.), 2000
  • The Greedy Bastard Tour Souvenir Program, Green Street Press (U.S.), 2003
  • The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, journal, 2005, ISBN 0-06-075864-3
  • The Writer's Cut, e-Book, 2015, ISBN 9781910859247
  • Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography, memoir, 2018, ISBN 9781984822581
gollark: Yes, but some more than others.
gollark: Goodhart's law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
gollark: Investment count could be manipulated horribly *too*.
gollark: So alts were a massive advantage.
gollark: There's no inter-investor competition in the old system.

References
  1. "Who's Who". www.ukwhoswho.com. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  2. "And now for something completely difficult ..." The Guardian. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  3. Eric Idle, [Email letter to] "The Pythons," 20 December 2006. Reprinted in Roy Thompson Hall Performance Program Insert, Summer 2007. p. 6.
  4. "London ends Olympics on extravagant notes – Europe". Al Jazeera English. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  5. "Search Register Office records – South Tyneside Council". South Tyneside Birth death and Marriages. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014.
  6. Barratt, Nick; "Family detective" The Daily Telegraph, 17 February 2007 (Retrieved: 19 August 2009)
  7. Eric Idle Biography (1943–), Theatre, Film, and Television Biographies
  8. "Casualty Details". CWGC. 24 December 1945. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  9. see also p. 4 of Idles autobiography.
  10. "Eric Idle on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  11. Hughes, Lorna (26 December 2017). "65 famous people Wirral has given to the world". liverpoolecho. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  12. McCabe, Bob (2005). The Pythons' Autobiography by the Pythons. London, England: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7528-6425-9.
  13. "Holy grail of Eric Idle story". www.expressandstar.com.
  14. Perry, George (1994). The Life of Python. London, England: Pavilion Books. ISBN 978-1909815452.
  15. Python, Monty. "Eric Idle". Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  16. "Missing episodes of Monty Python precursor At Last the 1948 Show found", The Guardian, 16 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  17. Comment made by Eric Idle during an interview shown on the ABC-TV program "7.30 Report" on 28 November 2007.
  18. Original Rutles reunite for 30th anniversary, Vol 3 Issue 1, 3 March 2008, Rutles News
  19. "Rutlemania". Archived from the original on 1 April 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
  20. Staff, I. G. N. (24 September 1997). "Discworld II: Mortality Bytes!".
  21. McCall, Douglas (2013). Monty Python: A Chronology, 1969-2012, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 166.
  22. ERIC IDLE, Monty Python's Spamalot Archived 9 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  23. "Eric Idle asks 'What About Dick?'". Variety. 23 October 2007. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007.
  24. Dominic Cavendish. "The almost-definitive guide to Monty Python Live (Mostly)". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  25. "The Entire Universe". BBC. 26 December 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  26. "Cook tops poll of comedy greats". The Guardian. 2 January 2005.
  27. "Cook voted 'comedians' comedian'". BBC News. 2 January 2005. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
  28. Goldsmith, Belinda (13 August 2012). "London says goodbye with musical extravaganza". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  29. "Official Singles Chart Top 75 (13 October 1991 - 19 October 1991)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
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