Eric Idle Biography

Fast Facts

• After being elected president of the Footlights club at Cambridge, his first act of duty was to allow membership to women
• Is the only original Monty Python troupe member to be involved with the Broadway adaptation of 'Spamalot' which debuted in 2005
• He often recounts boarding school as the inspiration for his comedic personality, stating '[It was a] harsh environment to grow up in․ I got used to dealing with unpleasant circumstances and being funny and subversive at the expensive of authority․'
• Quote: "It's hard to remember 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․"
• Quote: "No producers, no voice of reason suggesting something might be tasteless․ Tasteless was the idea․ Indeed one of Python’s greatest strengths over the years has been to provoke revealing outbursts from sacred cowboys․"
• Enjoyed a relatively successful writing career following "Monty Python" which would eventually include works of fiction and non-fiction as well as songs
• Upon graduating from Cambridge after serving as the president of the Footlights comedy club, he immediately began writing sketches for "Monty Python"
• Was the only member of the Monty Python comedy group to write skits and songs alone, therefore, it became difficult to convince the others to jump on board with his new ideas
• Asteroid 9620 Eric idle that orbits between Mars and Jupiter is named in his honor which is included in a group of six asteroids named after the founding members of the Monty Python comedy troupe
• Convinced friend George Harrison, of Beatles fame, to pitch in production money for "Life of Brian", but the singer had to mortgage his home in order to come up with the cash