Biography of Eric Idle

Biography of Eric Idle

Eric was born on 29 March 1943 in South Shields, County Durham, England, UK. Eric's father, who served in the Royal Air Force, died in a car crash on Christmas eve when he was two years
old. An only child, he was sent to boarding school. In 1969, he married Lynn Ashley, an Australian model and with her had one child, a son named Carey (b.1973). They divorced in 1975 and he met his current wife, Tania Kosevich, in New York while he was hosting Saturday Night Live in 1977. They married in 1981 and had a daughter named Lily (b.1990).

He attended Cambridge University, studying English. In 1963, he was admitted into the
Cambridge Footlights comedy club. He became president of the club a year later and one of his first acts was to open the membership up to women. Feminist/writer Germaine Greer was one of the first to join.

In 1967, he joined Oxford graduates Terry Jones and Michael Palin in a children's program called Do Not Adjust Your Set. The show lasted for about two years. In 1968 he also worked on a show called We Have Ways of Making You Laugh with Terry Gilliam.

After Do Not Adjust Your Set finished in early 1969, he teamed up with Gilliam, fellow former Cambridge students John Cleese and Graham Chapman, and DNAYS costars Jones and Palin to begin work on their new program which would be known as Monty Python's Flying Circus. He was the only member of the Monty Python group to write alone. Therefore, it was difficult at times for him to get his material accepted and used by the others. He is however known for writing some very famous sketches, including "Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink." Also during this time, Eric was also in charge of editing the various books the team conceived, including Monty Python's Big Red Book and The Brand New Monty Python Bok. Eric co-wrote and performed in all of the Python movies and appeared in their various stage shows.

In 1975, shortly after Flying Circus ended, Eric struck out on his own and began conceiving the comedy series Rutland Weekend Television, the premise of which was a television station in Rutland, the smallest county in England. During this time he developed the concept of The Rutles, a Beatles spoof which would later become a full-length film shown on American television.

In 1976, he hosted an episode of SNL (Saturday Night Live), in which he showed a clip of The Rutles from RWT. SNL producer Lorne Michaels was so impressed he convinced Eric to make a film out of it. Thus, in the summer of 1977 the movie was filmed, and included quite a few famous people: Mick Jagger, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, George Harrison, and fellow Python alum Michael Palin.

Eric hosted SNL three more times from 1977-1979. Into the eighties, he appeared in various movies, including Yellowbeard (with fellow Python Graham Chapman), National Lampoon's European Vacation, The Mikado, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (directed by Terry Gilliam). In 1989 he starred in a very short-lived American comedy show called Nearly Departed, which revolved around a deceased couple who still inhabited their home and made trouble for its new occupants.

Into the nineties, Eric returned for all the Python reunions and starred in more films, including Nuns On The Run, Missing Pieces, Splitting Heirs (with John Cleese), Casper, and Burn Hollywood Burn: An Alan Smithee Film. He was also the driving force behind two Pythonesque computer games, Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time and Monty Python And The Quest For The Holy Grail (both of which are highly recommended! See Idle-ography for details). He also appeared in the Brooke Shields sitcom Suddenly Susan.

Over the past handful of years, Eric has embarked on two concert tours: Exploiting Eric Idle in 2000 and The Greedy Ba$tard Tour in 2003. He subsequently authored a book about his experiences on the latter entitled, "The Greedy Ba$tard Diary." Also in 2003, he released "The Rutland Isles," a comedy CD. Around 2002 he produced a sequel to The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, called Can't Buy Me Lunch. The film was shelved until it was released on DVD in 2005. In 2004, he teamed up with Mike Nicols and John DuPrez for Spamalot, a musical that lovingly rips off Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The show opened at Chicago's Shubert Theater in late 2004 and then in New York City's Shubert Theater in March 2005. On March 17th, he reunited with the other Pythons for the show's opening night in New York. In June, the show won 3 Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Director, and Best Featured Actress (Sara Ramirez as the Lady of the Lake). Adding to his success, Eric won a Grammy Award in early 2006 for Spamalot (Best Musical Show Album). The show has gotten rave reviews and is still going strong (as of March 2006).

Today Eric lives in Los Angeles (though he has dual residence in L.A. and England) with his wife Tania, daughter Lily, and pet beagle, Bagel. He has authored several books, including Hello Sailor, and the much recommended The Road To Mars.

Idle-ography

(a list of creative works Eric has contributed to)

Television (some titles can be purchased - follow links to IMDB entries)

Do Not Adjust Your Set (late 1967-mid 1969)

At Last the 1948 Show (1967)

Alice in Wonderland (1967)

We Have Ways of Making You Laugh (1968; with Gilliam)

Monty Python's Flying Circus (Oct. 1969 - Dec. 1974; with Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Jones and Palin)

Monty Python's Fligiender Zirkus Show Ein (filmed in summer? 1971 for German and Austrian television)

Monty Python's Fligiender Zirkus Show Zweig (filmed in summer? 1972 for German television)

The Nudge Bar (1972; TV commercial for Nudge candy bar starring Eric as...can you guess?)

Rutland Weekend Television (1975-1976; with Neil Innes)

Christmas with Rutland Weekend Television (December 1975; with Innes)

Saturday Night Live (October 2, 1976)

To See Such Fun (1977; with Chapman and Palin)

Saturday Night Live (February 19 (show opening) and 20th, 1977)

Saturday Night Live (April 23, 1977; with Innes as musical guest)

The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978; with Palin and Innes)

Saturday Night Live (December 9, 1978)

The Pythons (1979; documentary shot on Life of Brian set; with Pythons)

Saturday Night Live (October 20, 1979)

Laverne and Shirley (February 24, 1981)

Steve Martin's Best Show Ever (November 1981; "Did The Dinosaurs Create Stonehenge?" sketch)

Late Night With David Letterman (March 1983)

Group Madness (1983; with Chapman and Cleese)

Breakfast Time (November 1986)

Saturday Night Live (December 6, 1986; guest-starred in one sketch)

Nearly Departed (1989)

Around the World In 80 Days (1989; TV miniseries, not the Palin travel series)

Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years of Monty Python (1989; with Pythons)

Life of Python a.k.a. Monty Python 20th Anniversary Omnibus (1990; with Pythons)

Missing Pieces (1991)

One Foot In The Grave (1993?)

John Cleese & Anders Lund Madsen (1999; with Pythons)

Python Night (October 1999; Python 30th Anniversary on BBC2; with other Pythons)

Suddenly Susan (1999-2000)

Top Ten Comedy Records (2000)

The Beatles Revolution (2000)

The Scream Team (2002)

The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2002)

Films (most titles can be purchased - follow links to IMDB entries)

And Now For Something Completely Different (1971; filmed in Oct.- Nov.1970 near London; with Pythons)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975; filmed in mid-1974 in Scotland; with Pythons)

Side By Side (1975)

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979; filmed Sept.- Nov.1978 in Tunisia; with Pythons)

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982; film of Python performance of late Sept. 1980)

Monty Python's Meaning of Life (1983; filmed summer 1982; with Pythons)

Yellowbeard (1983; filmed late 1982; with Chapman and Cleese)

National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

Transformers: The Movie (1986; supplies voice of "Wreck-Gar")

The Mikado (1987)

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988; filmed 1986; with Gilliam)

Nuns on the Run (1990)

Too Much Sun (1991)

Mom and Dad Save the World (1992)

Splitting Heirs (1993; with Cleese)

Casper (1995)

Honey, I Shrunk The Audience (1995; short 3D film for Walt Disney World attraction)

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997)

Quest For Camelot (1998; supplies voice for "Devon the 2-headed dragon")

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998; supplies voice for "Slyly the Fox")

The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue (1998; supplies voice for "Evil Martin")

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999; supplies voice for "Dr. Vosknocker")

Dudley Do-Right (1999)

102 Dalmations (2000; supplies voice for "Waddlesworth")

Pinocchio (2002; supplies voice of "Medoro" in English language version)

Hollywood Homicide (2003)

Books (a few titles can be purchased - follow links to Amazon.com entries)

Monty Python's Big Red Book (Methuen, 1971) - with the other Pythons

The Brand New Monty Python Bok (Methuen, 1973) - with the other Pythons

Hello Sailor (1975)

The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book (Methuen, 1976; with column guest-written by Michael Palin)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book) (Methuen, 1977) - with the other Pythons

Monty Python's Life of Brian (Of Nazareth)/Monty Python Scrapbook (Methuen, 1979) - with the other Pythons

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) - with the other Pythons

Pass the Butler (1984?)

A Pocketful of Python: Picked by Eric Idle (1999) - with the other Pythons

The Road to Mars (1999)

The Greedy Ba$tard Diary: A Comic Tour of America (2005)