Eric Idle
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Image:Eric Idle.jpgEric Idle (born March 29, 1943) is an English comedian, actor and film director, as well as an author and guitarist/songwriter. He wrote and performed as part of the Monty Python team.
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Early life
Idle was born in South Shields, County Durham, England. His father had been in the Royal Air Force and survived the Second World War, only to be killed in a car crash shortly afterwards. His mother had difficulty coping with a full-time job and raising a child, so at the age of seven she enrolled him into the Royal Wolverhampton School as a boarder.
The school had begun life as a Victorian orphanage and during Idle's time it was a charitable foundation solely dedicated to the welfare of orphans and semi-orphans. Its pupils, who were mainly the children of dead English soldiers, still referred to it as the 'Ophney'.
"It was a physically abusive, bullying, harsh environment for a kid to grow up in," Idle is quoted as saying, "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."Template:Ref
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. Despite this he disliked other sports and would sneak out of school every Thursday afternoon to the local cinema. He was eventually caught watching the X-rated BUtterfield 8 and was stripped of his prefectship, even though by that time he was headboy. Idle had already refused to be the senior boy in the school cadet force as he was a keen supporter for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and had participated in the yearly Aldermaston march.
Idle maintains that there was little to do at school and boredom drove him to work hard. He consequentially won a place at Cambridge.
University Life and comedy
Eric Idle attended Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied English. At Pembroke College he was invited to join the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club by fellow Pembroke College students, the then 1963 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".Template:Ref
Eric Idle became Footlights President in 1965. Other Monty Python members of the Cambridge University Footlights Club were John Cleese and Graham Chapman.
With regard to the other Monty Python members, both Terry Jones and Michael Palin attended the University of Oxford, while Terry Gilliam attended Occidental College in the United States. Before Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eric Idle appeared in the comedy program Do Not Adjust Your Set with Terry Jones, Michael Palin and David Jason.
During the 1960's period, the combined comedy students of both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge became known as the Oxbridge Mafia.
Monty Python
Unlike the other Pythons, who wrote in pairs (Cleese/Chapman and Palin/Jones), Idle wrote alone. His work was often closely associated with long, complex speeches or catchy one-liners. Amongst the many Python sketches written by Idle is the "Nudge Nudge Wink Wink" sketch, the title of which has become a catchphrase.
His abilities as a singer and songwriter were also put to use in his work with Monty Python, and he wrote several of the songs featured in their television series', films and records. These include "Eric the Half-a-Bee", "The Philosophers' Song" and probably his most recognised hit "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", which was written for the closing scene of the film Life of Brian, sung from the crosses during the mass crucifixion, as something of an antidote to Death. When a clip of this song was used as part of a jingle by Simon Mayo on the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show in 1991, it was re-released to much acclaim, and reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. It later became a staple football chant.
In the seventies he also had the role of editor of the Monty Python "boks" [sic]. In 2002, he released a book, A Pocketful of Python, containing some of his favourite sketches from "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and some of his favourite passages from their books. These include sketches written by all the Pythons - including Idle.
Image:Eric Idle presenting Rutland Weekend Television.jpg
Writing
Idle has written several books, both fictional and nonfictional. 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.
He 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 January 9, 2005 in Chicago, Illinois before moving to Broadway, where it received the Tony Award for Best Musical of the 2004-2005 season. The musical had mixed reactions from the other members of Monty Python, with both Michael Palin and Terry Jones publicly voicing their dislike of the show, which they felt did not do justice to the Python heritage and tradition.
In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedian's Comedian" (UK), he was voted amongst the top 50 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
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?
Post-Python Career
After Monty Python ceased to be a regularly active ensemble in the mid-1970s - all six members pursued solo projects with varying degrees of critical and commercial success. Idle enjoyed critical acclaim for his work with Neil Innes in creating The Rutles though the project was not initially a commercial success. But his subsequent solo projects in the 1980s and 1990s met with mixed success.
Eric Idle played one of the four members of the pre-fab-four 'group' The Rutles, which was an affectionate spoof of The Beatles. The 'group' was created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes, and the Rutles' film "All You Need is Cash" was written by Eric Idle, with music by Neil Innes. Eric Idle appeared in the film in the role of "Dirk McQuickly" (the Paul McCartney character of the 'group').
The Rutles originated on Rutland Weekend Television, a sketch show on BBC2, written by Idle, with music by Innes. RWT centred on "Britain's smallest television network", situated in England's smallest county, Rutland. Idle's earliest solo work was his own BBC Radio One show titled Radio Five (pre-dating the real Radio Five station by eighteen 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
Idle received good critical notices appearing in projects written and directed by others - such as the films Nuns on the Run and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
But his own creative projects - such as the 1993 movie Splitting Heirs - a comedy he wrote, starred in and executive-produced - were mostly unsuccessful with critics and audiences.
He played the lead in the 1999 film Burn Hollywood Burn which was almost universally savaged by critics and was nominated as Worst Picture of the Decade in the Golden Raspberry Awards (known as the Razzies) - and eventually was awarded 5 Razzies including Worst Picture Of The Year.
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".
He played the voice of Rincewind in the first two Discworld computer games, along with a couple of minor characters. He was also the lead vocalist in the song "That's Death" in the opening of Discworld II.
Idle appears 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 has been an attraction at Walt Disney World's Epcot since 1995 and Disneyland since 1998. The film also stars Rick Moranis and most of the other members of the original cast of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In 1999, he reprised the role in the second (and controversial) version of the Journey Into Imagination ride at Epcot, replacing Figment and Dreamfinder as the host. Due to massive outcry from numerous Disney fans, Figment was reinstated into the ride where his mischief and ideas of a free imagination interfere with Channing's idea of imagination being controlled and confined until eventually, Channing learns that imagination does work best when it's set free.
Idle is also writer and star of the Pirates - 4D three-dimensional film for Busch Entertainment Corporation.
He was one of the ghosts in the television comedy series Nearly Departed.
He is also the narrator in a series of commercials for Aquafina bottled water.
He had a voiceover part in an episode of the Angry Beavers called "Dumbwaiters".
He was in the 1995 movie Casper.
He has appeared on The Simpsons twice as famous documentarian Declan Desmond, so far the only appearance on the show by a Python.
He voiced Dr. Vosknocker in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
He also played the Evil Martin in The Secret Of NIMH 2: Timmy To The Rescue.
He wrote the book and lyrics to the Tony Award-winning Spamalot, a musical "rip-off" of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
He played the voice of Devon in the movie Quest for Camelot.
He sang and co-wrote the theme tune of One Foot In The Grave.
He appeared in Transformers: The Movie as the voice of Wreck-Gar.
From 1999 to 2000, he played The Gate's owner Ian Maxtone-Graham, in the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan.
An asteroid, 9620 Ericidle, is named in his honour.
References
- Template:Note'The Pythons' Autobiography of the Pythons', Bob McCabe (et al), Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2003.
- Template:Note'The Life of Python', George Perry, Pavilion Books Ltd, 1994.
Further information
Further information regarding this, and about Eric Idle, can be found in the following books:
- From Fringe to Flying Circus - 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980' - Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.
- Footlights! - 'A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy' - Robert Hewison, Methuen London Ltd, 1983.
(The preface for "Footlights!" was written by Eric Idle).
Eric Idle's eulogy at an event honoring George Harrison: "I'm particularly sorry Dhani [Harrison's son] isn't here tonight, because I wanted to introduce him by saying, "Here comes the son' -- but sadly that opportunity for a truly bad joke has gone."
Source: Farewell, Godspeed, 9/1/2003
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External links
- PythOnline
- Eric Idle - BBC Guide to Comedy
- Eric Idle at the Internet Movie Database
| Do Not Adjust Your Set |
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| Denise Coffey — Eric Idle — David Jason — Terry Jones — Michael Palin |
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