Eric Idle

Eric Idle has recently reemerged as a potent entertainment force after a long stretch of lukewarm reviews. Eric Idle’s writing is paced differently than that of most sketch writers. He avoids the typical banter and fast back-and-forth many comedy writers rely on as a substitute for good timing. A good Eric Idle sketch will revolve around choice one-liners, or else oddly placed soliloquies that become absurd through their contrast to the surrounding material. Apart from the grandiose comic speeches and short quips that are his trademark, Eric Idle is best known for his thought-provoking, humorous songs.

Eric Idle, with John Cleese, began a collaboration that would extend to others and produce the hilarious series of films and television programs known as Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Eric Idle’s powerful writing can drastically alter the tone of a production. In the middle of Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, for instance, Idle steps out of a refrigerator, interrupting a “live organ donation,” and takes viewers on a cosmic journey through song, returning the scene to the point of his entrance with seamless skill. His best-known song is “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” which offers a tonic for the comically tragic ending to the film Life of Brian.

Critics and fans have praised Eric Idle’s involvement in several different productions, but many have found his solo work to lack the direction he benefited from with the Pythons. But Idle fans keep returning for his unusual insight and offbeat musical and lyrical sensibility. Many in the entertainment industry had underestimated his appeal and contribution to the stage and screen. When he collaborated with famed director Mike Nichols to produce “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” Idle fans may not have been surprised when audiences flocked to the Broadway show—which has earned millions—but the pundits certainly were.

Eric Idle was born March 29, 1943, and experienced a difficult childhood at boarding school, but gradually came into his own at Cambridge. He remains active as a writer and performer.