Subversion is what I do. Eric Idle More Quotes by Eric Idle More Quotes From Eric Idle Talent is always more interesting - ambition is not interesting. If you have talent, you have to find ways of expressing it, but you may not be a success in the world's terms. Eric Idle ambitionworldinteresting I think the special thing about Python is that it's a writers' commune. The writers are in charge. The writers decide what the material is. Eric Idle pythonspecialthinking What's brown and sounds like a bell? DUNG! Eric Idle circusbellssound Monty Python only became valuable when it was sold to Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in America. They didn't pay much either, but the series has been shown repeatedly, which led to lucrative tapes, CDs and DVDs. Eric Idle dvdscdspython 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. Eric Idle groupssmartboys I live in a Spanish-style hillside home in Los Angeles, California. I paid $900,000 in 1995. It's perhaps worth about $3m now. Thankfully, I paid off my mortgage before the crash because I could see it coming. I worried that I would be caught having to pay off a very high mortgage for a house I couldn't sell. Eric Idle californiahousehome The next step will be for the colonists on Mars to throw off the hand of the United States. There will be this wonderful historical irony. When the people on Mars write a declaration of independence saying, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident...', the US will be rather pissed off. Eric Idle selfwritinghands You initially become funny as a kid because you're looking for attention and love. Psychologists think that's all to do with mother abandonment. I think John Cleese has his depressions, and Terry Gilliam's the same. All of us together make one completely insane person. Eric Idle motherkidsthinking Reading Alan Zweibel makes me laugh out loud. And yet it is not a particularly funny name. Eric Idle readingnameslaughing Know what I mean? Eh, eh, Nudge nudge, Say no more? Eric Idle nudgenudge-nudgemean John Cleese once told me he'd do anything for money. So I offered him a pound to shut up, and he took it. Eric Idle shut-uppounds Well we were lucky because we started in Canada where everybody has a sense of humour! We flirted a little while with Josh Groban. He was personally interested in it. He said oh I'd love to do something different, and I said well it's pretty different! But in the end the dates didn't work out. Eric Idle canadawork-outlittles I always have a feeling you should move the playing field and the minute you know what you're doing, you're wrong. Therefore, I wanted us not to try to follow Spamalot immediately, but to do something different. This is perfect because it uses all the same skills, like story telling and lyric writing and music writing, but it's presenting it in a different form. And of course it gives me and John a nice chance to perform and show off which is also fun. Eric Idle nicefunmoving Elvis saved my life when I was 13 or 14. He saved all our lives. Eric Idle our-livessaved People can tell the truth much more freely when they're apparently lying. Eric Idle telling-the-truthlyingpeople I used to think I was like the wicket- keeper, which is like the catcher in base- ball, y'know what I mean? You can call the play a lot from behind the plate, y'know what I mean? You're not necessarily the star, you're not the one that makes the mark, but usually in the end, you're called upon to get a run when it's needed. Eric Idle starsrunningmean If the studios paid the artists, how would they ever be able to afford the executives? Eric Idle executivesableartist I think you often learn from failure. Success just teaches you how great you were, but in fact it's knowing what will fail that will help you to make the right choices. Eric Idle choicesknowingthinking They're a typical Hollywood audience. All the kids are on drugs and all the adults are on roller skates. Eric Idle typicaldrugkids You get interviewed when you're out promoting something. Eric Idle promoting
