Eric Idle

Eric Idle

According to Eric Idle, he's the third-tallest member of Monty Python and the sixth-nicest. Idle, who turns 65 today, has been writing comedy since his college days at Cambridge University. He joined the Monty Python team as a solo writer (the others mostly wrote in pairs) and always felt he had to work extra-hard to win the others over with his jokes and ideas. In a non-Python phase, Idle cowrote and starred in the Beatles spoof series, The Rutles, and the movie, The Rutles: All You Need is Cash. More recently, he adapted the Python film Monty Python and the Holy Grail into the smash-hit musical, Spamalot.

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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, March 29, 2008