Eric Idle | |
|---|---|
 Idle in 2012 | |
| Born | (1943-03-29)29 March 1943 (age 82) South Shields, England |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Notable work | Monty Python The Rutles Spamalot |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Madge Ryan (former-mother-in-law) |
| Website | ericidle |
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy groupMonty Python and the parody rock bandthe Rutles. Idle studied English atPembroke College, Cambridge, and joinedCambridge University Footlights. He has received aGrammy Award as well as nominations for twoTony Awards.
Idle reached stardom in the 1970s when he co-created and acted in the Python sketch comedy seriesFlying Circus (1969–1974) and the filmsHoly Grail (1975),Life of Brian, (1979) andThe Meaning of Life (1983) withGraham Chapman,John Cleese,Terry Gilliam,Terry Jones, andMichael Palin. Known for his elaboratewordplay and musical numbers, Idle composed and performed many of the songs featured in Python projects, including "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".
AfterFlying Circus ended, Idle created anothersketch showRutland Weekend Television (1975–1976), and hostedSaturday Night Live four times (1976–1979). He also acted in films such asNational Lampoon's European Vacation (1985),The Transformers: The Movie (1986),The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988),Nuns on the Run (1990),Splitting Heirs (1993),Casper (1995),The Wind in the Willows (1996),An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997),Ella Enchanted (2004), andShrek the Third (2007).
Idle made hisBroadway debut with his adaptation ofHoly Grail into the musical,Spamalot (2005), which was a critical and commercial success earning theTony Award for Best Musical, andGrammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. He also wroteNot the Messiah (2009) and performed at theLondon 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony.
Eric Idle was born on 29 March 1943 inHarton Hospital, inSouth Shields.[1] His mother, Norah Barron Sanderson,[2] was a nurse,[1] and his father, Ernest Idle,[2][3] served in theRoyal Air Force during the Second World War, only to be killed in a road accident while hitchhiking home for Christmas in December 1945.[4][5] Idle said his mother "disappeared for a while into depression" and consequently he was brought up by his grandmother inSwinton, Lancashire.[6] Idle spent part of his childhood inWallasey,Cheshire,[7] and attended St George's Primary School.[8]
His mother had difficulty coping with a full-time job and bringing up a child, so when Idle was seven, she enrolled him in theRoyal Wolverhampton School as aboarder. At that time the school was a charitable foundation dedicated to the education and maintenance of children who had lost one or both parents.[9] Idle said: "It was aphysically abusive,bullying, harsh environment for a kid to grow up in. 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."[9]
Idle has stated that the two things that made his life at school bearable were listening toRadio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and watching the local football team,Wolverhampton Wanderers.[10] He disliked other sports, and would sneak out of school every Thursday afternoon to the local cinema. He was eventually caught watching the filmBUtterfield 8 (rated as suitable for audiences of age 16 and over under thecontemporary film certificates) and stripped of hisprefecture, though by that time he washead boy. Idle had already refused to be senior boy in the school cadet force, as he supported theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament and had participated in the yearlyAldermaston March.[9] He says there was little to do at the school, and boredom drove him to study hard and consequently secured a place atCambridge University.[9]
Idle attendedPembroke College, Cambridge, where he studiedEnglish. At Pembroke, he was invited to join the prestigiousCambridge University Footlights Club by the president of the Footlights Club,Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Footlights Club memberBill 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 theFootlights smoker, and that led to me discovering about and getting into the Footlights, which was great.[11]
Idle started at Cambridge only a year after future fellow-PythonsGraham Chapman andJohn Cleese. He becameFootlights President in 1965 and was the first to allow women to join the club.[12] He starred in the television comedy seriesDo Not Adjust Your Set co-starring his future Python castmatesTerry Jones andMichael Palin.Terry Gilliam provided animations for the show. The show's cast included comic actorsDavid Jason andDenise Coffey. Idle also appeared as guest in some episodes of the television seriesAt Last the 1948 Show, which featured Cleese and Chapman in its principal cast.[13]
Idle wrote for Python mostly by himself,[14] at his own pace, although he sometimes found it difficult to present material to the others and make it seem funny without the back-up support of a partner. The other Pythons usually worked in teams and Cleese admitted that this was slightly unfair – when the Pythons voted on which sketches should appear in a show, "he (Idle) only got one vote". However, he also says that Idle was an independent person and worked best on his own. Idle himself admitted this was sometimes difficult: "You had to convince five others. And they were not the most un-egotistical of writers, either." He occasionally wrote with Cleese.[15]
Idle's work in Python is often characterised by an obsession with language and communication: many of his characters have verbal peculiarities, such as the man who speaks inanagrams, the man who says words in the wrong order, and the butcher who alternates between rudeness and politeness every time he speaks. A number of his sketches involve extended monologues (for example the customer in the "Travel Agency" sketch who won't stop talking about his unpleasant experiences with holidays), and he would frequently spoof the unnatural language and speech patterns of television presenters. Idle is said to be the master of insincere characters, from theDavid Frost-esque Timmy Williams, to small-time crook Stig O'Tracy, who tries to deny the fact thatorganised crime master Dinsdale Piranha nailed his head to the floor.
The second-youngest member of the Pythons, Idle was closest in spirit to the teenagers who made up much of Python's fanbase. Python sketches dealing most with contemporary obsessions likepop music, sexual permissiveness andrecreational drugs are usually Idle's work, often characterised bydouble entendre, sexual references, and other "naughty" subject matter – most famously demonstrated in "Nudge Nudge". Idle originally wrote "Nudge, Nudge" forRonnie Barker, but it was rejected because there was 'no joke in the words'.[16]
A talented guitarist, Idle composed many of the group's most famous musical numbers, most notably "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", the closing number ofLife of Brian, which has grown to become a Python signature tune.[17] He was responsible for the "Galaxy Song" fromThe Meaning of Life and "Eric the Half-a-Bee", a whimsical tune that first appeared on thePrevious Record album.
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After the success of Python in the early 1970s, all six members pursued solo projects. Idle's first solo work was his ownBBC Radio One show,Radio Five (pre-dating the realRadio Five station by 18 years). This ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 and involved Idle performing sketches and links to records, playing nearly all the multi-tracked parts himself.
On television, Idle created and wroteRutland Weekend Television (RWT), a sketch show onBBC2 with music byNeil Innes. RWT was 'Britain's smallest television network'. The name was a parody ofLondon Weekend Television, the independent television franchise contractor that provided Londoners with theirITV services at weekends;Rutland had been England's smallest county, but had recently been 'abolished' in an administrative shake-up. To make the joke complete, the programme went out on a weekday. Other regular performers wereDavid Battley,Henry Woolf,Gwen Taylor andTerence Bayler.George Harrison made a guest appearance on one episode.
A legacy of RWT was the creation, with Innes, ofthe Rutles, an affectionate parody ofthe Beatles. The band became a popular phenomenon, especially in the U.S. where Idle was appearing onSaturday Night Live – fans would send in Beatles LPs with their sleeves altered to show the Rutles. In 1978, the Rutles'mockumentary filmAll You Need Is Cash, a collaboration between Python members andSaturday Night Live, was aired onNBC television, written by Idle, with music by Innes. Idle appeared in the film as "Dirk McQuickly" (thePaul McCartney-styled character of the group), as well as the main commentator, while Innes appeared as "Ron Nasty" (the band's stand-in forJohn Lennon). Actors appearing in the film includedSaturday Night Live'sJohn Belushi,Bill Murray andGilda Radner, as well as fellow PythonMichael Palin, and also real musicians of the 1960s such as former BeatleGeorge Harrison, as well asMick Jagger andPaul Simon. Idle wrote and directed the Rutles comeback in 2008 for a live showRutlemania! to celebrate the 30th anniversary.[18] The performances took place in Los Angeles and New York City with a Beatles tribute band.[19]
In 1986, Idle provided the voice of Wreck-Gar, the leader of the Junkions (a race of robots built out of junk that can only speak in film catchphrases and advertising slogans) inThe Transformers: The Movie. In 1987, he took part in theEnglish National Opera production of theGilbert and Sullivancomic operaThe Mikado, in which he appeared in the role of the Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko; a performance of it was taped by Thames Television for broadcast, directed by John Michael Phillips, and subsequently released on DVD by A&E. In 1989, he appeared in the U.S. comedy television seriesNearly Departed, about a ghost who haunts the family inhabiting his former home; the series lasted for six episodes as a summer replacement series.
"Idle has always, it seemed, been happy to have been a Python, happy to talk about Python, happy to revisit the group's glory days. Even though he has gone on to his own work – dozens of films, plays, TV shows, albums, books and screenplays – he is perhaps the most active standard-bearer for the group. It was Idle who toured extensively in 2000 and 2003, performing Python songs with a band and back-up singers. He went on the road with theEric Idle Exploits Monty Python Tour, then with theGreedy Bastard Tour, which was documented extensively on the Python website he launched in 1996."
Idle received good critical notices appearing in projects written and directed by others – such asTerry Gilliam'sThe Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), alongsideRobbie Coltrane inNuns on the Run (1990) and inCasper (1995). He also played Ratty in Terry Jones' version ofThe Wind in the Willows (1996). However, his own creative projects – such as the filmSplitting Heirs (1993), a comedy he wrote, starred in and executive-produced – were mostly unsuccessful with critics and audiences.
In 1994, Idle appeared as Dr. Nigel Channing, chairman of the Imagination Institute and host of an 'Inventor of the Year' awards show in thethree-dimensional filmHoney, I Shrunk the Audience!, which was an attraction at theImagination Pavilion atWalt Disney World'sEpcot from 1994 until 2010 and atDisneyland from 1998 until 2010. The film also starsRick Moranis and other members of the cast of the 1989 feature filmHoney, I Shrunk the Kids. In 1999, he reprised the role in the short-lived second incarnation of theJourney into Imagination ride at Epcot, replacingFigment and Dreamfinder as the host. Due to an outcry from Disney fans, the attraction was reworked in 2001, reintroducing Figment into the ride while also retaining Idle's role as Nigel Channing. Idle is also writer and star of the 3-D filmPirates – 4D for Busch Entertainment Corporation.
In 1995, Idle appeared inCasper oppositeCathy Moriarty and voicedRincewind the "Wizzard" ina computer adventure game based onTerry Pratchett'sDiscworld novels. In 1996, he reprised his role as Rincewind forthe game's sequel,[20] and composed and sang its theme song, "That's Death". In 1998, Idle appeared in the lead role in the poorly received filmBurn Hollywood Burn. That same year, he also provided the voice of Devon, one of the heads of a two-headed dragon, withDon Rickles as the other head Cornwall, in theWarner Bros.animated filmQuest for Camelot, and as Slyly, the albino Arctic fox inRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie.
In later years Idle provided voice work for animation, such as inSouth Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, in which he voiced Dr. Vosknocker. He has made four appearances onThe Simpsons as documentarianDeclan Desmond. Idle provided the voice ofMerlin the magician in theDreamWorks animated filmShrek the Third (2007) with his former Python co-star John Cleese, who voicedKing Harold. He also narrated the audiobook version ofCharlie and the Chocolate Factory byRoald Dahl.[21]
In late 2003, Idle began a performing tour of several American and Canadian cities entitledThe Greedy Bastard Tour.[17] The stage performances consisted largely of music from Monty Python episodes and films, along with some original post-Python material. In 2005, Idle releasedThe Greedy Bastard Diary, a book detailing the things the cast and crew encountered during the three-month tour.[17]
In 2004, Idle createdSpamalot, amusical comedy based on the 1975 filmMonty Python and the Holy Grail. The medieval production tells the story ofKing Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they journey on their quest for theHoly Grail.[17]Spamalot features a book and lyrics by Idle, music by Idle andJohn Du Prez, direction byMike Nichols, and choreography byCasey Nicholaw.[22]
Idle's playWhat About Dick? was given a staged reading at two public performances at theRicardo Montalbán Theatre inHollywood on 10–11 November 2007. The cast included Idle,Billy Connolly,Tim Curry,Eddie Izzard,Jane Leeves,Emily Mortimer,Jim Piddock andTracey Ullman.[23] The play returned on 26–29 April 2012 in theOrpheum Theatre, most of the cast returning except Emily Mortimer, who was replaced bySophie Winkleman.Russell Brand also joined the cast. The play was made available for digital download on 13 November 2012.
Idle performed at the2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at theOlympic Stadium in London on 12 August, singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".[24][25] He was the creator and director of the live showMonty Python Live (mostly) – One down, Five to go, which was performed atthe O2 Arena, London, between 1 and 20 July 2014.[26]
In December 2016, Idle was the writer and co-presenter ofThe Entire Universe, a "comedy and musical extravaganza with the help ofWarwick Davis,Noel Fielding,Hannah Waddingham andRobin Ince, alongside a chorus of singers and dancers", broadcast by BBC Two.[27]
In 2020, it was announced that Idle would adapt his script forSpamalot into a feature film forParamount Pictures, with Nicholaw directing andDan Jinks producing.[28]
In 2022, Idle competed inseason eight ofThe Masked Singer as "Hedgehog". He did a cover ofthe Beatles' "Love Me Do" with help from theUSC Trojan Marching Band. When eliminated in the first episode alongsideWilliam Shatner as "Knight" andChris Kirkpatrick as "Hummingbird", Idle mentioned toNick Cannon that he had to get approval fromPaul McCartney to do "Love Me Do" for a competition, in exchange for telling McCartney what the competition was so that he can avoid it. In addition, Idle did an unmasked performance of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" fromLife of Brian.[29]
In February 2024, Idle made headlines in the UK after revealing that he was still working at the age of 80 for financial reasons, saying "Python is a disaster. I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously", but also "I don't mind not being wealthy. I prefer being funny".[30] In July 2025, he toldNME in an interview that his relationship with the other Pythons was "poor to terrible", adding that "they don't talk to me. I haven't seen them for 10 years so it doesn't really matter. Apparently they say rude and nasty things but I don't read them."[31] His first solo UK tour since 1973 was organised for later that year.[32]
Idle has written several books, both fiction and non-fiction. His novels areHello Sailor andThe Road to Mars.[citation needed] In 1976, he produced a spin-off book toRutland Weekend Television, titledThe Rutland Dirty Weekend Book.[citation needed] In 1982, he wrote a West End farcePass the Butler, starringWillie Rushton. During his Greedy Bastard Tour of 2003, he wrote the diaries that would be made intoThe Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, published in February 2005.[citation needed]
Idle also wrote the book and co-wrote the music and lyrics for the musicalMonty Python's Spamalot, based on the filmMonty Python and the Holy Grail. It premiered in Chicago before moving to Broadway, where it received theTony Award for Best Musical of the 2004–05 season. Idle won theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.[citation needed]
In a 2005 poll to find"The Comedians' Comedian" (UK), he was voted 21 in the top 50 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.[33][34]
Idle is a songwriter with about 150 songs to his credit.[17] He composed and performed many of Pythons' most famous comic pieces, including "Eric the Half-a-Bee", "The Philosophers' Song", "Galaxy Song", "Penis Song" and, probably his most recognised hit, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", which was written for the closing scene of the Monty Python filmLife of Brian, and sung from the crosses during the masscrucifixion. The song has since been covered byHarry Nilsson,Bruce Cockburn,Art Garfunkel, andGreen Day. Idle, his fellow Pythons and assorted family and friends performed the song atGraham Chapman's memorial service.[35] Idle performed the song at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on 12 August 2012 and as the farewell song of the last show of thePython's reunion at the O2 arena, 20 July 2014.[24][25]
As Ko-Ko in the 1987English National Opera production ofThe Mikado, Idle wrote his own 'Little List' on "As some day it may happen". In 1989, Idle co-wrote and sang the theme tune to the popular British sitcomOne Foot in the Grave and although the series became immensely popular, the song did poorly in the charts.
When "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was adopted as afootball chant in the late 1980s, Idle's then neighbourGary Lineker suggested Idle re-record and release the popular track. With help fromBBC Radio 1 breakfast show hostSimon Mayo, who gave the song regular airplay and also used the chorus within a jingle, it became a hit, some 12 years after the song's original appearance inLife of Brian, reaching number 3 in the UK charts and landing Idle a set onTop of the Pops in October 1991.[36] The following month Idle, accompanied by opera singerAnn Howard, sang the song at theRoyal Variety Performance.[37] He recorded a special version for Mayo's own use on air ("Come on Simon, get another song on now; why don't you put on a niceCliff Richard record?") and changed the line "life's a piece of shit" to "life's a piece of spit" in order to get daytime airplay on radio.[38]
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In 2004, Idle recorded aprotest song of sorts, the "FCC Song", in which he lambasts the U.S.FCC for fining him $5,000 for saying "fuck" on national radio. The song contains 14 uses of the word.[40]
In the same year, the musical comedySpamalot debuted in Chicago; it opened in New York'sShubert Theatre on 14 February 2005.[41] Idle wrote the lyrics and book forSpamalot, collaborating withJohn Du Prez on much of the music. The original 2005 Broadway theatre production was nominated for 14Tony Awards and won three:Best Musical,Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Sara Ramirez), andBest Direction of a Musical (Mike Nichols).[citation needed]
In 2006 he wrote, produced and performed the song "Really Nice Day" for the movieThe Wild.[citation needed]
In June 2007,Not the Messiah, a comicoratorio by Idle and Du Prez.[42] premiered at the inauguralLuminato arts festival inToronto. Idle performed live during this 50-minute oratorio, along with theToronto Symphony Orchestra and members of theToronto Mendelssohn Choir. Du Prez was also present. Shannon Mercer, Jean Stilwell,Christopher Sieber, and Theodore Baerg sang the principal parts. The American premiere was at Caramoor (Westchester County, New York) on 1 July 2007. Soloists were the same as in the Toronto performance, but the accompanying chorus was made up of members of New York City's Collegiate Chorale. The show was revised and expanded for a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2007, including two sell-out nights at theSydney Opera House.[43] A tour during the summer of 2008 included performances with theNational Symphony Orchestra atWolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, theLos Angeles Philharmonic at theHollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and theDelaware Symphony Orchestra at theMann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.[44][45][46][47]
Idle contributed a cover ofBuddy Holly's "Raining in My Heart" for the tribute albumListen to Me: Buddy Holly, released 6 September 2011.[citation needed] He also wrote and sang a variant of the "Galaxy Song" for ProfessorBrian Cox's showWonders of Life, as well as the new theme for Cox's radio showThe Infinite Monkey Cage.[48]
Idle has been married twice. His first marriage was in 1969 to actressLyn Ashley, with whom he had one son before their divorce in 1975. He met Tania Kosevich, a former model, in 1977 and they married in 1981.[49][50] They had a daughter.[51][52] From 1995 they lived in a five-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot (650 m2) mansion in theHollywood Hills, which they sold in 2023 owing to financial difficulty.[51][30] Idle has heldpermanent residency in the United States since about 1997.[30] During and because ofDonald Trump's second presidency, Idle was strongly critical of Trump in a question-and-answer session, saying, after permanent residents (and citizens) were deported after criticising theTrump presidency, "I'd be proud to be thrown out because I'd be in very select company. The last English comedian to be thrown out of America for political reasons wasCharlie Chaplin."[53]
Idle is a first cousin of Canadian conductorPeter Oundjian.[54][55]David Bowie made Idle godfather to his son, film directorDuncan Jones.[56]
Idle is anatheist, but does not like using the term and is quoted as saying "I don't like that word, it implies that there's aGod not to believe in."[57]
In 2019, Idle was diagnosed withpancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed early and underwent successful surgery to remove the tumour, needing no further treatment after this procedure.[58]
As of 2024, Idle lived inLos Angeles, US.[30]
In 2025, he said that he did not watch comedy and watched very little, mainly Netflix thrillers. "I don't go to the movies because they're very boring and for 12-year-olds. I don't watch news and I don't read newspapers."[53]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967–1969 | Do Not Adjust Your Set | Various roles | 27 episodes; also writer |
| 1967–1970 | No – That's Me Over Here! | Co-creator and writer | |
| 1968 | We Have Ways of Making You Laugh | 12 episodes | |
| 1969–1974 | Monty Python's Flying Circus | 45 episodes; also co-creator and writer | |
| 1972 | Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus | 2 episodes; also co-creator and writer | |
| 1975–1976 | Rutland Weekend Television | Dirk McQuickly / Various roles | 14 episodes; also creator and writer |
| 1976–1979 | Saturday Night Live | Himself | 6 Episodes |
| 1978 | All You Need Is Cash | Dirk McQuickly / The Narrator / Stanley J. Krammerhead III, Jr | Television film; also writer and director |
| 1981 | Laverne & Shirley | Derek DeWoods | Episode: "I Do, I Do" |
| 1982 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Narrator | Episode: "The Tale of the Frog Prince"; also director and writer |
| 1985 | Faerie Tale Theatre | The Pied Piper | Episode: "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" |
| 1989 | Around the World in 80 Days | Jean Passepartout | 3 episodes |
| Nearly Departed | Grant Pritchard | 6 episodes | |
| 1991 | One Foot in the Grave | Mervyn Whale | Episode: "The Man in the Long Black Coat" |
| 1996 | Frasier | Chuck | Voice, episode: "High Crane Drifter"[62] |
| 1998 | Monty Python Live at Aspen | Himself | Television special |
| Pinky and the Brain | Pinky's Mom and Dad | Voice, episodes: "The Family That Poits Together, Narfs Together"[62] | |
| The Angry Beavers | Spanque | Voice, episode: "Dumbwaiters"[62] | |
| 1998–1999 | Hercules | Mr. Parentheses | Voice, 11 episodes |
| Recess | Galileo | Voice, 2 episodes | |
| 1999–2000 | Suddenly Susan | Ian Maxtone-Graham | 22 episodes |
| 2000 | Buzz Lightyear of Star Command | Guzelian | Voice, episode: "War and Peace and War"[62] |
| 2001–2002 | House of Mouse | Pluto Angel | Voice, 2 episodes |
| 2002 | MADtv | Zookeeper | Episode: "#8.18" |
| The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch | Narrator / Various | Television film; also writer, director and producer | |
| The Scream Team | Coffin Ed | Television film | |
| 2003 | National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2 | Plane passenger | |
| 2003–2012 | The Simpsons | Declan Desmond | Voice, 4 episodes |
| 2004–2005 | Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! | Scrapperton | Voice, 3 episodes[62] |
| 2016 | The Entire Universe | Himself (host) | Television special; also writer |
| 2022 | The Masked Singer | Himself/Hedgehog | Eliminated in first episode |
| 2025 | This Morning | Guest presenter |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Seussical | Co-conceiver | |
| 2004 | Spamalot | Writer and co-lyricist | |
| 2007 | Not the Messiah | Various roles | Also writer |
| 2009 | An Evening Without Monty Python | Director | |
| 2012 | What About Dick? | Piano | Also writer and co-director |
| 2013 | The Pirates of Penzance | Sergeant of Police | Delacorte Theatre Concert |
| 2014 | Monty Python Live (Mostly) | Various roles | Also co-writer and director |
| 2015 | Spamalot | Historian | Hollywood Bowl |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Discworld | Rincewind | Voice |
| 1996 | Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!? | ||
| Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail | Various roles | Voice; Also producer and writer | |
| 1997 | Monty Python's The Meaning of Life | Voice |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! | Dr. Nigel Channing | |
| 2002 | Journey into Imagination with Figment | Also hosted 1999 version |
| Association | Year | Category | Project | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grammy Awards | 1976 | Best Comedy Album | The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief | Nominated | [63] |
| 1981 | Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album | Nominated | [64] | ||
| 1984 | Monty Python's The Meaning of Life | Nominated | [65] | ||
| 1998 | Best Spoken Word Album for Children | The Owl and the Pussy-Cat | Nominated | [66] | |
| 2004 | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Nominated | [67] | ||
| 2006 | Best Musical Theater Album | Monty Python's Spamalot | Won | [68] | |
| Tony Awards | 2005 | Best Musical | Spamalot | Won | |
| Best Book of a Musical | Nominated | ||||
| Best Original Score | Nominated | ||||
| Drama Desk Award | 2005 | Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||
| Outstanding Book of a Musical | Nominated |
