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. ”

I never think in terms of target audience. I try to write what makes me laugh, so I'm the target audience. I guess I just hope there's another person in America like me. ”

I listen to the audience and try and bounce with them. All audiences are different. But they are all homo sapiens. ”

John Cleese once told me he'd do anything for money. So I offered him a pound to shut up, and he took it. ”

At least in America, you have freedom of speech, which is a good thing. It's just a question of whether you're allowed to use it on 'Fox News'. ”

We've discovered that the less we do, the more money we make. ”

I love being an older comic now. It's like being an old soccer or an old baseball player. You're in the Hall of Fame and it's nice, but you're no longer that person in the limelight on the spot doing that thing. ”

I like being a foreigner. For me, to live in California is very pleasant - I'm more comfortable not feeling a part of everything, not feeling responsible for the government or the roads or the health system. ”

If the studios paid the artists, how would they ever be able to afford the executives? ”

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. ”