Eric Idle Quotes

I need an audience to look at what I've done so I can understand it, so I can step back and watch them respond and figure out what they're understanding about what I'm trying to do and what they're confused about.

The audience is so important. Because there's something that I might think is super funny, but if it's just not getting the feedback, I have to let it go.

I'm the biggest proponent of test screenings now. There's two ways to face test screenings. For dramas, I don't know if I would rely on them as much, although I still think you need them, because you're making a movie for an audience at the end of the day. But with comedy... You could go through a script or anything I ever worked on, where you go, "This is hilarious," and you put it in front of people and you get nothing. And then the other side of it, is something you're like, "I think this is really stupid," and it gets a giant laugh.

I actually love Twitter, but I don't ... I never know what to ... I get a lot of my news from Twitter. But, I never ... I sometimes just don't think ... I think Twitter is full of a lot of talkers and not many listeners, so I'm happy to be one of the listeners.

One of the things that is always difficult about a collaboration is that you don't necessarily find the same thing funny. And so the challenge becomes, how do you tell the other person that you don't think something's funny? The best collaborations tend to be when you are willing to be told that. But there's also ego involved, and so there's a lot of frustration in knowing that you're writing something, and the other person, on some level, needs to think that it's funny.

I think it's important for Americans to try to understand each other a little better.

I grew up doing theater, so I'm used to working with people where you can definitely ask another person a question or advice or say, "Hey, let's try it this way," or "What do you think if I did it this way?"

Try to think of writing as a gift - more complexly put: it is the curse and the cure.

I asked them if it wasn't too much trouble, if I wasn't being too pushy, if they could execute what we were trying to do. And if it didn't make them too angry, if they also wanted to play some defense on the other end, that would be great.

The major caveat in all of comedy is that it's all instinctive. There's no true criteria. There is no right or wrong. Ultimately, often I'm surprised at what an audience will or will not laugh at. I have to stay very, very open to an audiences first exposure to that material and how they react to it.

Why don't you ever wait a second and see what I'm planning, or thinking, before you burst in with your opinions and ideas? You never even give me a chance.

I wasn't able to articulate it until after audience members gave feedback. And then, similarly, when we talked about the bromance being unique, I don't think Mark, Jay, and I really saw how special that aspect of that bromance was until our audience members sort of gave us feedback and let us know, "Hey, we've never seen a bromance like this before on television."

Not that I don't think irreverent humor and someone being filthy is funny, I just do what I do. Any comedian would admit throwing an f-bomb in there would help get a reaction. ... I'm not on a Puritanical pursuit, but when I would curse in a joke, I believe I'm not done writing it.

Theatrical times are different from concert times, to put it simply. Taking a figure like [Mahatma] Gandhi and setting him on a stage requires thinking about what theater is about and what the whole experience is about and what we're trying to communicate in that way, so you get into certain less abstract considerations.

I think there's some stuff that's at least photographically interesting. There are things I back off from trying to talk about.

I try to educate myself as much as possible, as I do with the director and the designers and everyone I used to work with. It just helps, I think, with the frame of reference for who you're working with.

Sometimes they laugh at things I don't think are funny, but I believe if they're laughing at me, it's a good show.

If you say what you think don't expect to hear only what you like.

I think that when somebody tells you something of value, a lot of the time there's this thing that happens, and I don't know if you find it, where they go exactly for the word or the moment or the thing that you were hoping they wouldn't notice, or inside didn't feel 100 percent secure about. If they point it out, then that really sends you the message of, "Okay, I was trying to override my own instincts about it, and I guess I shouldn't."

I think you can talk about anything if the context is correctly arranged. If you set up the context and you bring the audience along carefully enough with you, you can get them to cross the line with you. What I try to do is talk about things that bother me, and I hope that in doing so I bother other people.

I think great relationships are great partnerships, and those come in all shapes, sizes, forms, ages. The only tip I have for anyone in a relationship or a partnership is work on it when it's good. It's very easy to try to take the break when things are going good, but that's the time you have to keep working on it, because you can keep it good, and that's worth a lot.

Most of what's tricky about comedy is the perception of it and the audience's expectation.

I believe that if you really have a strong idea, you can say, "What do you think? Let's see how my idea plays off yours."

Don’t let yourself be. Find something new to try, something to change. Count how often it succeeds and how often it doesn’t. Write about it. Ask a patient or a colleague what they think about it. See if you can keep the conversation going.

I think comedy is a really, really good tool for trying to say something.