Eric Idle is a comedian, actor and film director, in addition to being an author and accomplished guitarist/songwriter.

Idle attended Cambridge, where he met members of the British comedy team Monty Python. Unlike the other Pythons, who wrote in pairs, Idle wrote alone. His skills as a singer-songwriter were also put to use with Monty Python, having written the majority of the songs in their television series' and films.

Idle has written several books; his novels are Hello, Sailor and The Road to Mars. He also wrote the book for the Holy Grail spinoff, Spamalot.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 greatest comedy acts ever.