This afternoon (just two days after the Monty Python 40-year reunion in New York) Terry Jones held a seminar at The People's Impov Theater where he discussed the creation of classic Monty Python sketches and the writing process in general. The proceedings were moderated by Python expert Kim "Howard" Johnson. He showed both classic and rare (pre-Python) clips spanning his career, and the students also had a chance to ask questions!
TERRY JONES is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator and TV documentary host. A founding member of Monty Python, Mr. Jones directed two other Monty Python films, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. Outside of the Python group, Mr. Jones also directed Erik the Viking (1989) and The Wind in the Willows (1996), released in the U.S. as Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in addition to other projects. Mr. Jones has written books and presented television documentaries on medieval and ancient history and the history of numeral systems including Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives for which he received an Emmy nomination in 2004. In 2008, Jones also wrote and directed an original opera entitled Evil Machines which was premiered by Teatro São Luiz in Lisbon, Portugal.
Me with one of the funniest people in history, Mr. Terry Jones. The card I am holding up (and unfortunately washed out by the stage lights) reads "My Pee Smells Like Ham". If you have to ask, you've never been to a Motionfest or Minifest.
I first discovered Monty Python when I was a kid, back in 1970, when there was a new FM radio station in Philly called WMMR.
ReplyDeleteThat was back before radio was so corporate & homogenized. WMMR used to play (what I now know was) bootleg tapes from BBC programs in the UK, mostly concerts, but also some comedy, including Monty Python.
It was like finding a whole new world, though only the smart people 'got it'.
--GothamTomato