Monty Python Kurtzman's "Help!" magazine, one issue of which featured Cleese. Moving from the US to England, he animated features for "Do Not Adjust Your Set" and was then asked by its makers to join them on their next project: "Monty Python's Flying Circus". He co-directed "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and directed short segments of other Python films (for instance "The Crimson Permanent Assurance", the short film that appears before "The Meaning of Life"). When Monty Python was first formed, two writing partnerships were already in place: Cleese and Chapman, Jones and Palin. That left two in their own corners:
Monty Python in three, Chapman in two, and Gilliam in one. Idle did not participate in the Amnesty shows. Notwithstanding Idle's lack of participation, the other five members (together with "Associate Pythons" Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes) all appeared together in the first "Secret Policeman's Ball" benefit—the 1976 "A Poke in the Eye"—where they performed several Python sketches. In this first show, they were collectively billed as "Monty Python". (Peter Cook deputised for the errant Idle in a courtroom sketch.) In the next three shows, the participating Python members performed many Python sketches, but were billed under their individual names rather than