Cinema of the United Kingdom as Goldcrest, HandMade Films and Merchant Ivory Productions. Handmade Films, which was partly owned by George Harrison, was originally formed to take over the production of "Monty Python's Life of Brian", after EMI's Bernard Delfont (Lew Grade's brother) had pulled out. Handmade also bought and released the gangster drama "The Long Good Friday" (1980), produced by a Lew Grade subsidiary, after its original backers became cautious. Members of the Python team were involved in other comedies during the decade, including Terry Gilliam's fantasy films "Time Bandits" (1981) and "Brazil" (1985), and John Cleese's hit "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), while
Monty Python discarding rules of television comedy. Following their television work, they began making films, which include "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975), "Life of Brian" (1979) and "The Meaning of Life" (1983). Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America, it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of "Saturday Night Live" through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result. In a 2005 poll of over 300 comics, comedy writers, producers and directors throughout the English-speaking world to find "The