Monty Python's Life of Brian December 1976, with a first draft completed by mid-1977. The final pre-production draft was ready in January 1978, following "a concentrated two-week writing and water-skiing period in Barbados". The film would not have been made without Python fan former Beatle George Harrison, who set up HandMade Films to help fund it at a cost of £3 million. Harrison put up the money for it as he "wanted to see the movie" — later described by Terry Jones as the "world's most expensive cinema ticket." The original backers, EMI Films, had been scared off at the last minute by the subject
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