User:Mattlopezdias/sandbox

Before Python
The first recorded instance of Terry Jones and Michael Palin working together professionally occurred when Jones was on a writing course. Sarah Miles pulled out, so Terry employed Michael. He also wrote for Roy Hudd about this time. Jones appeared in Twice a Fortnight with Palin, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn, as well as a television series The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969). He also appeared in Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967–69) with Palin, Eric Idle and David Jason (Jones speaks about this series during an interview which appears on both the DVDs for Do Not Adjust Your Set and the At Last the 1948 Show). He wrote for The Frost Report and several other of David Frost's programmes on British television. Along with Palin, he also wrote lyrics for Barry Booth's 1968 album Diversions.

Monty Python
As a member of the Monty Python troupe, Jones is remembered for his roles as middle-aged women and the bowler-hatted "man in the street". He is renowned by the rest of the group as "the best rat-bag woman in the business". He typically wrote sketches in partnership with Michael Palin.


 * 1) first thingy, nothing to do with the story
 * 2) something else very interesting
 * 3) some more text to fill space
 * 4) would write another line, oh maybe i will
 * 5) something something, family guy: it's a trap!

One of Jones's early concerns was devising a fresh format for the Python TV shows, and it was largely Jones who developed the stream-of-consciousness style which abandoned punchlines and encouraged the fluid movement of one sketch into another – allowing the team's conceptual humour the space to “breathe”. Jones also objected to TV directors’ use of sped-up film, over-emphatic music and static camera style, and he took a keen interest in the direction of the shows. He later directed the Python films Monty Python and the Holy Grail (with Terry Gilliam), The Life of Brian, and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. As director he gained fuller control of the projects, devising a visual style that allowed the performers 'space'; for instance, the use of wide shots for long exchanges of dialogue, and more economical use of music. As demonstrated in many of his sketches with Palin, Jones was also interested in making comedy that was visually impressive, feeling that interesting settings augmented, rather than detracted from, the humour. His methods encouraged many future television comedians to break away from conventional studio-bound shooting styles, as demonstrated into the 21st century by shows such as Green Wing, Little Britain and The League of Gentlemen.

Of Jones's contributions as a performer, his parodic, screechy-voiced depictions of "pepperpots" (middle-aged women, such as the waitress in the "Spam" sketch) are among the most memorable. His humour, in collaboration with Palin, tends to be conceptual in nature; a typical Palin/Jones sketch draws its humour from the absurdity of the scenario. For example, in the “Summarise Proust Competition”, Jones plays a cheesy game show host who gives contestants 15 seconds to condense Marcel Proust's lengthy work À la recherche du temps perdu; in the "Mouse Organ" sketch, he uses mallets to bash mice that have been trained to squeak at a select pitch, to play the tune "Bells of St. Mary". In both cases, the laughs originate in the madness of the idea itself. Jones was also notable for his gifts as a Chaplinesque physical comedian: For instance, his performance in the "Undressing in Public" sketch is totally silent, except for an organ rendition of the Colonel Bogey March, which segues into an unplanned striptease. He was often cast as the straight man, or as a nerdy or put-upon character, often with ambitions or dreams beyond his abilities, in contrast to the authority figures often played by John Cleese or Graham Chapman.

Directorial work
Jones co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Terry Gilliam, and was sole director on two further Monty Python movies, Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. (The latter featured one of his most famous characters, the grotesquely obese Mr. Creosote.) As a film director, Jones finally gained fuller control of the projects and devised a visual style that complemented the humour. His later films include Erik the Viking (1989) and The Wind in the Willows (1996). In 2008, Jones wrote and directed an opera titled Evil Machines.[5] In 2011, he was commissioned to direct and write the libretto for another opera, entitled The Doctor's Tale.

On the commentary track of the 2004 "2 Disc Special Edition" DVD for the film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Terry Jones stated that to his knowledge Ireland had banned only four movies, three of which he had directed: The Meaning of Life, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Personal Services.

Animation
He was the creator and co-producer of the animated television program Blazing Dragons, which ran for two seasons.[citation needed] Set in a fantasy medieval setting, the series' protagonists are dragons who are beset by evil humans, reversing a common story convention. When the series was broadcast on US television, several episodes were censored due to minor cursing and the implied sexuality of an overtly effeminate character named "Sir Blaze". It was turned into a game for the Sega Saturn in 1994, which starred Jones's voice.