British Comedy Film Introduction

Over the years, Britain has had success, when it comes down to film. With the success of radio and the wit of Spike Milligan and 'The Goon Show', accompanied by notable comedians such as Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe, British comedy in general has managed to not only be a recognised and longest running genre, but has managed to make people laugh over the years.

Notably, British comedy itself has had monumental success, with the ludicrous antics of the Monty Python team, depicting common day antics and side splitting jokes. The genre has had plenty of inspiration to draw on over the years. With the origins of the genre stemming from Ealing comedies in the 1950s, British film has generally adapted and become more permissive. In many ways, the arrival of Monty Python actually broke societal boundaries , with the exposure of sex and blasphemy, as seen in 'Monty Python's Life of Brian and 'The Holy Grail'. Following the success of Monty Python, John Cleese, Micheal Palin and Eric Idle became infamous household names.

Following the success of 'The Life of Brian and 'The Holy Grail', it was a tough task to create another Python film which would live up to the reputation of the other successful films. However, they managed to produce ' The Meaning of Life' in 1983 which focuses on John Cleese as a school teacher, who has the awkward task of teaching children about sex, whilst not getting it right.

Despite the film's previous successors, 'The Meaning of Life' did not live up to its reputation and resulted in the character separating to pursue other projects. Though , some of the actors such as Cleese and Palin had cameo appearances and writing stints, but nothing as successful as the Python films.