Editing Michael Palin (section)

=== Early career ===
After finishing university in 1965, Palin became a presenter on a comedy pop show called ''Now!'' for the television contractor [[Television Wales and the West]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/510300/index.html |title=Michael Palin |first=John |last=Oliver |work=BFI Screen Online |access-date=13 December 2006 |archive-date=15 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215163009/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/510300/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At the same time, Palin was contacted by Jones, who had left university a year earlier, to help with writing a theatrical documentary about sex through the ages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://idler.co.uk/conversations/in-conversation-with-michael-palin/ |first=Tom |last=Hodgkinson |work=The Idler |title=In Conversation with Michael Palin |year=2006 |access-date=20 December 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103064336/http://idler.co.uk/conversations/in-conversation-with-michael-palin/ |archive-date=3 January 2008 }}</ref> Although this project was eventually abandoned, it brought Palin and Jones together as a writing duo and led them to write comedy for various [[BBC]] programmes, such as ''The Ken Dodd Show'', ''The Billy Cotton Bandshow'', and ''The Illustrated Weekly Hudd''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://orangecow.org/pythonet/michael-palin.html |title=Biography |website=Pythonet.org |access-date=17 December 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061115215629/http://orangecow.org/pythonet/michael-palin.html |archive-date=15 November 2006 }}</ref> They collaborated in writing lyrics for an album by Barry Booth called ''Diversions''. They were also in the team of writers working for ''[[The Frost Report]]'', whose other members included [[Frank Muir]], [[Barry Cryer]], [[Marty Feldman]], [[Ronnie Barker]], [[Ronnie Corbett]], [[Dick Vosburgh]] and future Monty Python members [[Graham Chapman]], [[John Cleese]] and [[Eric Idle]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/thefrostreport/|title=The Frost Report|publisher=BBC Comedy|access-date=9 July 2016|archive-date=15 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415033653/https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/thefrostreport/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/07/08/jimmy-gilbert-bbc-producer-who-presided-over-a-golden-age-of-lig/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/07/08/jimmy-gilbert-bbc-producer-who-presided-over-a-golden-age-of-lig/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Jimmy Gilbert, BBC producer who presided over a golden age of light entertainment – obituary|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=8 June 2016|access-date=9 July 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009pgsc |work=[[BBC Two]] |date=13 August 2011 |access-date=18 November 2015 |archive-date=25 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425145626/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009pgsc |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although the members of Monty Python had already encountered each other over the years, ''The Frost Report'' was the first time all the British members of Monty Python (its sixth member, [[Terry Gilliam]], was at that time an American citizen) worked together.<ref name="ind120729"/> During the run of ''The Frost Report'' the Palin/Jones team contributed material to two shows starring [[John Bird (actor)|John Bird]]: ''The Late Show'' and ''A Series of Birds''. For ''A Series of Birds'' the Palin/Jones team had their first experience of writing narrative instead of the short sketches they were accustomed to conceiving.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/s/seriesofbirdsa_1299002783.shtml | title = A Series of Bird's | publisher = BBC Guide to Comedy | access-date = 16 September 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070203114420/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/s/seriesofbirdsa_1299002783.shtml | archive-date = 3 February 2007 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Following ''The Frost Report'' the Palin/Jones team worked both as actors and writers on the show ''[[Twice a Fortnight]]'' with [[Graeme Garden]], [[Bill Oddie]] and [[Jonathan Lynn]], and the successful children's comedy show ''[[Do Not Adjust Your Set]]'' with Idle and [[David Jason]]. The show also featured musical numbers by the [[Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band]], including future Monty Python musical collaborator [[Neil Innes]]. The animations for ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' were made by Terry Gilliam. Eager to work with Palin{{sfn|Ross|1997|p=91}} sans Jones, Cleese later asked him to perform in ''[[How to Irritate People]]'' together with Chapman and [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]]. The Palin/Jones team were reunited for ''[[The Complete and Utter History of Britain]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first=Dave |last=Eggers |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,1871170,00.html |title=Interview with Eric Idle in The Guardian, with quotes from Terry Jones and Michael Palin |publisher=Film.guardian.co.uk |date=13 September 2006 |access-date=23 August 2019}}</ref>