A very successful Python meeting at John’s. Everyone was remarkably direct about future plans and there was a remarkable freedom of pressure on anyone to fit in with others’ plans. The basic factor in the future life of Python is that John has had enough of Python TV shows — he doesn’t enjoy writing or performing them — the thought of doing any more makes his stomach tighten, so he said.

He is the oldest of us, he has done more TV than any of us, and had done twenty-six Frost Reports before any of us really started performing. So he’s ahead of us in the disillusionment stakes — tho’ I cannot agree with him at all about the drudgery of doing TV shows. I find them hard, but exhilarating experiences and I’m still at the stage of appreciating how fantastically lucky I am to have the opportunity to write and perform my own material, on TV, almost free of restrictions. Still John does not share this view — and will not commit himself to any more Python work after the film next summer.

— Michael Palin, Diaries 1969 – 1979: The Python Years