The legendary comedy troupe Monty Python first took their particular brand of inspired absurdity from television to the big screen over 30 years ago, producing 3 original features that most likely rank among the world's most rewatched films. Come see them on the big screen this holiday season at the AFI Silver—whether it's your first time or you can recite every line of dialogue. (All notes courtesy of Film Forum.)

Member passes will be accepted at all screenings in the Monty Python at the Movies series.

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL

...or Mønti Pythøn ik den Høli Gräilen. After the opening credits (helpfully subtitled in Swedish), Graham Chapman's gallant King Arthur gallops off to recruit more bold knights to search for the Holy Grail. (Well, he prances along on foot, while lackey Terry Gilliam clicks two coconut shells together.) Horrific obstacles intervene—the not-dead plague victim, a castle guard hurling scatological taunts, the Bridge of Death, and the voracious Killer Bunny, stoppable only by the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Inspired lunacy, on the proverbial shoestring—at the sight of Camelot, a squire carps, "It's just a model."

DIR/SCR Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones; SCR Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin; PROD Mark Forstater and Michael White. UK, 1975, color, 91 min. RATED PG

LIFE OF BRIAN

Born in a stable in Bethlehem, visited by three kings, acclaimed as the Messiah, crucified, then resurrected—yes, it's... Brian Cohen? Those darn parallels between Brian, born one stable over from Christ, and his holy counterpart keep on coming, although singing during the crucifixion is probably a divergence.

DIR/SCR Terry Jones; SCR Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin; PROD John Goldstone. UK, 1979, color, 94 min. RATED R

THE MEANING OF LIFE

"Is it a boy or a girl?" "I think it's a bit early to start imposing roles on it, don't you?" Searching for meaning from womb to tomb, the Pythons present a production number about sperm, a live-action sex-ed class that still bores the kids, men in tiger suits, Graham Chapman chased to death by scantily clad girls, and—most memorably - the world's fattest man dining out.

DIR/SCR Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones; SCR Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin; PROD John Goldstone. UK, 1983, color, 107 min. RATED R

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

The Dead Parrot, the Upper-Class Twit of the Year, the Lumberjack Song, Hell's Grannies, Killer Cars—what's not to love in the first feature from the manic team, a "Greatest Hits" from the first two seasons of their TV show, re-filmed to introduce the troupe to US audiences?

DIR Ian MacNaughton; SCR Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin; PROD Patricia Casey. UK, 1971, color, 88 min. RATED PG