Ian MacNaughton
Edward Ian Macnaughton (30 December 1925 – 10 December 2002) was a Scottish actor-turned-television producer and director, best known for his work with the "Monty Python" team. MacNaughton was director and producer for all but four of the forty five episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" from 1969 to 1974, director of the group's first feature film "And Now for Something Completely Different" in 1971 and director of their two German episodes, "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus" in 1971 and 1972. In 1973 the production team shared the BAFTA Award for Best Light Entertainment Programme for "Monty Python's Flying Circus".
Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus
According to producer Alfred Biolek, the Pythons were initially somewhat reluctant to the idea of going to Germany to produce comedy for a German audience. Biolek had only seen a few shows, but he was impressed with the concept of the Flying Circus. Specifically, it stood out to him that they were both good comedians and good actors—a combination that Biolek rarely saw in the German comedy scene at the time. Biolek arranged to meet with the Pythons in the BBC's bar in London to convince them "with many arguments and even more gin tonics" to come to Germany for a brief visit. Eric Idle has described the conception of the specials as "The Germans came to us and said 'Look, we haven't got a sense of humour, but we understand you do. Can we use yours? Terry Jones recalls Biolek's inquiry as an opportunity "to do silly things in Germany".