"How wonderful!" Terry Jones practically squeals as the scene featuring "the Knights who say 'Ni'" unfolds during the recent 40th-anniversary screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre during the Tribeca Film Festival. Jones co-directed Holy Grail, which turns 40 this year, with fellow Python Terry Gilliam, and he directed Monty Python's Life of Brian and Monty Python's Meaning of Life, and his joy in re-watching these films is palpable. "I've long since forgotten all the turmoil around them when we made them," Jones says. "Well, I haven't, actually, but what's really important is what's up on the screen for everyone to see, and I'm pleased at how well the film holds up." Seeing Life of Brian in a theater for the first time in more than a decade is made even more enjoyable by the running commentary Jones supplies. When his famous turn as the naked "hermit in the pit" comes, he roars with laughter. "Glorious!" Jones says.

To celebrate the storied history of the Monty Python films and their newest milestone, we asked Jones to give us his top 10 moments from the group's films (actually, he offers a little extra, in typical Python fashion).

10. "Find the Fish" from The Meaning of Life

"Originally, we were going to have a load of stars—like Sean Connery and Julie Andrews—saying, 'This is the middle of the film,' but it was too hard to organize. But it turned out all right, because this is the inside of the Battersea Power Station, with those beautiful parquet floor and magnificent ceiling, and it doesn't exist anymore. I think this is Python at its surreal best."

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9. Mr. Creosote from The Meaning of Life

"When we first read this scene, out it went in the reject pile. Then, about a month later, John rang me up and said, 'You know that scene in the restaurant? I think it could work.' Of course he'd realized that the waiter was the funny character."

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8. "Galaxy Song" from The Meaning of Life

"It's such a lovely song. I think it's one of the best things Eric [Idle]'s ever done. There was going to be more animation but Terry was so busy with other parts of the film we ended up using more of the live-action parts that I'd shot for safety."

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7. "Every Sperm Is Sacred" from The Meaning of Life

"There were about 60 kids and, even though some of the dialogue in this scene was considered a bit racy at the time, the parents were all happy to have their children take part. We did have Michael say, 'If only the Roman Catholic Church would let me wear a little rubber thing on the end of my sock,' though, and we dubbed it later. It's a long sequence, but I think it's one of my favorite bits of Python."

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6. The Hermit in the Hole from Life of Brian

"This is me playing the Hermit in the Hole. I hadn't seen it—certainly not on the big screen—for ages until the Tribeca Film Festival, so that was a real treat. It reminded me how funny this sequence is. I had gotten to the set very early the day we shot this, to do all of my dialogue and it was quite late in the day—when we were shooting the parts of the mob—when Michael Palin came over to me and pointed out that I was still completely nude. I'd completely forgotten!"

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5. Mandy Addressing the Crowds from Life of Brian

"We realized very quickly the day we shot this sequence that we had to do the shots of Graham separately because the Arab women in the crowd had never seen a naked man. My acting here is about as far away from the Virgin Mary as you could possibly get. It's not a female impersonation at all."

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4. The Three Wise Men from Life of Brian

"Terry Gilliam shot the first part of this sequence because I was off scouting locations. Here I am as Brian's mother, of course. The Virgin Mandy, she was called. One of the most understated performances in screen history. Of course this isn't Christ's manger. It's the manger next door."

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3. Castle Anthrax from The Holy Grail

"This is a hilarious sequence, and Michael Palin was just perfect to play the prudish knight, tempted by all these young ladies. These tales exist in all medieval stories—of the castle full of beautiful women—so we just turned that on its head. We almost cut this sequence, but when we screened the film in Los Angeles to one of the first paying audiences it got a huge response, so we kept it. I don't know why in the world we would have considered cutting it. It's one of my favorites."

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2. "We're Knights of the Round Table" from The Holy Grail

"This sequence—about 50 shots, with one camera—was shot in one day! It was a nightmare to shoot, and not particularly well-organized. In the end we just shot bits of dancing and singing and cut it to the music later. But it turned out wonderfully!"

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1. The Black Knight Fight from The Holy Grail

"This is John [Cleese] and Terry Gilliam in the suits. They actually had to learn how to sword-fight with those helmets on, which is incredibly hard to do. We'd run out of money by the time we shot this sequence so there was only a crew of about four people, and it took us about a week to shoot it. It actually didn't work—the part where Graham [Chapman] first confronts John—until we added the shots of John just standing there, not responding, and that did the trick. And believe it or not we brought in various people to dub John's voice, because for some reason we thought John's voice wasn't right. I don't know why, because in the end we decided to use his voice, and of course it's perfect."

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Honorable Mention: Martin Luther from The Meaning of Life (Deleted)

"This would have gone after the scene of Graham and Eric as the Protestant couple just following the 'Every Sperm Is Sacred' sequence. I included it because it's not very well-known but I think it's very funny. I'm glad it lives on on DVD and Blu-ray."

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Jeff Slate Jeff Slate is a New York City-based songwriter and journalist who has contributed music and culture articles to Esquire since 2013.

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