Met and performed comedy with Michael Palin in The Oxford Revue.
Directed three of the four films that have been banned in Ireland: Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) and Personal Services (1987).
Authored several children's books, beginning with Fairy Tales in 1981, and adapted one of them, The Saga of Erik the Viking, into a film in 1989 (as Erik the Viking).