The comedy world is mourning the death of founding Monty Python member Terry Jones, who died this week at the age of 77 after a years-long battle with dementia. Russell Brand, Steve Martin, John Oliver, and many more saluted the great comedian, author, and director already — but the most emotional tributes came from the four surviving members of Monty Python. (The sixth Python, Graham Chapman, passed away in 1989.)

On Twitter, John Cleese wrote that his “greatest gift” was “his direction of Life of Brian. Perfection,” along with a typically Pythonesque morbid joke:

Eric Idle said he “loved [Jones] from the moment I saw him on stage” for the first time in 1963 at the Edinburgh Festival:

Terry Gilliam, who co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Jones, said he was “someone totally consumed with life” and that “one could never hope for a better friend.”

Finally, Michael Palin told the BBC Jones “was far more than one of the funniest writer-performers of his generation, he was the complete Renaissance comedian - writer, director, presenter, historian, brilliant children's author, and the warmest, most wonderful company you could wish to have.”

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