Michael Palin reunites with his Monty Python co-stars John Cleese and Terry Gilliam to celebrate his 81st birthday

Michael Palin reunited with his pals and Monty Python co-stars John Cleese and Terry Gilliam as he celebrated his 81st birthday on Thursday.

The comedy legend joined his long-time friends John, 84, and Terry, 83. The trio are all part of the iconic comedy troupe formed in 1969 - with Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and Terry Jones.

The three pals seemed to be having the time of their lives laughing and giggling as they celebrated their friend's special day.

John shared a snap from their lunch out where he and Terry are seen showing off a cheerful smile.

Meanwhile the birthday boy looked over the moon as he is seen holding a dessert plate with chocolate glaze reading: 'Happy Birthday.'

Michael Palin reunited with his pals and Monty Python co-stars John Cleese and Terry Gilliam as he celebrated his 81st birthday on Thursday

The comedy legend joined his long-time friends John, 84, and Terry, 83. The trio are all part of the iconic comedy troupe formed in 1969 - with Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and Terry Jones  (pictured in 2015, L-R Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Eric Idle, John Oliver, and Terry Jones)

Captioning the shot, John penned: 'An 18 foot Python celebrates Pallin’s 181st Birthday and 195th Travel Book. Photo taken at cafe on peak of Mount Kilimanjaro'

Captioning the shot, John penned: 'An 18 foot Python celebrates Pallin’s 181st Birthday and 195th Travel Book. Photo taken at cafe on peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.'

Long-time fans of the British comedy group raved over the trio reuniting.

'My Dad introduced me to Monty Python when I was just a kid in the 70s saying I'm going to love you guys because you're "silly humour," and I was already into the Carry-On Gang. Dad is gone now but I still watch you every chance I can get. Much love & respect';

'The 2,000th book and TV series will be just as good! Legends. Absolute legends. We have been honoured to be entertained by 'you lot' for the last 50 years or so!'; 'You silly gentlemen....you are responsible for lots of laughs and giggles in my life. Happy birthday Michael';

'Looking good Michael'; 'Lovely gents'; 'Happy Birthday, Michael!';

John has recently claimed 'literal minded' people have ruined comedy by failing to understand 'metaphor, irony and exaggeration' and missing the punchline.

Speaking ahead of the launch of his stage adaptation of classic British comedy Fawlty Towers, he revealed the difficulties he had getting the script off the ground with concern about how some language would be received by viewers.

John explained some of the original dialogue used within the two-hour play, which merges three popular episodes into an overarching storyline, has been edited to remove 'racial slurs' due to changing perceptions within society.

The comedy group included also Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and Terry Jones (pictured altogether in 1976 in New York)

Long-time fans of the British comedy group raved over the trio reuniting

'I think there was a scene where Major (Gowen) used a couple of words you can't use now, racial slurs they would come under, so we took that out', he told journalists last week.

'You see, there is always a problem with comedy that you deal with the literal-minded.'

The play is based on episodes across the sitcom's two series titled The Hotel Inspector, Communication Problems and The Germans, which originally features a scene in which the Major Gowen character uses offensive language about the West Indies cricket team.

In 2020, the episode was briefly removed from UKTV's streaming service, which is owned by BBC Studios, due to the 'racial slurs' before it was later reinstated with added guidance and warnings highlighting 'potentially offensive content and language' featured.

Speaking on the challenges of writing comedy, John said: 'Whenever you're doing comedy, you're up against the literal-minded, and the literal-minded don't understand irony.

'And that means if you take them seriously, you get rid of a lot of comedy because the literal-minded people don't understand metaphor, they don't understand irony, and they don't understand comic exaggeration.

'The result is, if you listen to them, these are people who are not, as far as understanding what other human beings are saying and doing, they're not playing with a full deck.'

John has recently claimed 'literal minded' people have ruined comedy by failing to understand 'metaphor, irony and exaggeration' and missing the punchline