Early Monty Python Interview
Posted by Jim Newman on June 20th, 2012 – 2 Comments – Posted in UncategorizedPost by Jim Newman
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This early video of John Cleese and Michael Palin being grilled for their movie Life of Brian is hilarious for the two other interviewers who well represent the old and oft parodied English style.
John’s point is to view the movie critically. It’s not that it’s a criticism of Jesus but rather than one should decide for themselves after looking more closely.
For me, when I saw Life of Brian, I felt relief that finally someone was pointing out the absurd aspects of the story. I really didn’t feel I could come out and say the story of Jesus is fundamentally ridiculous. Otherwise it was really sacred text which I was supposed to hear gratis but not criticize in turn or even comment. The only thing Catholic kids giggled about was the virgin birth and I think that’s just because my friends, then, were becoming sexual.
Jim Newman, bright and well
Of the many things that bug me about this debate is how the two religious figures don’t seem to realize that the character of Brian is portrayed as distinctly different than Jesus. The Life of Brian Wikipedia page nails it:
Shortly after the film was released, Cleese and Palin engaged in a what would become a notorious debate on the BBC2 discussion programme Friday Night, Saturday Morning, in which Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood, the Bishop of Southwark, put the case against the film. Muggeridge and the Bishop had arrived 15 minutes late to see a screening of the picture prior to the debate, missing the establishing scenes demonstrating that Brian and Jesus were two different characters, and hence contended that it was a send-up of Christ himself. Both Pythons later felt that there had been a strange role reversal in the manner of the debate, with two young upstart comedians attempting to make serious, well-researched points, while the establishment figures engaged in cheap jibes and point scoring. They also expressed disappointment in Muggeridge, whom all in Python had previously respected as a satirist. Cleese expressed that his reputation had “plummeted” in his eyes, while Palin commented that, “He was just being Muggeridge, preferring to have a very strong contrary opinion as opposed to none at all”. Muggeridge’s verdict on the film was that it was “Such a tenth-rate film that it couldn’t possibly destroy anyone’s genuine faith”.
This is the same Malcolm Muggeridge referred to by Christopher Hitchens in his comments about Mother Theresa and the documentary involving her hospital in Mumbai. Unbeknown to Muggeridge the cameraman had been given film with a new emulsion designed to be used in low light which made the shots in the darkness appear as if they had been shot in daylight. When Muggeridge saw the flashes he declared that it was ‘kindly light’ ie, ‘the light of God shining through Mother Theresa herself’. That was the start of the legend.