Apropos of a Facebook challenge to post every day for ten days about a movie that affected me in some way without actually discussing the movie, I found myself on YouTube looking at clips of Monty Python’s side-splitting “Life of Brian,” a film starring Graham Chapman that taught me in junior high that it was okay to question orthodoxy and make fun of both religion and religious people.

In the YouTube sidebar of recommended videos, I noticed a recording of the November 9, 1979, episode of the BBC’s “Friday Night, Saturday Morning” program.  In the episode, Python stars John Cleese and Michael Palin discuss their then-recently released religious parody before debating points of comedy, art, and theology with Anglican Bishop Mervyn Stockwood and Christian journalist Malcolm Muggeridge.  The entire exchange is well worth any Monty Python fan’s time, but, more broadly, it should also appeal to anyone who noodles over the tensions between the sacred and the profane.  The episode appears in four parts on YouTube, embedded below for your convenience.

Life Of Brian- 1979 Debate (1/4)

The full debate from “Friday Night, Saturday Morning”, 9th November 1979. On the edition of 9 November 1979, hosted by Tim Rice, a discussion was held about the then-new film Monty Python’s Life of Brian, which been banned by many local councils and caused protests throughout the world with accusations that it was blasphemous.

Life Of Brian- 1979 Debate (2/4)

The full debate from “Friday Night, Saturday Morning”, 9th November 1979. On the edition of 9 November 1979, hosted by Tim Rice, a discussion was held about the then-new film Monty Python’s Life of Brian, which been banned by many local councils and caused protests throughout the world with accusations that it was blasphemous.

https://youtu.be/SGI9UevrzGc

https://youtu.be/NXmJHlqMvvE