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Glasgow Ban On “Life Of Brian” Comedy Lifted After 30 Years

I had no idea that Monty’s Python’s “Life of Brian” had been banned in the first place. The film gave a very funny look at the life and times of a young Jewish man in the Holy Land at the time of Christ who gets mistaken for the Messiah. Citing blasphemy (gasp), the city of Scots forbade its release. Details from the BBC after the leap…

Opponents said the film, about a Jewish man who is mistaken for the Messiah and crucified, was blasphemous.

Councillor Willie O’Rourke, vice convener of the licensing and regulatory committee, said: “This is the first application we’ve received to show Monty Python’s Life of Brian since the first request.

“Life of Brian has been broadcast on television over the years and is now widely available on DVD.

“The world, and people’s attitudes, have moved on in the last 30 years, so I believe the committee made the right decision today.”

The Scotsman has some of the backstory here:

The late Pastor Jack Glass, who spearheaded the protest, famously said the film “crucified Christ afresh” and thrust three nails at the committee chairman, John Chatham. However, the pastor admitted he had not seen the film and was basing his views on a script.

Last night, a former lord provost, Michael Kelly, one of those who sat on the committee, but who voted in favour of it being given a licence, said councillors were “scandalised” after viewing the film.

“I distinctly remember a lot of outrage, mainly because most councillors on the committee were Catholic in those days,” he said.

“They were genuinely shocked, but I was completely against any form of censorship and voted for it to be shown.

“I remember seeing it a few years later when I was on a skiing holiday in France. It was shown in English with French subtitles. It was hilarious.”

The irony here is that these were the typical, ideologically blinkered silly people that the Monty Python crew were so adept at lampooning back in 1979…

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