XPost: rec.arts.tv, alt.fan.monty-python, alt.transgendered
In �Monty Python and the Holy Grail,� a filthy peasant who is being throttled by King Arthur at the time, yells: �Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I�m being repressed!�
So it is with another of the British comedy troupe�s movies, �Monty Python�s Life of Brian.�
Comedian John Cleese revealed last week that a scene for his revival of the irreverent stage show, during which �Stan� declares he wants to be a woman named �Loretta� and have babies, is set to be cut from the play � for woke reasons.
�According to Cleese, the �Loretta� scene, in which a male member of the People�s Front of Judea demands his right to have babies, raised eyebrows at
a read-through in New York last year,� Spiked reported on Wednesday. ��We
love the script, but you can�t do that stuff about Loretta nowadays,� the Americans told Cleese.�
The scene is a brilliant bit of surreal comedy in which Stan declares �it�s every man�s right to have babies if he wants them.�
In the scene, Stan and three others do a rat-a-tat-tat exchange that made
Monty Python famous. For the record, Cleese plays Reg, Michael Palin is Francis, Sue Jones-Davies plays Judith, and Eric Idle plays Stan. Just enjoy the timing:
: Judith: I do feel, Reg, that any anti-imperialist group like ours must
: reflect such a divergence of interests within its power base.
:
: Reg: Agree. Francis?
:
: Francis: Yeah, I think Judith�s point of view is very valid, Reg. Provided
: the movement never forgets that it is the unalienable right of every man �
:
: Stan: Or woman.
:
: Francis: Or woman to rid himself �
:
: Stan: Or herself.
:
: Francis: Or herself.
:
: Reg: Agreed.
:
: Francis: Thank you, brother.
:
: Stan: Or sister.
:
: Francis: Or sister. Where was I?
:
: Reg: I think you finished.
:
: Francis: Oh, all right.
:
: Reg: Furthermore, it is the birthright of every man �
:
: Stan: Or woman.
:
: Reg: Why don�t you shut up about women, Stan, you�re putting us off.
:
: Stan: Women have a perfect right to play a part in our movement, Reg.
:
: Francis: Why you always on about women, Stan?
:
: Stan: I want to be one.
:
: Reg: What?
:
: Stan: I want to be a woman. From now on, I want you all to call me Loretta.
:
: Reg: What?
:
: Stan: It�s my right as a man.
:
: Judith: Why do you want to be Loretta, Stan?
:
: Stan: I want to have babies.
:
: Reg: You want to have babies?!
:
: Stan: It�s every man�s right to have babies if he wants them.
:
: Reg: But you can�t have babies!
:
: Stan: Don�t you oppress me.
:
: Reg: I�m not oppressing you, Stan. You haven�t got a womb. Where�s the
: fetus going to gestate? You gonna keep it in a box?
:
: Judith: Here, I�ve got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can�t actually
: have babies not having a womb, which is nobody�s fault, not even the
: Romans, but that he can have the right to have babies.
:
: Francis: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to
: have babies, brother � sister. Sorry.
:
: Reg: What�s the point? What�s the point of fighting his right to have
: babies when he can�t have babies?
:
: Francis: It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.
:
: Reg: Symbolic of his struggle against reality.
When �Life of Brian� � listed in the IMDB�s top 250 movies � came out in
1979, it faced an onslaught from the Catholic Church. But that might be a simple foe when weighed against the LGBTQ+ community.
Cleese has grumbled before about the plight of the modern comedian. When
asked in July of 2022 if they still have the unfettered freedom to be funny,
he said, �No. I think it�s particularly worrying at the moment because you
can only create in an atmosphere of freedom where you�re not checking everything you say critically before you move on.�
�A lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something, they say something like, �Can I get away with it? I don�t think so. So and so got into trouble, and he said that, oh, she said that.� You see what I mean? And that�s the death of creativity,� Cleese said.
This new onslaught will be tantamount to the Spanish Inquisition. And as the boys of Monty Python have always said: �Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!�
https://youtu.be/jlo7YZW8vPA
--
Let's go Brandon!
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