Tuesday, we're talking about something completely different: The Monty Python troupe's comedic send up of ancient Jerusalem and 1970s England told through the story of a boy mistaken for a savior.
Following their silly romp through Arthurian legend, Monty Python took on something completely different for their second film. The Pythons satirized the similarities between ancient Jerusalem and 1970s England: the terrorism, the authoritarians, the waning empires. They also told a “shadow” version of the Christ story. Monty Python’s Life of Brian was met with critical praise, commercial success, and outraged protest. Film scholar Darl Larsen joins us to unpack one of the greatest comedies of all time. (Rebroadcast)
Darl Larsen is a professor in both the Media Arts department and the Center for Animation at Brigham Young University, where he teaches film, animation, screenwriting and popular culture studies. He has written several books about Monty Python, including his newest A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of Brian: All the References from Assyrians to Zeffirelli [Independent booksellers|Amazon], which will be published in February 2018.
