Monty Python star John Cleese says he plans to cut the song “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” when he stages a new adaptation of the 1979 movie “Life Of Brian.”
The song, featured in the last scene of the movie, comes when false prophet Brian is crucified, and he and his disciples break into song.
But Cleese, 83, told the Daily Mail that the ending is now just too “predictable.”
“It was shocking in 1979. It was absolutely astonishing. People thought it was hilarious, they screamed with laughter. Well, nobody is going to be shocked now — the joke is 40 years old,” Cleese said.
“Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”
MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN (1979)#EricIdle
— Michael Warburton (@MichaelWarbur17) June 25, 2023
Python co-star Eric Idle, who actually wrote the song, is unhappy with Cleese’s plan to drop it. “I have nothing at all to do with this production or adaptation. Apparently Cleese has cut the song. Of course,” Idle wrote on Twitter last month.
I have nothing at all to do with this production or adaptation,. Apparently Cleese has cut the song. Of course. https://t.co/OS1X9b5w2k
— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) May 19, 2023
Cleese said that Idle’s unhappiness is all about money. “Eric is very keen to use the song because of course he gets all the royalties from it, and we don’t get any. People do love the song, but do we want to end with something that’s completely predictable?”
But Cleese says he won’t cut a scene out of the stage version of “Life of Brian” that woke critics have frowned upon.
“A few days ago I spoke to an audience outside London,” Cleese wrote on Twitter. “I told them I was adapting the Life of Brian so that we could do it as a stage show (NOT a musical). I said that we’d had a table-reading of the latest draft in NYC a year ago and that all the actors — several of them Tony winners — had advised me strongly to cut the Loretta scene. I have, of course, no intention of doing so.”
A recent example of this misreporting !
A few days ago I spoke to an audience outside London.
I told them I was adapting the Life of Brian so that we could do it as a stage show ( NOT a musical ). I said
that we'd had a table-reading of the latest draft in NYC a year ago…(tbc) https://t.co/VPWJGdUZtJ— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) May 25, 2023
..and that all the actors – several of them Tony winners – had advised me strongly to cut the Loretta scene.
I have, of course, no intention of doing so
So someone in the audience had called a journalist and misreported me. Amazingly none of the British media called to check
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) May 25, 2023
Erroneous reports said Cleese was set to cut a scene from his stage revival of the irreverent comedy during which “Stan” declares he wants to be a woman named “Loretta” and have babies.
“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 last month. “‘We love the script, but you can’t do that stuff about Loretta nowadays,’ the Americans told Cleese.”
“That was what was so surprising,” Cleese wrote in response. “These were absolutely top-class Broadway performers and they were adamant that we would not get away with doing the scene in NYC!”
“I asked them ‘Are Python fans not going to come because we’re doing a scene they’ve been laughing at for 40 years?’” he wrote on Twitter.
“Producers tend to be scaredy-cats, and they don’t remember that the protests in NYC when ‘Brian’ was released meant we never needed to do publicity!!” Cleese added.
That was what was so surprising
These were absolutely top-class Broadway performers and they were adamant that we would not get away with doing the scene in NYC!
I asked them "Are Python fans not going to come because we're doing a scene they've been laughing at for 40 years ?" https://t.co/EJX6pQdKWe
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) May 25, 2023
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:
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.
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.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.