John Cleese says Life of Brian stage production won't cut iconic scene due to modern sensitivities
John Cleese has revealed a scene in an upcoming stage show of Life of Brian won't be cut due to modern-day sensitivities.
He's known more these days for his outspoken views on cancel culture, but it's Cleese's birthday today, so we're revisiting this tale from earlier in the year when he spoke about the Life of Brian musical.
That's coming out next year, and - true to his word - Cleese is keen for the original work to remain as the Monty Python team intended it.
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The acclaimed comedian took to Twitter - now X, of course - back in May to shut down rumours about the iconic 'Loretta' scene.
The scene in the 1979 film shows the character of Stan - portrayed by Eric Idle - telling his fellow revolutionaries that he now wants to be a woman and demands to be called 'Loretta' as he wants to have children.
To the disgust of his peers, they tell him he can't have babies as he doesn't have a 'womb'.
“I want to be a woman… It’s my right as a man,” the character says in the scene.
“I want to have babies… It’s every man’s right to have babies if he wants them," before adding: “Don’t you oppress me!”
It was originally reported that after a read-through, production decided that the scene would be cut from the stage version.
However, Cleese has rejected this.
“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)," he wrote at the time.
"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."
He responded to a fan who questioned why the rumour was being spread and said: "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?'"
The 83-year-old has been a fierce critic of political correctness, citing that it's had a 'disastrous' impact on comedy.
Speaking at the FreedomFest conference in July of 2022, Cleese claimed that comedians have a harder time being funny now for fear that they'll be 'cancelled'.
"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," he said.
"So I would say at the moment, this is a difficult time, particularly for young comedians, but you see, my audience is much older, and they're simply not interested in most of the woke attitudes.
"I mean, they just think that you should try and be kind to people and that's no need to complicate it, you know?"
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film
Charisa Bossinakis