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Life of Brian: "The film that is so funny that it was banned in Norway!"

March 29, 2017

Monty Python's Life of Brian was originally released in 1979 and the religious themes of the comedy prompted a number of communities and countries to ban the film. Norway famously banned the film for one year. The movie was not released in Sweden until August 1980 and was promoted with the slogan "The film that is so funny that it was banned in Norway!" Norway released the movie in October 1980. Python members Graham Chapman, Michael Palin and Eric Idle had originally wanted to call the film Brian of Nazareth (the movie even used some sets from the 1977 film Jesus of Nazareth).

Italians waited twelve years to see Life of Brian in the theater. The film was finally theatrically released in 1991 with the title Brian di Nazareth. The poster from that initial Italian release is above featuring art by William Stout.