A Geek History of Time - Episode 372 - Monty Python and the Life of Britons Part II

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

I mean, it is 2 o'clock in the fucking morning where I am. The 1848ers were so much more radical than what we're comfortable or familiar with. The layer, the layer of sarcasm involved in that entire delivery is, it's fonded. It's not even frosting. But he failed, so fuck them, buddies. Now, after World War II ended, Lockley started mapping out foot trails for the newly created. Oh, God, Pembroke Shire. So Pembrokeshire.

Pembrokeshire. Okay. Pembrokeshire. Just please let me just read Latin today. We're way into the 19th century now. I'm sorry. Well, Damien, it's 3 o'clock in the fucking morning. This is a geek history of time.

Where we connect a nerdery to the real world. My name is Ed Blaylock. I'm a world history teacher here in Northern California. And I have spent now the last weekend. half, installing a pergola in my backyard, my in-laws gave my wife and I as our combined birthday present for this year. One of those pergolas that you see at Costco, the thing with the metal roof and the four big hosts.

Oh, okay. We interchangeably refer to as a pergola and a gazebo, but I think the technical term is pergola. Anyway, and the reason for this is that we have destroyed more than one pavilion cover that we had on that side of our backyard trying to shade part of our pool. And so they said, we'll just buy you this $2,000 structure to add to the outside of your house. And we have spent the last weekend and a half now building it. And I have never had to struggle so hard in my life trying to get anything level and plum. Ever.

Ever. And so, yeah, that's what I've been up to. But it's very pretty now. Nice. And it has lights strung up in it. And it's lovely. but we really had to do a lot of work to get here. And I'm very tired.

How about you? What are you up to? Oh, well, I'm Damien Harmony. And let's see, I have one kid who has tried out for yet another play and got the role that she wanted, which is fantastic. Which means I'll be driving her to rehearsals from here until she graduates from high school, which is great. And then the other kid hit me up today and he's like, hey, my favorite train is giving passenger rides during the time that we'll be in England. Can we add that to our trip? And I was like, well, we can replace something.

Where is it? And so that might that that that was why it took me a little bit to get back to you for this particular episode because we were trying to figure it out. And like you could see like the happy sad because like he's having to let go of one thing. but then it's very likely that we'll get to ride his favorite train that exists ever, the Flying Scottsman. I was going to ask if that was it. That's amazing. So, yeah, anyway. So I was trying to work that out and figure that out.

And so I think we've got it settled, but we're going to go over the entire it tomorrow because I need to start buying hotels. Right. Yeah. So I probably should have done that earlier. But anyway. Me. All right. So when last we left, speaking of England, the empire had fallen.

Yes. Yes. The empire had, I don't know if fallen is the right word. Disintegrated feels more appropriate. Especially for the vastness of it. I mean, they say that the sun never set on the British Empire. They're pretty right. Yeah.

And within, I'm going to say, what was, let's see, partition was probably the first one that they lost, right? It was India. Well, all right. So it kind of depends on how you want to define things because there were territories that they had mandates over. Right. That ended in like the 20s of the 30s, but partition is 47. Right.

So their mandate ended, right. But they still had sway in that area, right? Okay. So I'm going to count it from basically anything after post-World War II because then they truly ended up letting go. Yeah, yeah. And they let go, they had to let go of like in rapid succession, a whole lot of places. Well, yeah. I mean, I kind of went down a list. Yeah. You know, India, Palestine, which was a mandate and then, you know, also 47 or 48. Right.

Uh, Malaysia, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Fiji, Sudan, Eritrea, like a whole bunch of places to Africa. Yeah. Like, like, like their whole African. Kenya most famously probably. Yeah. Kenya, Nigeria. Yeah. Yeah.

Nigeria. Uh, Ghana. Yeah. Yeah. Ghana was relatively early. Yeah. It was one of the first. Like, I was like, I want to say that was 50, but.

Something like it. Yeah. But anyway. So, yeah, they're just, like you said, disintegrating, I think, falling apart from, from the margins inward. Yeah. For them. So. Yeah.

Very much. And so, yeah. And so we see in the life of Brian, which, again, what we're talking about in this episode, in their portrayal of the Romans, we can see the, I think subconscious, because I don't think it's on the nose enough. Okay. To be conscious, kind of portrayal of the Romans as Britain and the Romans as British Empire. Yeah. And there's another reason that we're going to get into here in a minute why I think it was subconscious rather than conscious.

Okay. And so again, this is just to, you know, recap. This is 1979 that the movie comes out. So this is made in 7778. And the next faction in the film that I want to talk about is the People's Front of Judea. Okay. Kind of as the as they still have talked about the Romans now here's the group that most directly counters them right and so we we see the people's front of Judea for the first time at the end of

In my notes I say the opening scene, but it's technically not the opening it's the first scene after the credits After the opening credits And they're walking away from the sermon on the mount We're going to talk about the film's treat of that in a bit. Okay. But the leader of the people's front of Judea, and we don't know that that's who these people are yet, but we see this group of, you know, very, very intensely conversing

folks walking away. Right. And Reg. is saying, what Jesus doesn't seem to understand is that the meek are the problem. In that really great John Cleese, you know. Right. Delivery. And Michael Palin immediately chirps up, you know, as like the perfect, you know,

yes man. And one of these groups says, oh, great point, Reg, and they're all nodding and as they walk away. Right. And like you see that. And without any further context, it's just, oh, these are a bunch of, you know, theorist academic types, you know. People who want to sound smart. So they, you know, they're going to criticize. Right.

Right. So the next time we see them, they're sitting at the arena, arguing dogma. As Brian walks by selling snacks, which I mentioned in the last episode. Right. Another dig at the Romans, but again, only in a Romans were weird kind of way. You know, otters noses and wrens and tongues or something. Yeah. And he hears them, he hears them talking.

he immediately says, he asks them if they're the Judean People's Front and they react with horror and disgust. Piss off. Piss off. The only people we hate more than the Romans are the Judean People's Front, Splitters. Yeah. Because they are the People's Front of Judea. Right. Which leads eventually to them all shouting at the lone member of the Popular Front who's sitting a little ways away.

and they all shouted him Splitter Right And he just kind of turns Yeah Yeah And as we did Last episode

I want to kind of You know Analyze this one A little bit And so I'm going to put it up here In the chat And dear audience

You're not going to notice The gap Because we're going to pause things While we watch the scene Yeah Another Another good one Yeah

Yeah A lot. Yeah. Right. You're in. So. So describe again.

Brian is working for the audience. Is working for the Empire in the lowest form of doing so. He's selling concessions. They ask him if he has any nuts and he doesn't have those. He's just got all this other really whack-ass shit.

So they finally, they complain and then they buy the food anyway, which to me is just, again, this is the cornmeal that is thickening it all up, right? Right. And then he asks them if they're part of one group and they're pissed off that he would even dare identify them. It, you know, I'm not a socialist. I'm a communist.

Fuck you. You know, it's the left falling on itself, you know, setting up tables next to each other and being like, after this is done, you're going to be the first one against the wall when the revolution's over, you know, that kind of shit. And they go on and on and on. And one doesn't even know what group he's actually in. Right. And I really like that detail.

Yeah. And then yeah. And then that's, and then they yell at the, you know, whatever happened to the popular people's front, he's over there. And the fact that it's called the popular front and it's just one guy. Yeah. It's just again, so much. Yeah. Yeah.

So, you know, this is our formal introduction to them, right? This is when we first, you know, figure out kind of, you know, who they are or what they're about. Right. And this is also the moment where Brian first lays eyes on Judith. Judith, right. Judith is scarier, by the way. Yes. not to be confused with Judas

Iscariot Ascariot yeah And so there's also There's another moment in this scene That wasn't in the clip But that rewatching the film I had completely forgotten about this bit Since watching the film

Last time, you know, 20 years ago Sure But But before Brian walks up as the People's Front of Judea PFJ. I almost said Judean people's front. That would be unforgivable of me.

But as the members of the group are talking, there's an interesting moment where I think it's Palin turns to Eric Idol's character and asks him, why you always own about women? Oh yeah. It's anyone who identifies who identifies himself or herself or herself, right? Yeah.

And on and on. And, and yeah. And, and he, he admits to them that he wants to be one. Right. I want to be one and have babies. Right. And Palin and Sue Jones Davies, who's the actress playing Judas Iscariot. And the only female member of the PFT,

Jay, by the way. There's a joke about that later, too. Yeah. And eventually Brian's love interest, they both immediately assert their support for him. Right. And Reg, who is clearly kind of the alpha male, you know, leader kind of figure. He's the one who does the most talking and they all kind of defer to him. You know, he immediately balks at it and is like, how could we support him having babies when he doesn't have a wound?

Right. Where's it going to gestate in a ball? It's going to gestate, yeah. And the whole thing is played where suddenly Reg is like the common sense one, and the rest of them are all cloud cuckoo landers. Right. And eventually Palin kind of manages to find a compromise, you know, compromise language where you know we can be supportive of you know your right to do it yeah and it's nobody's

fault not even the Romans yeah yeah um and it's and it's played obviously because it's a comedy movie it's played for laughs but it's also played very much as um mockery of uh or satire of um identity within leftism. Yes. And what especially struck me was this particular way of it showing up when since a certain author made horrible remarks and has continued, has doubled and tripled and quadrupled down on all. terrible remarks, dehumanizing trans and intersex people.

Right. And Reg, in real life, John Cleese, has made remarks that aren't quite entirely supportive of her, but he has kind of tone-policed

other people who criticize her. He's kind of doing the, she has the right to be wrong. Yeah. kind of thing. The good liberal thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And John Cleese is like 82 now, right? Yeah. There's one of those things of like, at some point, you have to reckon with the fact that you've gone as far as you can go and you just don't feel like going further or you can't see your way to going further. But the next step to that needs to be. And so you shut up and retire. Yes. I'm cool with that.

I'm cool like, oh, this world has passed me by. I'm going to go back to the porch. Yeah. Like, okay, cool. You know, appreciate it. You're not getting anybody's way. But to come out and be like, well, I still have these old values. And, you know, and it's like, you know, that was all well and good when, God, so it's the 70s.

So for 50 years, the scholarship on transgender identity. and transsexual surgeries and on all the things that were tied into that in the 1920s had been destroyed right by the Nazis setting back all of the science by about a century because here we are yeah um and so they're 50 years afterwards and some of the it's not it's not a comedian's responsibility to keep up on the the bleeding edge of this kind of thing but But the fact that he can stake a claim to commonsensical thinking at that point is because sex and gender were still so inherently tied that the only real expression of transgender identity was transvestitism. Right. In the main.

I'm not saying it didn't exist. Of course it did. But in the main, that was the acceptable, understood expression of transgender. identity issues. So this becomes a lambast of all the folks on the right, or I'm sorry, all the folks on the left who get so into everybody having rights that they get into theoretical rights that biology would prohibit. Right. And in 1977, 78, 78, 79, I could understand them not actually, even though there were people who had sex change operations in the 60s. Right. I could understand them not giving breath to that because of how not in the main that was.

Yeah. Yeah. I just, again, it just struck me that this was the specific kind of, you know, how Cloud Cuckoo Lander are you, you know, that came up. And again, rewatching the movie, you know, last week. And being like, oh, wow, we are living in a different time now. Yeah, we've come farther. It's interesting, too, because what they're kind of suggesting, what Judith and I forget who else are suggesting to Loretta is that they're suggesting a change, like the recognition

that they're suggesting is the conciliatory, like, no, no, you, you. You have every right to want this. And currently the biology is not there for you. And, you know, they're kind of hinting at that. And Reg is just, you know, folding his arms and being very pissed about it. But what they're doing is they're laying the groundwork, the proto-linguistic groundwork for changing the terms that we see now. People who chest feed. People who are mothers.

Or no, not people who are mothers. People who bear children. people who menstruate. Right. Instead of saying women, women, women, or breastfeeders, women, women. Reg would absolutely be about breastfeeders, women, women. But Judith and person whose name I forgot are kind of laying the groundwork for, okay, well, let's open up our terms because then we don't ever have to argue this again.

If science catches up to what you need, you've already got it enshrined. And that's why I've always been fine with using that kind of language. It's like, you know, people who menstruate. Oh, okay, cool. So if any person who was assigned male at birth, who goes through affirmative care and so on, ends up menstruating, they will have the same rights because it's in the language of people who menstruate instead of women.

Right, right. And I prefer that, you know, but yeah. Yeah. Anyway, it's kind of like saying any previous, like in the 14th Amendment, any previous condition of servitude. Right. So they just put slaves, then people would have been like, well, he wasn't a slave. Oh, my God. We have to do this again.

Like, they're just, they're like, look, any previous condition. Any, you know. Yeah. Doesn't matter what it was. Right. Or doesn't matter what you choose to label it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And race or color or creed, you know, it's like, well, I'm not doing it because of his race. I'm doing it because of color. And that's not illegal. It's like, oh, my God. You know, like, that's why all that shit's in there. Yeah. So.

Yeah. So, but the, again, the core of the portrayal of the group is that they are these, you know, leftist huffing their own farts. Yes. You know. And so kind of defining, I think the defining bit for the PFJ is the planning meeting. You're already laughing. Yeah. So we're going to pause.

We're going to watch that one. All right. So you want to. Yeah, sure. So they're planning on kidnapping Pontch's pilot's wife. And then they're going to give Pontius Pilot, who is, I believe, the pro-consul of Judea? Yes.

They're going to give him two days to dismantle the entire Roman imperial infrastructure. Like, yeah. And then. And then, if he doesn't, they will send back a body part every hour on the hour to show that they're not to be trifled with and that they will not submit to blackmail. Yes. We will not submit to blackmail.

Which also, very important, the Romans bear full responsibility when the killer. Right. When we chop her up. Yeah. So there's that. And then he goes into the, what of the Romans ever done for us? And everybody has something to add because the Romans did a lot of shit. Yeah.

You know, and then it's like, okay, okay, okay. apart from the and then there's a whole litany of things that they did and then of course somebody says oh well you know this thing over here too brought peace I think but you know I do want to yeah shut up I do want to

come back to you know there's there's a couple things that they say they're like oh god we missed the wine and that's luxury goods sanitation oh god remember what this place was like before you know and then it's oh yeah and then

and, you know, they got rid of crime and public order, you know, it's like, yeah, they're, they're the only ones who really could, uh, bring order to this place. It's like, uh, yeah. So, but yeah, it ends with, you know, brought peace. Yeah. Um, and, you know, uh, we stopped it early, but there's a part where he's like, and not, there's not a single one among us who wouldn't gladly lay down his life. Well, well, there's, there's me. Well, yeah, okay. Apart from him, there's not a single one among us. Yeah. Yeah.

And so the PFJ Stand in for anti-colonialist and terrorist groups across the globe Who Like the 70s Like it started in the 60s But the 70s was when international terrorism Really picked up Like we got Munich.

The Munich Olympics is probably the biggest stage for it, right? Well, yeah. And that's actually the next thing I mentioned here in my notes is that in 1972, there was a major airliner hijacking by the Japanese Red Army. Oh, yeah, yeah.

And the hostage taking at the Munich Olympics. And so there was the troubles at the same time, there were the troubles going on in Northern Ireland that would have put sectarian and revolutionary violence

in the British news constantly. Oh, yeah, there was the attempt on the life of a rear admiral. Later on, there'd be an attempt on Maggie Thatcher's life. And there were plenty of bombings that actually were successful. And there was the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.

Right. The successful assassination of Lord Mount Patton. And so there's a lot of terrorism that got a lot of headlines internationally that was in one way or another associated with Palestinian resistance to Israel. And it's worthy of note that that's the case here because number one This is a story Taking place in the Roman province of Judea Right

And also because Palestine had been a British mandate Before all of this so this is this is a part of their empire That that has this going on And so there's a lot of imperialism in the Python's attitude as they depict the group. There's also a certain amount of, you know, aren't leftists, you know, silly. And, you know, depending on how much credence you want to give to it, like some of that does have a kernel of truth to it, like you mentioned before, the people with tables next to each other.

Right. You know, but it's consistently played for laughs. Right. And it's consistently being satirized. And the subtext for the PFJ is that they're motivated by, like you said, wanting to be the smartest people in the room. Yes. And by a kind of ingest. gratitude.

Like the, what have the Romans ever done for us? Here's a laundry list of shit the Romans did for you. Right. What, what have the British ever done for us? Well, you're a Kenyan,

so let me list off for you all the shit we did. You know, it could be played the same way. If it was, think of any anti-colonialist group, anywhere in the form. British Empire, you know, talking about the Brits.

And their attitude, again, goes very much back to what I said in the last episode about these guys having grown up and gone to school with textbooks that glorified the empire. And they grew up reading Kipling and the white man's burden. Right. And so when they see their textbooks, it's look at all the things we've done for them. Right. You know, we brought sewage and sanitation, which, again, in the early 1900s was, as friend of the show, Dr. Michael Van had pointed out, that is the sign of civilization is that you have sewers, right? But what's being left out of those textbooks is that, like, it's the same sewer as was started. in 1900.

Like they have not updated it at all. It's, aren't you grateful for this 50 year old dilapidated falling down structure that's actually like pooling underneath a lot of houses? Yeah. You know, literally same shit different day.

Yeah. And this is the Brits, not the Belgians, but even though they didn't. Taking everything. Yeah, even though they didn't take all the light bulbs with them when they left. Right. I will never get over. that detail.

Well, and it's funny too because, like, that that was the final fuck you to an incredibly extractive exploitation because, like, they, you know, oh, they didn't take the light bulbs. Yeah, but they took everything else, you know, like the British took everything else. Yeah. So, yeah, but you're right. You know, there's a, there's an extra layer of petty. Yeah. Um, yeah.

Uh, the fucking light bulbs. Mm-hmm. So, you know, and, and I. find it really interesting that we have this essentially very conservative kind of worldview showing up in the cracks

in the middle of this otherwise really subversive you know scary enough to get labeled as blasphemy film and

you know if you if you analyze it without having religious panic glasses on, it's really remarkable to me how very, I don't want to say pro-establishment, but that's the first phrase that comes to mind. You know, it's a very, very sympathetic to empire, if that makes sense. I think that there's some cover that can be drawn here for them,

and far be it for me to give Aiden comfort to, liberals. But the cover that you can draw here is they're making fun of everybody which I remember the lazy, edgy comedians were like

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody. You know? And like that that was through the 80s and 90s. And I think that there is something about that going on here though. Like they are making fun of everyone. Kind of similar to South Park. Yeah.

You know? it just happens to be that in making fun of everybody, you're supporting empire. Yeah. You know, you're both siding it. Right. Which I don't have much patience for both siding things,

but also a nuanced comedic look at these caricatures that they've created. You know, the thing is the PFJ is already, already deeply problematic. Right. So of course they're going to end up praising the very empire that they're trying to dismantle. It's like it's almost like they don't really understand why they're trying to dismantle it. They're just doing it out of instinct.

And the thing is they have every right to try to dismantle it. It's an empire that took over their area. Right. Enough said. Like you don't actually have to justify anything at that way. But yeah, there does seems to be. And again, you go back to interviews with John Cleese and you go back to, you know, they they don't like when people take themselves seriously at all.

The problem is there are certain groups who need to get a pass on taking themselves seriously. Yeah, I think that's a fair cop right there, I think so. But yeah, it does end up sounding very pro empire. Yeah. So at the very end of the movie, the other members of the P.S. FJ, uh, show up as, as Brian is being crucified and they praise him for his martyrdom and then, you know, leave him. And never, ever listen to him.

Yeah. They never listened to. That's the other thing. They, that, and that's, again, that's, um, critiques that I have heard leveled against my leftist friends, uh, not undeservingly sometimes is you're not listening to the people that you claim to be standing up for. you know and so they're thank you for being a martyr it's like fuck you I want to live could you cut me down yeah I don't want to be a martyr you know it reminds me of when

people were thanking teachers for being heroes six years ago yeah mm-hmm so yeah and so the pfj shows up and and thanks him for being a murder and then leaves then the Judean people's front suicide squad show up And they're all, and man, and you see them and you're like, oh, wait, hold on, this might be some kind of a twist ending. Because they all show up and they've got gear on. Yeah. Like they're, they're real militants. Yeah.

Yeah. They're real militants. They've got armor. They've got weapons. And they show up. Judean people's front suicide squad. Attack. And they open up windows in the front of their breast plates, stab themselves, keel over.

And one of them with this dying breath. says we really showed them yeah and and like obviously that's a response to you know real world terrorist attacks you know they're putting the cart before the horse though right yeah also it's a shout back to um it wouldn't have happened yet in judea but it's massad that's true the the hill that the Romans spent forever trying to take and then they all killed themselves

like you get a fire us we quit it's a called stat but also it's just a pun they're a suicide squad it's it's a not a pun it's a malapropism yeah yeah yeah so it's like oh they didn't understand the assignment yeah they're clearly very

dedicated, but they're not the brightest bulbs in the drawer. So, so yeah, that's, that's their take on the, on, on the PFJ and what I think they represent. And now I want to talk about religion, but really the, really the core of the film here, uh, religion and religious figures. So earlier, I said that I wanted to call something the first scene of the movie and then I remember it kind of wasn't because before. the credits even start at the beginning of the film. Yeah.

The cold open for the film is the three wise men. Mm-hmm. Uh, showing up and, um, they encounter, uh, there's, there's a baby and, uh, there's a woman, Terry Jones. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and they all show up and, and the, the mother of the baby is, is, is understandably, uh, frustrated and kind of flustered because who the hell are you? What are you doing in my manger? Like, what the hell? And they say, well, you know, there's, there's, we followed the star and this is, you know,

this is the, this baby is going to be the Messiah and whatever. She's like, what are you talking about? That's silly. What do you mean? And then they mentioned, we brought gifts. Oh, well, why didn't you say so? And all of a sudden she's all, you know, all smiles and all welcoming. Right. And they offer, you know, gold and frankincense. And then, you know, Mur. Me? Why, Mur?

Who brings a baby Mur? Who brings a baby me? And they, you know, and they get up and they walk out.

And she, you know, putters about, oh yeah, that was awfully nice, wasn't it? And then the door opens,

and all three of them come rushing in and they grab the gifts, they turn around and they leave, hurry. Doesn't one of them push her over, too?

Yeah. Yeah, shoves her out of the way. and they and they leave because they shut up at the wrong house. Right. You know, a star could only be so precise, right, and where it guides you to. Right. And so while, while Terry Jones as Brian's mother is left, you know, clucking and, you know, griping about, you know, how terribly rude they all were.

Right. We then we then cut away to go out into the street and then into, you know, a barn, you know, a couple of houses over. Right. And we have a beatific nativity scene that is, that is beautiful and serene and, you know, the glowing lights and all of that. And then the credits roll for the film. And then the very next scene. scene we see is 33 AD

around tea time right and and we see an actor portraying Jesus standing on a rock outcropping and he's preaching and anybody who has read the New Testament recognizes that this is the

sermon on the Mount and he's going through the beatitudes and the camera focuses on him and he is charismatic and the actor giving the portrayal is you know there is there is kindness there is all kinds of wisdom in his bearing and in the way he delivers everything and and the camera pans outward and you see the crowd and the camera keeps panning outward

and you see more of the crowd and you're getting farther and farther away and as that happens the audio is dropping out because you're getting farther and farther away until eventually we as the audience are at the very, very absolute back of the crowd and everybody is straining to try to hear what's going on and there are people shouting back from closer what they think they've heard.

Right. And... It's a bronze age telephone. Yeah. And a fist fight breaks out. Right. Because a couple of people Basically somebody tells somebody up

Would you would you shut up? I'm trying to hear And that leads to two dudes Getting into an argument that devolves into What I'm calling the other one big nose Right Right, I'll do you for that I'll do you for that

Blessed are the peacemakers And the line Blessed or the peacemakers Get transmitted back to the back of the crowd As these two guys are getting ready to get into a fist fight. And one of the members of the audience says, Blessed are the Cheesemakers?

It's not cheesemakers. Is anybody dealing with dairy products? And then in the next moment, there's a brawl breaks out. Right. And Brian and his mother have been standing at the back of the crowd the whole time, and his mother has been like,

come on, can we go to the stoning? Right. Can't hear anything anyway. This is boring. right and and so we see the sermon on the mount and and what is portrayed is is not the sermon on the mount it is all of the people listening to or trying to listen to the sermon on the mount and not getting it right not only not getting it like doing the literal fucking opposite yes starting a fist fight is is not just not getting it

Yeah. Yeah. And then of course, as we move to the next scene, as Brian and his mother move on to the next bit, this is, as I mentioned when we first see the PFJ and Reg is saying, what Jesus doesn't understand, of course, is that the meek are the problem. Right. With, you know, a whole other level of commentary on, you know, people's response to the teachings of Christ. Well, and also a revolutionary who is like, no, you know, it goes back to like leftist critique of, you know, people being subdued by the empire and voluntarily being subdued, right? So it's also doing that. Yeah.

Yeah. And the very next scene, they, they. They attend to stoning. And there are so many layers, so many layers to this scene. So first of all, women are not allowed to attend stonings. Right. And so Brian's mother has put on an elaborate fake beard. But isn't that also like there's a black market for that, right?

Like there's people buying beards? Well, no, they stop. She already has the beard on. Like there's a cut and she's put the beard on. And they're haggling with somebody who's selling stones. Right. And so they're backing and forthing and she keeps having to change your voice, which is funny to hear because it's Terry Jones alternately doing a falsetto to be Brian's mother

or then going into an exaggerated, you know, down here kind of voice. which like I mentioned Graham Chapman at the height of his powers I think this is some of the funniest shit Terry Jones ever did oh definitely honest to God and so so they're they're haggling about you know buying buying rocks to take to the stoning

right and then they get there and the whole crowd like Brian is the only actual male actual assigned male at birth there everybody else in the crowd is all women wearing beards. Right. So that they can stone someone. So that they can stone somebody.

This is not them declaring their identity. No. No, this is them. This is them putting on a costume to. Yeah. And John Cleese again. Because he's always the one that winds up playing the school teacher authority figure government official, right? Right.

Because it's absurd. Oh. So he is. in full Jesus Christ Superstar Pharisee outfit. Right. Like with the close fitting sleeves and the robe. The bedazzled front piece. Yeah.

The big hat. Yeah. All the decorations. They actually had one of the religious groups, Cleese mentioned the surprise that he had because they were, they were waiting for Christian groups to be mad. What he hadn't been prepared for was American or. Orthodox Jewish groups raising a massive stink

about his costume in this scene. Oh. Because it had something to do with the shawl. Okay. That he had on. But, you know, he looks like something out of Andrew Lloyd Weber, which is probably part of the issue. And so anyway, he's there and he has,

John Cleese has a fake beard on, but in this case, it's so he looks like one of the Pharisees. It's less, it's less obviously fake than the one. His character is not meant to have a fake beard. Yeah. Yeah.

And so, um, an old man gets dragged out and, and he's charged with blasphemy for saying the names, for saying Jehovah. Right. That the dinner was fit for Jehovah. Yeah.

This piece of fish was, was good enough for Jehovah. And, and as soon as has the old man says the word Jehovah Rock comes flying out of the crowd and hits him Right and and and John Cleese in absolute like pitch perfect substitute teacher Mode right

Who threw that? Yeah Back of the line Back of the line And his whole thing there is he's he's alternating between being this screeching zealous and a substitute teacher disciplining a class and which shines the light on how ridiculous this moment is. Right, right.

Yeah. And, you know, blasphemy. Yeah. You know, and any old man says Jehovah again. And like two rocks come out of the crowd and hit him. Right. And he whips around. And then Cleese says Jehovah gets hit with a rock.

And then the whole thing ends with him saying, right. Nobody's throwing a rock until I say so, even and especially if they hear the word Jehovah. Which, yeah. And then an avalanche of rocks got out of the crowd hitting him. and then a group pick up a boulder and carried over a drop in squirm. Yeah. Yeah. And like you said, it's it's this absolute send up of authority and religious zealotry.

And the fact that like there isn't really any outrage from the women in the crowd about the actual blasphemy. They just want to throw a rock at somebody. Yeah. Yeah, they're not for the religious aspect. They're there for taking part in a collective, well, scapegoating is not quite the right word, but you get the idea.

Yeah, yeah, collective punishment of the person who has been marked worthy of punishment. Right. Yeah. And so, so in all of these cases that we're talking about, well, the birth scene is not quite fitting with the rest of them, but the back of the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount and the stoning scene, I think are both really important for looking at because religion or faith isn't what's being lampooned. No.

Christianity particularly is not what's being lampooned. No. Human foibles are what's being lampooned. I would even go so far as to say dogma is what's being lampooned. Yes. Dogma and people's hypocrisy in clinging to dogma or in using dogma to justify their own bad behavior. Right. You know, in the sermon on the mount scene, it's just.

you know, you're not really hearing what the guy's saying. And you are, as you said, you are acting in the exact opposite way of what it is that you're supposed to be learning, right? There is, there is an aspect of this that is, it reminds me of what, um, there's an author, Jason Pargin. Um, and it goes by David Wong. He, he has a few social media channels and he talks about things. And he points out that the Joker in the Nolan series has people who work for him. And there's a clear structure. This guy who, like, you know, is chaos incarnate.

He has a structure that's so rigid that, like, everything goes perfectly for him to do the things that he wants to do with, you know, with Batman and all that. and he says that doesn't exist without like an internal structure that polices itself which basically means joker has an hr department like there have been people who were sent home probably who who came wearing the wrong mask that day and it's like no no no we're we're going to get in the slaughter van and do this like just go home pete just like there are going to be people who you know they they had to call in sick they're you know and just like all this kind of things he's like this is not the the amount of planning that this required is going to require so much

infrastructural um uh infrastructure like in uh energy support um and he speaks to the mundanity of it all and that's what i loved about this movie is that you've got sermon on the mount very important thing to Christians um shows up in so important it shows up in two of the gospels, right? Oddly, not the other two, but whatever. But, like, very important to Christians. And if there's a huge crowd, of course there's going to be people in the back who are half listening.

Of course there's going to be people in the back. Like, you were bringing them mundane back to the supernatural here. Like, of course there's going to be people who go there and disagree with him but don't have an audience with Jesus. Of course there's going to be people who are like, wait, shut up. I can't hear. You know, and the same thing's true for the stoning. It's such a normal component of life in that time and place that, yeah, there's going to be people who are like, I'm just here to throw rocks, man.

And then, and then and then. And so, you know, they're taking it out to its absurd end. But they're honestly, they're just looking at the mundane underpinnings of these things. that people have come to take as gospel. So, yeah. And that in itself is absurd. It's kind of like when Weird Al turns a song into a polka. He doesn't change any of the lyrics.

He just puts it to a polka. And it's so much dumber as a result. You know, turns out I'm sexy and I know it as a polka. It's really stupid song. And it's kind of the point. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, that's a great. I like that analogy. So now the next, the next bit, because you, you, in the last episode, you said you're going to talk about the whole Messiah thing, right? Mm-hmm. And yes, I am. So, oh, dear, this scene. Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

So, so. So the PFJ goes through with their plan to try to kidnap Pilots wife. And, and Brian having impressed the mole. with his graffiti at the threat of castration it gets brought along as part of the operation and the plan falls apart

because the PFJ shows up at the same time as the campaign for free Galilee and they argue about whose idea it was and in the middle of them arguing about whose idea it was the guards

catch them and Brian winds up getting knocked out and he gets captured. Well, hang on. You're skipping over a very important part. We should all be struggling together against our common enemy. And they all stop and go

the Judean people's front? First against the wall when the revolution comes. It's just like, oh my God. You're all insufferable. Yes. So then, yeah, Brian, yeah. Yeah, Brian gets captured.

And that's what then leads to him being thrown to the floor, throw him to the floor violently. You know, and he escapes. Right. And in the process of escaping, he gets into a marketplace where there's a bunch of profits. you know street kind of

kind of prophesying wait doesn't he run into aliens he does prior to that okay there's there's a bit where in a Gilliam yeah you know

uh yeah there's there's a bit where he does get picked up by aliens yeah and then dropped off right at the same spot and then dropped off right right where he had been before yeah but he winds up in a marketplace and in this marketplace there's a bunch of

There's a bunch of prophets, you know, prophesying and, you know, doing their thing. And he hops up on a platform and begins trying to... He falls down onto the platform. He knocks the other guy off. Oh, yeah. So he brings a message from above. Yeah. And, and he begins, you know, as the Romans get close, he starts kind of, you know,

trying to relate bits that he half remorse. members from two days before. Right. At the sermon on the Mount. And the Romans, you know, take him for, you know, another one of the crackpots and they, and they walk away. And he, he tapers off. As he's watching the Romans walk away, they get far enough away that he doesn't have to

keep up the act anymore. And so he just lets his voice taper off. And the moment he stops talking, he gets the attention of like three or four people in crowd who were like, well, what? What's the secret? What, you know, tell us, tell us, no, I don't know, leave me alone. You know, and he's just trying to make his escape. And they start following him.

And within a matter of moments, he has attracted a following. Right. He has been credited independently of anything he said with having the secret to eternal life, which everybody wants to. to hear now. And as he, you know, more and more frantically, because again, Graham Chapman being frantic is the whole core of this film, as he ever more frantically tries to get away, he wound up knocking something down off of a stand, off of a vendor's stand.

He has the gourd because he'd already had to bargain. Right. And so he's got the gourd. And that drops. and his sandal comes off. Right. Yeah. So like you said, within a matter of moments, he's got a following.

And now it's its first schism. Yes. Yes. And in my notes, it's his attractive following, his followers, schism moments later between those who carry his gourd and those who bear his sandal. Right. And he tries, again, frantically to convince him he's not the Messiah, but they refused to believe him.

Right. Only a true Messiah would deny his Messiahhood. All right then. I am the Messiah. He is the Messiah. Now fuck off. How? How should we fuck off, my Lord?

I don't know. And so this is... Wait, you're not going to talk about his first miracle? Oh, remind me of that particular... There was a man who hadn't spoken in 20 years. Yeah. And he hadn't spoken because he was an aesthetic living in a pit. Yeah.

And people who catch up to Brian, right as the guy is saying, I haven't talked in 20 years and you come along. And basically, he's like, you ruined it. Yeah. And they're like, he cured this man. He's like, no, he didn't cure him. An unbeliever. And they kill the guy.

They kill the guy. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So. Yeah. You have your first schism. You have your first pogrom.

Yeah. Yeah. Kind of a crusade in a way. Of course they're, you know, he's made the juniper bush bear fruit. It's, of course they're juniper berries. It's a juniper bush. What are you on about? Yeah.

And so like, The core statement, if there's any kind of a statement that this movie is trying to make, this sequence is the movie's thesis. And again, again, it's not about faith. Right. It's certainly not about Christ because Christ doesn't appear anywhere in this scene. Like Jesus is not even in the background here. It is about the development of dogma. Yes.

And the misunderstanding and sometimes the intentional misunderstanding of of received wisdom. Right. And I genuinely think that this is the sequence within the movie that is the most overtly subversive. And the funny thing is, I don't

think that this is the scene that led to religious leaders having an issue with the movie. I think some of them looked at it and went, I don't like that, but I don't think it was

what led to the campaigns to have the movie banned. Okay. So you've piqued my interest. So, I mean, I would imagine it's the end of the film, right? It's the tremendous hilarity with which they treat the thing that Christians like base everything on. Yeah.

Yeah. That's central to so much theology. Yeah. And is the source of so much dogmatic arguing between Christian groups. by the way. So the movie ends, spoiler alert with Brian on the cross. He gets recaptured by the Romans.

And he's set to be executed. Judith manages to convince the crowd to call for Brian to be released. Right. Now, before this has happened, the crowd, the crowd throws names at the Roman official at Pontius Pilate.

they they throw names at him that involved the R sound because he has a speech impediment and the crowd is laughing their asses off. Yeah. Listening to him, you know. Louise Waterwick. Yeah. Yeah. Boyan.

Will we wrote Willis. Willis, Bois. Right. And so she finally manages to get to get him to call for Brian. to be released and then they they you know unfortunately he's already on the cross and right and they show up to you know get brian down uh they have a a a send up of the no i am spartica's scene right right everybody says no i'm brian and they wind up taking the wrong brian down yeah yeah and because the reason they end up taking brian is because brian is not focused on listening to the messenger who's

coming to find out he's focused on yelling at the PFJ. Yeah. You bastards, you did it. So he completely misses his chance. Yeah. Yeah. And so he's there

giving into despair. Right. And Eric Idol on the cross next to him. Cheer of, Brian. Yeah. Life is quite absurd and death's the final word. He must always face the with a bow

and goes into a rousing musical number always look on the bright side of life and number one yes I think you're right this probably was the sequence that had many religious leaders

angry at the film but the thing is the crucifixion itself is not being mocked no Christ's death on the cross is not being mocked.

No, this was a corporate crucifixion. Like, there were like 20 plus people. Oh, yeah. crucified that day. Yeah. Yeah. This is not Christ and two others. Yeah.

Yeah. And so, but the fact that, well, you know, you have a musical number at the crucifixion, number one. Number two, I think, I think. I think there was a level of discomfort or a level of disgust. I don't know what to describe it as. But when you go from a depiction of the sermon on the mount, right, to less than five minutes later,

a male actor portraying a one, woman about to give a blowjob to a Roman soldier. Right. The proximity between a depiction of Jesus and a dick joke, basically. I think the frequency with which that kind of stuff happens in the movie is really it. It is just the fact that, no, no, this is broadly subversive. And Jesus is somehow involved. Yeah, and I really, even though it's being played straight.

Yeah. The Jesus stuff is all played straight. Yeah. But the stuff that's happening around it, the miz and sin is, is absurd. Yeah, is absurd and body and. And to send out. Yeah. Yeah.

And so despite the fact that the teachings of Christianity are never satirized. Christ is never satirized. never satirized. None of that happens, but the movie got a really negative reaction. Right. And it was banned in Italy, Ireland, and Norway on its release. Wow. Specifically for blasphemy.

Was Norway because they were still mad over the moose bites? Maybe. I don't know. mind you moose bites are nasty but Swedish posters for the film this was a detail I didn't I didn't know until I started researching for this

Swedish posters for the film actually said so funny it was banned in Norway oh that's great yeah in the United Kingdom the national rating board gave it a 14 plus age rating which, I mean, you know, the profusion of sex jokes and other crewy, like, okay, I can understand that. But local authorities.

So the national board said 14 plus, but in 11 different localities, local authorities banned it. Oh, wow. And 28 more gave it a higher age rating. So it doesn't matter what the national government says in this town, you need to be 18. or in this town you're not watching it so the film came out in 1979 which we've

established already notably that is the same year Margaret Thatcher won the election for prime minister her platform Thatcherism her movement her ideology

wedded social conservatism to free market economics in very much the same way that Reaganism did. Okay. Yeah. Now, here in the United... It's interesting.

Here in the United States, there was much more overt courting of the religious right and there was much more overt action on the part of the religious right. Mm-hmm. It's more spectacular. Yeah, it's more spectacular.

I was going to say there was more policy in England. Yeah. that hurt people that the religious right liked seeing hurt. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so supporters of Thatcherism railed against a permissive society.

And one of one of Thatcher's supporters, another member of parliament named Norman Tebbett gave a speech in 1985. And he described this permissive. permissive culture as bad art was as good as good art. Grammar and spelling were no longer important. To be clean was no better than to be filthy. Good manners were no better than bad. Family life was derided as an outdated bourgeois concept. Criminals deserved as much sympathy as their victims.

Many homes and classrooms became disorderly. If there was neither right nor wrong, there could be no basis for punishment or reward. violence and soft pornography became accepted in the media. Thus was sown the wind and we are now reaping the whirlwind. Which, I mean, you listen to that and that's basically any social conservative in any era ever in human history. I was like, yeah, kind of Mather called. Oh, oh, I'm trying to think. Increase isn't praying hard enough, you know.

Yeah. Like, you know, and so there's, I don't want to argue. I don't want to try to make the argument without real solid evidence, which I don't have. But I think there is something in 1978 into 79, or 79 into 80 certainly. within Britain, the labor government shot themselves in the foot because they could have held a general election in 77. I believe it was. Well, I covered that with the Watership Down. There were some really contentious, like, very close elections that kept happening in that time.

Like, in fact, you had the person who, the person who. who won or the person who became prime minister was not of the winning party because there was a lot going on in the 70s. Yeah. And in the 60s. Like it was rattling apart. Yeah. Yeah.

The post-war consensus was starting to fray. Uh-huh. And so the post-war consensus and what conservatives would refer to as the nanny state, you know, of everything that had been going on since the war. Disatisfaction with that became, I believe, was allowed for a shift in social attitude toward a more morally conservative outlook. Yeah. Yeah. And so this movie came.

out and oh my god the outrage which might not have been there 10 years earlier right but because of that shift because of that dissatisfaction with liberalism with you know labor with left kind of ideas right um i think that primed that primed some people to be more likely to be out And it primed people who would have been outraged anyway to be louder about their outrage. Yeah. It empowered them to be more vocal. That's that's kind of my take as in terms of like when, when this happened and how that response occurred.

Now, Thatcher herself got into theological arguments and this kind of gets, and this kind of to the underlying conservative attitude here in 1988 in a speech called the Sermon on the Mound which I mentioned when I talked about

Warhammer 40,000 right with thatcherism she mentioned that or she argued that quote Christianity is about spiritual redemption

not social reform the full shift from God's coming, so we'd better get this right, to God's going to pluck you up. Right. That was the crystallization of it in so many ways. The secular humanistic approach toward God is all about social justice. It went from God as imminent to God is eminent.

Yes. I like that phrasing. Thank you. I'm sure I got that from somebody else. But it works. Yeah. And Thatcher then quoted Paul to justify the idea in a common and egregious misreading of his message. He, who does not work, shall not eat.

Right. Which, you know, supposedly Christian libertarians and what have you, like to quote that passage entirely out of the rest of, the context of the entire chapter in which it occurs. But so the same year that Thatcher was elected here in the United States, the moral majority was founded by Jerry Falwell and Paul Weirich. Let's not forget the role that Anita Bryant played in a lot of this shit. Oh, let's not. Indeed.

You are more expert on that. Yeah, that, daffy bitch. Um, so she, uh, she, she absolutely lightning rotted things. Um, you know, honestly, it's, yes, those guys should get all of the, the, the, the oil poured on them and stuff. But Phyllis Schlafly and Anita Bryant both were the ones that were like cutting and sewing the eye holes in the clan robes kind of thing, you know? Oh, 100%. Yeah. So, yeah, the, the two of them. But like Anita Bryant for being super anti-gay, Phyllis Schlafly for being like super regressive politically. Yeah. Yeah.

They absolutely empowered. And they were, I would say they were at the very least, the lubricant of the machine that became the moral majority. Yeah. Yeah. And so, so the moral majority here in the United States,

the moral majority worked over. overtly to throw congregations and, you know, religious groups behind the Republican Party. Yeah, because they finally had a candidate who was, oh, wait, the evangelical candidate was the Democrat. Yeah, it had been. Anyway, yeah. But they didn't like him because he was the wrong kind of evangelical. call because they wanted to resegregate schools. Like at the end of the day,

it was that. So yeah, well, yeah, 100% for for way rich and well, I mean, they use the scrim. Yeah, they use the scrim of anti-abortion rhetoric. Yeah. To charge people up. And then it's like, okay, now it's private.

So what's interesting about that in the little bit of reading I did about that for this. Falwell initially, I think it was Falwell, initially didn't want to pick up on the abortion issue. No, he thought it was a losing issue.

Yeah. It was, yeah. So in any event, and so there isn't a parallel kind of organization being formed in the UK at this time and trying to find anything about,

you know religious conservatism in the UK is is kind of harder to at least in the amount of research that I was able to get done on this then it's harder to kind of pin down. Interestingly there's there's a lot of stuff about evangelical Protestant groups in Northern Ireland yeah that's kind of a trip. Yep. Oh, yeah. But you know like I said

The shift toward more conservative ideas and the religious conservatism that goes with them is clearly a thing. Oh, yeah. And I think when the film came out, that was a big part of what fueled the level of outrage. and what's interesting is so the film came out and all of this outrage happened and Cleese and Palin had to

sit there and take a bunch of shit from guys on a talk show and then 10 years later the film was re-released and none of that happened like nobody batten an eyelash. They didn't have the protests. They didn't have the people standing out in front of the theater handing out pamphilus about damnation.

None of that happened. They did have some towns just quietly ban it since 1979. The town of Aberystwyth. Embarrassed it with that. Yeah. That was in 79, yeah. Yeah, they banned it and they kept that band. Oh, yeah, they maintained it.

Yeah. Do you know who got rid of that band? I had her name up here. The actress who played Judith Iskariot became mayor. Yeah. Yeah. So, by the way, do you know who played Jesus in that movie? I didn't write it down.

I saw it. Emerald Piet. Oh, shit. That's why he was familiar. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. That's some range, man.

That's some range. So, yeah, my own take on the film is as somebody who is an adult convert to Catholicism, I genuinely think that the life of Brian should be required viewing for anybody going through our CIA. Yeah. Right of Catholic indoctrination for adults. Okay. I really think it should be required viewing because it treats Christ and Christianity with deep respect. But it also points out all of the traps that's really easy for you to fall into when you dedicate yourself to following a faith.

following the one true faith. Like there's there the marketing kind of creates that problem. Yeah. Monotheism doesn't lend itself very well to pluralism. To pluralism. Yeah. It's true. It really doesn't. Let's get a problem.

I remember reading about like missionaries' frustration with doing mission work in China. And their complaint was the Taoists just don't get that like, you have to choose Christianity only. They keep going like, no, no, that's good. That's good. We'll add that to the Dow. It's like, no, no, you can't. You can't.

Oh, okay, okay, okay. But we'll just add it to the Dow. Oh, yeah. You know, the adaptations of Christianity in Asian settings is a fascinating topic. Yes. when Japanese Christians

wound up being isolated from the rest of Christendom for several hundred years they actually wound up forming a related but very different faith that synthesized

through Christian ideas and Christian lore into a very Shinto framework. work and and their rituals a couple of hundred years later um are almost unrecognizable. Mm-hmm. So yeah, no, the idea, the idea of Taoists going, oh, yeah, no, that's clearly that's part

of the Tao. I can see that. That makes sense. No, you, you, you, you, you have to give up all of that other shit. This, this is it. Right. Yeah. well that's clearly not the Dow.

I don't know what you're talking about, man. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, you go back to, you know, one of the reasons that you have that like, the zeal of the converted or the, I'm taking hyper-offence is because, you know, you walk the one true path and therefore anything outside of that.

If somebody's of a certain temperament, there is no room for pluralism. there is no room for tolerance. There is only, you know, zeal. There is no. Yeah. There is no play friend. There is only zeal.

Nice. Thanks. So, yeah, that's pretty much what I've got. Yeah. And aside from what we just said, what do you take away? Let's see. I remember there's a story that they told about how they even came up with Life of Brian as, a story and it was because they were being asked they were exhausted and angry and grumpy a lot

because of Monty Python on the Holy Grail the the costuming the weather everything was just so shit that somebody asked them like you know are you going to make another movie yeah yeah yeah what's it going to be on the life and time of Jesus Christ and that's what the impetus that's the inciting incident. That's so very on brand. Yes. Yeah.

So, yeah. But anyway, that's, that's, that's what I take from it. Well, that's not what I'm taking from it. What I'm taking from it is, thank God I'm an atheist. Okay, fair. You know, it just, I don't, I can't imagine

taking something as offensive when it's clearly meant in good fun. Like, it would be one thing. Like, I'm just trying to, yeah, I just, I mean, don't give me wrong. I think movies, comedies especially, satires, they absolutely outkick their coverage eventually, right? They absolutely, they absolutely fall out of favor. with the culture as a culture shifts because comedy is cultural dependent right yeah we've talked about just before about how blazing saddles is not as funny as it used to be because we're a different

people and so on and so forth and the things that you would shock are now simply offensive and and yeah and that that's fine um and yet i can't see being offended at a movie like uh uh for Brian because, I don't know, maybe it's because I'm not part of that group, but also because they're not doing anything that shocking. It's a guy trying to join a group and being sold down the river by that group. That's not very shocking, you know, it's, yeah, they're not using, the one part is where he's going off on all the different words that are used to describe Jews in pejorative ways but the concede is that he is in the in-group on that right so even that but yeah so yeah i don't know i i i can't imagine i can't i can't understand why people got their panties all up in a twist about

that and ended up banning that movie that's so dumb no full agree yeah so uh what are you gonna what are you gonna recommend for folks um i'm going to recommend the people go out and watch Monty Python's Life of Brian just because, like I said, I think it ought to be required viewing for anybody who is a believer.

And even if you're not, it's just a goddamn funny movie. Yeah. Yeah. I think there are a lot of places where everything about the Python troop in this movie is running on all cylinders.

And so it's It's just, it's way too much fun not to watch. Yeah. How about you? I'm going to recommend a book by, I've recommended this before, by Christopher Moore called Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood, Pal. It was one of the first books that really gave me cause to pause and recognize why people, really feel a great deal of love toward that character.

And just the betrayal of Judas and the rage that that brings about in, you know, the characters. And also just there's so much good stuff there. Very, very subversive, very tongue-in-cheek. But it's basically like, you know, what is it? Jesus is born and then we don't really get anything until he comes to start doing his ministry, right? Right. So this book covers all that ground, which is pretty cool. And it's basically the conceit is he's hunting down the three wisemen.

So he has to go back east. He ends up like getting as far as India. Like there's just all kinds of shit that happens. Then he comes back and does his ministry and it really flies. out the disciples quite a bit. Nice. Yeah. Where can we be found?

We can be found on the Apple podcast app, on the Amazon podcast app, on Spotify, and now on YouTube. Any one of those places, please subscribe. Please make sure to give us the five-star review that you know we deserve. And of course, we have always been findable. Is that a word findable? Yeah, you have always been able to find us on our website at wabababwabwabwobah. wba.gikhistorytime.com. And where can you be found, sir?

First Friday of every month, Sacramento Comedy Spot 9 p.m. You can find me and the rest of the crew, Justine, Emily, and four guests, the rest of the crew of capital punishment, slinging puns, spinning wheels, and making people laugh. Come see us on, if you can, come see us on June 5th in July 3rd and August. seventh. It's going to be a rocking good time. We've got some really good guests. Yeah, there's just, I know the lineups for each

one of them, and they're just fucking bangers. Awesome. Yeah. Well, for a geek history of time, I am Damien. And I'm Ed, and until next time, I am not the Messiah. He's just a naughty boy.