Top 10 Censored Monty Python Moments

#10: Holy Grail Violence

Gore in movies is often a contentious issue, with countless people arguing against gratuitous violence in cinema. By today’s standards, “Holy Grail” isn’t too controversial, as the bloodshed is excessively ridiculous, being done primarily for humour. In 1975, it was a bold decision, and the British Board of Film Censors wasn’t fond of it. They sent the Pythons a letter in 1974 requesting that it be massively toned down, specifically mentioning the scene where A. J. P. Taylor gets his throat slashed. They were also concerned about the Black Knight scene after a concerning investors’ screening. Thankfully, general audiences found test screenings sidesplitting, and even requested more violence, so the Pythons got their way.

#9: Gangrene

Terry Gilliam’s animations are a staple of Monty Python, found in almost all their projects. Aesthetically, they can be pretty creepy, but that never caused major backlash. One titled The Prince and the Black Spot did cause quite a stir, on account of the word “cancer.” It shows a prince dying of cancer, which people found so insensitive that the BBC redubbed the scene, changing it to “gangrene” instead. This remained the case for their DVDs, but the Blu-Rays feature the original sketch. It’s not like people can’t die of gangrene, but in today’s era, cancer is far more common, so the decision makes sense.

#8: Party Political Broadcast

Monty Python’s humour frequently had political undertones, but it was rare that they would directly mention real politicians. That wasn’t the case for their “Flying Circus” sketch, Party Political Broadcast (Choreographed). They depicted both Edward Heath and Harold Wilson in this bit’s closing animation. It’s unclear when the BBC decided to cut it, but they thought it would influence a general election, so they opted to edit it out. This makes it an especially difficult sketch to find, as it wasn’t included on the majority of releases, with it even being absent from the Netflix version.

#7: Silly Bunt

One of the earliest sketches censored from “Flying Circus” was the Travel Agent Sketch. It features Eric Idle playing Mr Smoke-Too-Much, who has a speech impediment that makes him pronounce the letter C as B. This leads to a handful of lines where he would have sworn if not for his impediment, which broadcasters weren’t happy with. The full version was performed in “Monty Python’s Previous Record” and “Live at the Hollywood Bowl.” The original, uncensored sketch is a bit harder to come by, as it was cut from most broadcasts, but was included on certain DVD releases.

#6: David Frost’s Phone Number

In the Pythons’ era, David Frost was a massive name in satire. In 1967, he launched “The Frost Report”, which was the TV debut of John Cleese and the two Ronnies. Despite how much he aided Cleese’s career, the troupe didn’t shy away from poking fun at him. This led to the first-ever censorship of “Flying Circus,” after they included Frost’s real phone number in the series one sketch, The Mouse Problem. Most viewers likely assumed it was fake, but quite a few people gave it a shot anyway, resulting in Frost getting an abundance of calls. So, the number was removed from later broadcasts.

#5: Series 3 Censorship

After the conclusion of series 2, the BBC was disgruntled by a couple of sketches. Specifically, The Queen Will Be Watching and The Undertaker’s Sketch. This meant that when producing series 3, they were way more critical of their sketches. They didn’t censor too much from the series in the end, but the BBC typed up their “Thirty-Two Points of Worry,” which included all their gripes with the series. According to Terry Jones, some of those points were complete nonsense, showing they’d barely paid attention. One example was the Curry’s Brains sketch, which includes a severed leg, but the BBC mistook it for something far more explicit.

#4: The Undertaker Sketch

This was easily the most outlandish sketch from the series 2 final. It was so risky that the BBC nearly blocked it from being made completely. It shows Cleese taking his deceased mum to Chapman, who is playing an undertaker. The humour comes from the pair discussing eating her remains. The BBC said they’d only let them make it if they promised to include a clearly displeased studio audience. Fire regulations made this challenging, causing the BBC to be so dissatisfied that they deleted the sketch completely. It wouldn’t return to screens again until 1985 when it was released on VHS.

#3: “Life of Brian” Bans

Whether “Life of Brian” is heretical or blasphemous is a heavily debated topic. The flick is famously critical of organised religion, specifically Christianity, which it doesn’t hold back from satirising. This outraged countless Christians, leading it to be straight-up banned in many regions. 11 local councils in Britain forbade it, with Glasgow maintaining these restrictions for 3 decades. It was additionally completely forbidden in multiple countries, such as Ireland, Norway, and Italy. It didn’t stop being controversial in the 80s, either. In Germany in 2013, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia began issuing fines of 1,000 euros for screening the picture on Good Friday.

#2: Wee-Wee Wine Tasting

This next scene from series 3 was so loaded with toilet humour that even John Cleese requested it be cut. The Wee-Wee Wine Tasting sketch was conceived by Idle and Palin, and as its name suggests, it’s about drinking urine. It shows Jones and Idle wine tasting, with the joke being they’re actually drinking wee. One of those glasses is pink, too, which the BBC was far from happy with, on account of the implications. In the end, it was cut and has now been lost entirely. Maybe someday it will be recovered, but we’re probably not missing much.

#1: The ABC Lawsuit

“Flying Circus” took a few years to take off across the pond, largely on account of how bizarre Americans found its sense of humour. This led to “And Now For Something Completely Different” turning into a bit of a flop stateside. In 1975, ABC began to broadcast it in the US, but decided to edit it extensively. They removed tons of gags, including a clip of someone in a wheelchair, in order to minimise offense. This made them feel so disjointed that the Pythons took legal action. A lawsuit was filed, and the Pythons amazingly won, giving them complete control over American broadcasts of their series.



Were there any other censored or deleted moments we didn’t mention today? Let us know in the comments below!

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