# Holy Grail vs. Life of Brian **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-grail-vs-life-of-brian/342524 "2006-02-01T17:33:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-grail-vs-life-of-brian/342524/101 "2006-02-09T15:43:57Z")
> [@Airblairxxx](#): > > Seriously, it’s just my opinion. Lighten up. Sorry, that was overly peevish about me. When someone says “you don’t like it because you don’t get it” (which you did not, I realize), it always gets under my skin to an irrational level. The “you’re missing the point” comment pushed the same button – my problem, not yours. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-grail-vs-life-of-brian/342524/102 "2006-02-09T15:49:45Z")
> [@mrklutz](#): > > …overly peevish about me… Gah! Overly peevish _of_ me. Need more coffee… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-grail-vs-life-of-brian/342524/103 "2006-02-09T18:38:26Z")
> [@Airblairxxx](#): > > The short throws off the entire movie. Take it out and what’s left may be more coherent. (I haven’t seen the whole thing in several years; I’m irked that it was recently on HDNet and I didn’t record it.) I still don’t understand what you mean when you say the short makes the rest of the movie less coherent, although generally speaking, “coherent” is not a word I would apply to that movie in the first place. And I don’t mean that as criticism: it’s the standard Python comic anarchy, an episode from the TV series with a big budget. But blaming that on the short makes as much sense to me as blaming the quality of a movie on the Bugs Bunny short that preceded it. ---
**Author:** ![\_Ava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/43a26b/32.png) [@\_Ava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Ava)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-grail-vs-life-of-brian/342524/104 "2006-02-10T05:05:09Z")
It’s an impossible choice. I used to pick Life of Brian because it made fun of religious fanatics without being mean spirited. I loved Holy Grail since all the midnight movies in high school so it has the fun memories, and the making-fun-of-medieval-England part is funnier the more I know about medieval England. Those guys were just so smart! Holy Grail has the better extras on the DVD (funnier commentary and the cool documentary where Palin and Jones revisit the sites). (My favorite Python SCENE is “every sperm is sacred” from The Meaning of Life–if that isn’t an absolutely perfect comic bit, I don’t know what is.) ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-grail-vs-life-of-brian/342524/105 "2006-02-10T05:26:36Z")
FWIW, I understand that Life of Brian has a serious message in the humor. I just don’t care. I laughed harder (and still do) for Holy Grail, which, if you want to impart a theme, points to the utter silliness of Arthurian & Mideval world and beliefs. But I watch it for the comedy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-grail-vs-life-of-brian/342524.md?page=5)