A Monty Python Quote Was Used to Block a Controversial Sitcom Mural

Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a very quotable movie, as evidenced by the fact that the world’s richest man recently used an excerpt from its climactic song to explain why losing more than a hundred billion dollars isn’t such a big deal. And now one of the film’s most memorable lines has been used to obfuscate a controversial art piece in Australia.

For those of you not keeping track of local news stories in New South Wales, visual artist Michael Agzarian recently made headlines for creating a mural depicting several local politicians and billionaires as Nazis and displaying it in the window of his ad agency. He defended the piece by suggesting that it was merely meant to be a parody of the characters from the 1960s POW camp sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. One of the politicians, Riverina MP Michael McCormack, clearly isn’t buying that explanation; he called the mural “beyond disgraceful” and urged the police to investigate. 

While the cops found that no laws had been broken, the mural was briefly blocked from view this week by anonymous protesters who placed a banner over the shop window. What was on the banner? A quote from Jesus Christ — or, more specifically, a misinterpretation of a Jesus quote: “Blessed are the Cheesemakers.” 

This is, of course, a reference to the beginning of Life of Brian, in which a group of people at the back of the crowd gathered to witness the Sermon on the Mount struggle to hear what Jesus’ saying. After mishearing “peacemakers” as “cheesemakers” one observer suggests that Jesus’ words aren’t meant to be taken literally, as they clearly refer to “any manufacturers of dairy products.”

It’s unclear what message the folks behind the mural were intending to convey by referencing the Pythons’ Biblical parody. Although it blocked the mural, perhaps it was a message of support, suggesting that its critics, not unlike the characters in Life of Brian, were somehow missing the point? 

In any case, this quote in particular has taken on something of a life of its own since the film came out. There have been books and musical artists named “Blessed Are the Cheesemakers,” and just this week, several folks on social media used this exact phrase to celebrate Susan Crawford’s win in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election.

And one Anglican priest even used the “cheesemaker” joke as his entry point for discussing the sermon on the mount during a church service.

This turn of events would have been hard to fathom to anyone in the 1970s, when religious leaders were claiming that Life of Brian was “produced in Hell.”