Celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Monty Python comedy classic "Life of Brian" are being somewhat overshadowed by the health news of member Terry Jones.
Jones is "very robust" although "on the downhill slope" due to dementia, according to his friend and colleague Michael Palin. Jones was diagnosed in 2015 with a form of dementia that impairs the ability to speak.
"I go and see him and the great satisfaction is just to get a reaction; sadly, he doesn't speak much. But I read him some stuff that we'd written together a long, long time ago and Terry actually started to laugh at it, and he laughed only at the bits that he'd written," Palin recalled in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
"Life of Brian," which Jones directed, is being feted with a worldwide re-release on Friday. It is among the group's revered 45 TV comedy episodes, five films and a blockbuster Broadway musical.
When "Life of Brian" came out four decades ago, it was a huge hit, but also stirred controversy because of its plotline: It was about a man named Brian Cohen who was born in the stables next to Jesus and mistaken for the Messiah. Palin played Pontius Pilate with a speech impediment.
"We didn't get death threats, we just got people who were deeply, deeply offended by what we'd done," said Palin.
"Yes, the right-wing militias weren't as strong in those days," added troupe member Terry Gilliam.
Palin recalls the film was actually banned from a town called Aberystwyth in Wales until 2008.
"Then Aberystwyth elected a new mayor, and the mayor they elected was Sue Jones-Davies, who played Brian's girlfriend, romping around in the nude. She was mayor of Aberystwyth and the first thing she said was, 'We're going to release this film in Aberystwyth,'" he recalled. "It was only shown for one night."
Besides the anniversary of "Life of Brian," Gilliam, 68, and Palin, 65, are also relishing the continued cultural relevance of sketches they wrote in their youth.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte recently likened British Prime Minister Theresa May, mired in Brexit, to the Black Knight (played by John Cleese in the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail") who refuses to admit defeat despite losing all his limbs in a fight with King Arthur.
"I mean Python's had quite a resurgence owing to politics recently," said Palin, who added that "a Python situation" now is a synonym for "ridiculous."
Gilliam welcomed the attention, adding it was much needed now.
"People seem to be frightened of laughing at things, or especially to laugh at themselves, and that's what really worries me," he said. "If we can't appreciate the utter absurdity of us as a species, we're dead."
BRUSSELS (AP) — FIFA rules on transfers can conflict with European Union legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement because they limit possibilities for players to change clubs, and for clubs to hire, a senior EU legal adviser said on Tuesday.
Advocate General Maciej Szpunar gave his opinion after French soccer player Lassana Diarra legally challenged FIFA rules.
The Diarra case went through FIFA judicial bodies before the 2016 election of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has made it a priority to modernize transfer market rules.
Former France international Diarra signed a four-year contract with Lokomotiv Moscow in 2013. The deal was terminated a year later after Diarra was unhappy with alleged pay cuts.
Lokomotiv Moscow applied to the FIFA dispute resolution chamber for compensation and the player submitted a counterclaim seeking compensation for unpaid wages. The Court of Arbitration for Sport found the Russian club terminated the contract with Diarra “with just cause” and the player was condemned to pay 10.5 million euros ($11.2 million).
Diarra claimed his search for a new club was hampered by FIFA rules stipulating that any new side would be jointly responsible with him for paying compensation to Lokomotiv.
The former Real Madrid player also argued that a potential deal with Belgian club Charleroi fell through because of the FIFA rules, and sued FIFA and the Belgian federation at a Belgian court for damages and loss of earnings of six million euros ($7 million).
Szpunar proposed the European Court of Justice should reply to the questions referred by the Belgian tribunal “by finding that the FIFA rules governing contractual relations between players and clubs may prove to be contrary to the European rules on competition and freedom of movement of persons."
“He finds that there can be no doubt as to the restrictive nature of (FIFA transfer regulations) with regard to freedom of movement," the court said in a statement, noting the restrictive rules can be justified only in specific circumstances.
“These provisions are such as to discourage and dissuade clubs from hiring the player for fear of financial risk. The sporting sanctions faced by clubs hiring the player can effectively prevent a player from exercising his or her profession with a club located in another member state.”
Advocates General routinely provide legal guidance to the ECJ. Their opinions aren’t binding on the Luxembourg-based court, but are followed in most cases.
Concerning competition rules, Szpunar found that FIFA rules on transfers, “by limiting clubs’ ability to recruit players, necessarily affect competition between clubs on the market for the acquisition of professional players.”
Szpunar's opinion follows a court ruling last year finding that UEFA and FIFA acted unlawfully to block the rebel Super League.
AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - France's Lassana Diarra reacts during the international friendly soccer match between England and France at Wembley Stadium in London, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. A senior legal adviser says some FIFA rules on transfer of players can be in breach of European Union legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement. Advocate General Maciej Szpunar gave an opinion on Tuesday after French soccer player Lassana Diarra challenged FIFA rules. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
