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Banned in China: The film was banned in many areas when it came out. When it was banned in Norway for "blasphemy", Swedish theatres advertised it as "The film so funny they banned it in Norway."
Never Heard That One Before: In Norway, it is quite impossible to even mention the film title "Life of Brian" without someone pointing this out.
Enforced Method Acting: The extras playing the guards in the Biggus Dickus scene were told not to laugh while filming. Thus their desperate attempts to keep a straight face are genuine.
A rare positive example. The original production company canned this movie at the last minute, fearful that the religious subject matter would offend people. So ex-BeatleGeorge Harrison stepped in, paid a few million pounds, and more or less let the Pythons do whatever they wanted... for the sole reason that he was a huge Python fan and wanted to see their next movie. Eric Idle later described it as "the most expensive movie ticket ever purchased."
The one thing they did cut to avoid offending people was a Jewish Nazi-esque character named Otto, who wore a combination Star of David/swastika and wanted to make Israel a racially pure Jewish nation. He shows up at the end as the leader of the "suicide squad" that tries to help the crucified convicts by pointlessly killing themselves on the ground under the crosses.
The scene of all the people trudging uphill to listen to the Sermon on the Mount. It was getting late in the day and the extras all started to leave during a lull in filming and had to be herded back, and it was Eric Idle who noticed that it looked really good and said to turn the cameras on.
Also, the lone man in the individuals scene, who plaintively comments "I'm not!"? Yeah, that was this trope. He ended up getting a pay raise to speaking actor for his improv.
Apparently, now iconic song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" started life as something Eric Idle sang while everyone was hot and bored up on the crucifixes between takes.
Uncle Pennybags: "St. George of Harrison" saved Life of Brian after EMI decided it was too sacrilegious and refused to finance it. (He said he did it because he wanted to see the film.)
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