Biggus Dickus

About

Biggus Dickus is a memorable quote from the 1979 historical comedy film Monty Python's Life of Brian. In the film, "Biggus Dickus" is regarded as a joke name for the Romans. However, Roman leader Pontious Pilate claims to know a "Biggus Dickus" and repeats the name several times, causing members of his infantry to suppress laughter. Online, people use elements from the film, including clips, GIFs and image macros to joke about large penises.

Origin

On August 17th, 1979, the comedy group Monty Python debuted their film Monty Python's Life of Brian.^[1] In the film, Roman leader Pontious Pilate's (portrayed by Michael Palin) garrison captures Brian (portrayed by Graham Chapman), who they have mistaken for the messiah. Interrogating Brian, Pilate and his soldiers ask for his father's name. Brian tells them it is "Naughtius Maximus." Pilate's guard (portrayed by John Cleese) laughs and tells Pilate that this is a joke name like "Biggus Dickus." Pilate then claims to know a "Biggus Dickus," repeating the name several times and causing other guards in the room to suppress laughter (clip below).

On June 21st, 1986, Dwayne A. X. E. E. transcribed the scene, which was later posted on MIT's^[2] website (screenshot below).

Spread

Monty Python quotes have long been a popular pastime on the Internet and in conversation between fans. This continued with "Biggus Dickus," which frequently appeared in the form of videos, images and text conversation online.

On March 4th, 2006, YouTuber barrycon uploaded the video. The post received more than 52,000 views in less than 15 years (shown below).

Less than a decade later, on March 22nd, 2014, Imgur ^[3] user nottheleastinkling shared a series of GIFs of Palin saying the line "Biggus Dickus." The post received more than 790 views in less than seven years (shown below).

Four years later, on July 6th, 2018, Tumblr ^[4] user palatinamedea captioned a screen capture of the scene "Biggus Dickus energy". The post received more than 125,000 notes in less than three years (shown below, left).

Two years later, on December 10th, 2020, Redditor ^[5]JoeMamaFunnyHaha posted a screenshot of the scene with the caption "People creating their Cyberpunk 2077 character," referencing the video game's genital editor feature. The post received more than 50,000 points (95% upvoted) and 240 comments in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References