He Is the Messiah

Submission 37,455

Part of a series on Monty Python. [View Related Entries]

The kid who hacked in to his teachers computer and added to his presentation Will you please listen? I'm not the messiah The class HE IS THE MESSIAH! The teacher He's not the Messiah! He's a very naughty boy!

Will you please listen, meesa not a Sith lord rlprequelmemes Yousa is a Sith lord

Will you please listen? I'm not the messiah. HE IS THE MESSIAH!

Janitor who climbed onto the roof to get the ball. not the messiah Will you please listen? l'm Everyone else during recess HE IS THE MESSIAH!

Girl selling nudes to help Australia Will you please listen? l'm not the messiah Horny teenagers SHE IS THE MESSIAH!

This is artist Tyson Hesse who was hired to lead the Sonic redesign after the backlash Tyson Hesse Will you please listen? l'm not the messiah Reddit HE IS THE MESSIAH!

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About

He Is the Messiah refers to a memorable dialogue from the 1979 film Life of Brian in which the main protagonist Brian attempts to convince the crowd that he is not the messiah, but bolsters their belief that he is the messiah instead. Online, a two-panel image based on the scene has been used in memes, particularly in those about well-liked individuals.

Origin

On August 17th, 1979, comedy film Life of Brian by the British comedy troupe Monty Python premiered.^[1] In one scene of the film, the main protagonist Brian, portrayed by Graham Chapman, attempts to convince the crowd that he is not the messiah, but bolsters their belief that instead (scene shown below).

- I'm not the Messiah!
- I say you are, Lord, and I should know. I've followed a few. Hail Messiah!
- I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I'm not the Messiah! Do you understand? Honestly!
- Only the true Messiah denies his divinity.
- What? Well, what sort of chance
does that give me? All right, I am the Messiah!
- He is! He is the Messiah!

On December 20th, 2018, Redditor^[2] Zer0men posted the first known meme based on the image to /r/dankmemes subreddit, where it received over 15,900 upvotes in six months (shown below). January 19th, 2019, reposts of the image to /r/memes^[3] and /r/historymemes^[4] received over 4,700 upvotes and 1,900 upvotes in six months, respectively. On December 20th, 2018, Redditor^[5] Darth_Chancho posted another version of the meme to /r/PrequelMemes subreddit, gaining over 5,500 upvotes (shown below, right).

Will you please listen? l'm not the messiah Prequel Fans HE IS THE MESSIAH!

Spread

On June 16th, 2019, Redditor^[6] akyte55 posted a version of the meme about Keanu Reeves to /r/dankmemes, with the post accumulating over 48,600 upvotes in six months (shown below).

Keanu Reeves Will you please listen? l'm not the messiah All of Reddit HE IS THE MESSIAH!

The format did not see significant spread until on September 21st, 2019, Redditor^[7] lightlysaltedcheese posted a meme about Naruto Runner meme which received over 111,000 upvotes in five months (shown below).

The Naruto runner Will you please listen? l'm not the messiah The entire internet HE IS THE MESSIAH!

Starting in late September 2019, the format gained notable popularity on Reddit. For example, a September 27th post by Redditor^[8] cccpfreak01 received over 17,800 upvotes in the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit in five months. An October 15th meme posted by Redditor^[9] Drarckfort received over 20,500 upvotes in /r/dankmemes in four months.