John Cleese on Polanski, the coronation, rebooting Fawlty Towers, joining GB News, Putin, the impending apocalypse and the ‘2 or 3 people’ who are funnier than him – a very unguarded interview
- Over 60 years, the British national treasure revolutionised comedy with Monty Python, starred in Shrek and James Bond films – and after all that, claims he cannot be cancelled
- Ahead of his Asia and Australia tour, Cleese opens up about rebooting beloved BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers, acting in Roman Polanski’s The Palace – and why this is the worst era he’s lived through
“Ask me anything,” begins John Cleese, with the warm, knowing smile of someone certain that whatever he’s asked, his interlocutor won’t be short of sound bites 20 minutes later. Indeed, it sometimes seems like the British comedian need only open his mouth for a fresh ripple of indignation-stoking headlines to reverberate across the internet.
In the weeks before we talk alone, Cleese prompted tabloid meltdowns over his decidedly anti-woke decision to ignore a request from the cast to cut a scene mocking a trans female character from an upcoming Life of Brian stage adaptation, and the dubious counter claim that he “can’t be cancelled”. He might never admit it, but given his relentless readiness to drop controversial clangers, one can’t help but think the 83-year-old bard of comedy is privately rather proud of his enduring ability to attract attention. “It’s partly because our media is so unremittingly trivial,” he counters, “and there’s nothing one can do about that.”
