I have been watching Monty Python, Life of Brian, A Fish called Wanda, Fawlty Towers and well, pretty much anything John Cleese has been in for as long as I can remember. I was raised on Fawlty Towers with my dad knowing every line. So, when the chance came up to go and see him, we weren’t going to say no. 2 tickets, 8 rows from the front.
From the moment an announcement stated, “Mr Cleese is not here yet, so here’s a video in the meantime”, we knew we were in for a laugh. The video lasted about 5 minutes and included so many of his best bits. How do you choose for something like this? We saw Basil beating his car with a tree branch, John as a Jewish official berating a man for saying Jehovah. We saw the dead parrot sketch, the ministry of silly walks, Fawlty beating Manuel’s head against the wall while talking to the Major and so much more. When the video ended, and John Cleese wasn’t coming out as he was not ready, we were asked as a collective audience for a spontaneous standing ovation. No need to ask twice! The audience was up, and Cleese was in the house.
Comedy legend, John Cleese started the first half with anecdotes about his life. He talked of being stopped on the street (a lot) and the sorts of things people say. He talked of his life, where he lived in the UK and how his surname originally was “cheese”. He talked of most things that generations today get offended by and told many jokes about every nationality and religion. He talked of death, sex, violence and stupidity and how these tend to get the most laughs and why. He shared a lot of history about his Python days punctuating these chats by sharing random clips from his career.
The audience were invited to email questions through the night for the second half Q&A. This meant the second half was spontaneous. After all, each audience would ask different questions on any given night. From questions such as “what was your mother like?” to “Did you meet a hotelier that inspired Basil Fawlty?” to “who don’t you want to be waiting for you at the Pearly Gates?”, the questions got better and better
Two particularly good ones were “who do you think is next on the Python dead list?” to which Cleese went through the members who’d already passed on and commented on those still here. He said “Eric Idles had pancreatic cancer and do you ever survive that? Palins just had a big heart op so looks like I will be last man standing.”
The other question which caught a gasp from the audience was “Have you ever killed someone?” to which Cleese replied, “yes but not on my own”. He went on to tell the story of a danish dentist that quite literally died laughing while watching ‘A Fish called Wanda’.
When talking about death, he shared memories about Graham Chapman and introduced a video segment of Grahams funeral. John told how the irreverent humour that was Pythons trademark came out in full flow at the funeral speeches. If you’re easily offended or don’t like Python – don’t watch it!
John Cleese told of how when invited to a show in Aspen, the Python team went, bringing Graham Chapmans “ashes” (in reality they were rumoured to have been spread on Snowden) During the show, the ashes were knocked over, in only the way Pythons could, and cleaned with a DustBuster Hoover! If you’re easily offended or you dislike Python, do not watch.
The show was great. It was one of those nights I’m so grateful to have had the chance to go and see. The laughs continued throughout the whole evening never letting up for a moment. When you hear age name John Cleese, you always think of him in Life of Brian, or the barrister in A Fish called Wanda. You think of the Dead Parrot sketch or the Four Yorkshireman.
He will always be Basil Fawlty to me.
