As a member of the absurdist British comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus, John Cleese helped carve a cultural touchstone, while also writing and starring in such films as “A Fish Called Wanda” and “Fierce Creatures” (both with Jamie Lee Curtis) and guesting on sitcoms like “Will & Grace” and “Third Rock from the Sun.”
On Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, as part of the Just for Laughs festival, Cleese will screen the classic 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” at the Winter Garden Theatre, sharing stories and taking questions from the audience.
I recently caught up with the comic legend via a transatlantic Zoom call.
What is it about the film, besides being hilarious, that holds up 50 years later?
We didn’t realize at the time, but if you make a film that’s set in a particular historical period, it can’t age. It’s the same with “Life of Brian,” the time of Christ. So that was a lucky chance, because we didn’t do it for that reason.
What is your favorite moment, scene or line from the movie?
I have a scene that I’ve watched many times. It is Graham Chapman and Eric Idle, who are guards in Michael Palin’s castle, and he is telling them not to let his son leave the room.
They cannot take this information as they’re clearly MAGA supporters. (Laughs) But what I love about the scene is it lasts probably two and a half minutes, and there’s not a single cut in it. That’s extraordinary nowadays. Most of the best comedy is played without many closeups in the two-shot, because when you’re watching two people being funny, you want to watch them at the same time.
Is there one story from the making of the film that hardly anyone knows?
In my case, it was the discovery of white burgundy. (Shooting in Scotland) was such a horrible experience that the only joyful thing … is I used to dress up and take a taxi into Perth where there was a place run by a Scottish chef and his French wife. They served beautiful food. I would go in there every evening feeling ground down and depressed because we didn’t have umbrellas and it rained the whole time.
I discovered that there was white wine that was dry, not sour. I’d always thought white wine in those days was Yugoslavia and Riesling. And I suddenly discovered white burgundies. And I love it so much. In fact, I took a part in a movie with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn called “The Out-of-Towners” because the character’s name was Mersault (a French white burgundy).
Have you ever gotten a question during one of these audience Q&As that made you cringe?
Well, I usually get asked if I slept with Jamie Lee Curtis. What are you going to do with a question like that? You say no and nobody believes you. I think the funniest was a fellow in Oslo who stood up and said, “Mr. Cleese, I would like to propose a vote of thanks to your ex-wife.” I said, “What are you talking about?” And he said, “Well, if it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t be in Oslo.” (Laughs)
Do you have a favorite memory of Toronto?
Yes. When I was in a Broadway musical (“Half a Sixpence”) in 1965, we went to Boston and then to Toronto, where we got appalling notices. And I was quite alarmed. I said, “Why are these notices so bad? They loved us in Boston.” And they said, “Oh, it’s Canadian critics.”
There was a stage manager who came in one day before the show and he was going on and on and on about this film he’d see the previous night with spiders in it. When we had a break, because there was a matinee, I went out and went past a magicians’ shop and saw a wonderful black spider. I took the spider back and I put it in the man’s box of tissues and when he went over and pulled a tissue out of the box, the spider came at him. He screamed and backed up till he had his back against the wall.
I think that was the most successful practical joke I ever played.
As a movie fan yourself, what would you like to see presented with a creator’s Q&A session?
Almost anything by Billy Wilder. He did a wonderful version of “The Front Page.” I read a couple of books by him, and he was so funny in that very classy, elegant, Austrian way. I love the story when he went in his old age to an office of some young guy at one of the big Hollywood companies. The guy said, “Could you tell me what you’ve been doing recently, please?” And he looked at the guy and said, “You first.”
You made “Fawlty Towers,” which is my choice for the funniest TV show of all time. It spawned no fewer than three U.S. TV adaptations and one in Germany — all of which failed. Which one do you think came closest and why?
The German one was absolutely excellent. The only reason they didn’t proceed, they told me, was that it was too expensive. The thing with the American ones is that I always said, “Well, can I help?” And they always said, “Oh, no, we know exactly what we’re doing here.” And of course they had no idea what they were doing. This has largely been my experience in this business: the people at the top have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. But of course they have no idea that they have no idea, right?
What’s the status of the “Fawlty Towers” sequel series that you were planning with your daughter? Is that happening?
Well, yes, it’s a slightly sad story because it was for Rob Reiner’s company (Castle Rock), so everything’s gone a little bit quiet. They liked the first draft. They’ve given us notes. They liked the rewrites. But that’s as far as it’s gone at the moment.
What is something of recent vintage that you found hilarious?
The coronation. I came into the house and my wife was watching the coronation. I sat down on the bed at the moment that King Charles walked into Westminster Abbey. I watched for about seven seconds and became hysterical with laughter because it was Monty Python: there were these people in silly costumes taking everything very seriously.
When I saw “Spamalot” on Broadway in 2005, I was struck by how faithful it was to the movie, and it transferred so beautifully to the stage. I know there’s been a “Fawlty Towers” stage play that was very successful, and there’s a sequel in the works. Have you ever thought of adapting any of your other work for the stage?
Yes. I played the Acropolis in Athens once, and standing there, I thought this is what somebody was doing 2,000 years ago. I understand the stage. I don’t understand television now. It seems to me that you’ve got to do something that might be in the future, but people are dressed like medieval warriors, and there have to be a lot of dragons. And films — you cannot get films financed. I have three film scripts. One of them is a light comedy about cannibalism, one is a perfectly straightforward farce and another is about Hollywood lookalikes, which I wrote with my daughter Camilla, which is very funny.
My next aim is to try and put “Life of Brian” on the London stage, West End, next year, if we can get a theatre. The problem is all the theatres are full of rather good family musicals. And they sit there for year after year after year. In the old days, they used to have proper plays. Plays would come off after six, nine months. Something else could move in. I’m just hoping we can find a theatre, because I think “Life of Brian” is gonna be a very funny stage play.
But I’ve changed the ending, because after 40 years, the crucifixion ending — there’s no surprise to it anymore.
Speaking of “Life of Brian,” what was your take on Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”? ‘Cause he’s doing a sequel to that.
I haven’t seen it. I’m very interested in Christianity, but I think Christ would find some difficulty in recognizing his teaching if he looked at a lot of the Christians that are around. But there was another one, wasn’t there?
Yes, there was “The Last Temptation of Christ,” which was Martin Scorsese’s.
That’s right! We had an argument with Marty, and he said (his film) was funnier than ours. (Laughs)
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
