John Cleese in hysterics over King Charles’s Coronation - ‘It was a Monty Python sketch!’

my first guest tonight needs no introduction so I won't bother with one it's John [Applause] C John welcome back thrilled to have you back again and of course we're working on a show together at the moment which is fantastic he's the producer yeah would you believe it and he's half my age isn't that I wanted to talk to you though about well let's start with the coronation did you watch it did you enjoy it well this is a little embarrassing but it is also kind of funny um and this is absolutely true my wife known as the fish because she swims like a fish watches television or she gets into bed with all the cushions and all the cats got to have all three cats there then she watches and she said come on come in and watch and I went and I sat on the bed laid down and I sort of looked at the screen and I lost it as in I laughed I couldn't stop laughing this is absolutely so what did you find funny about well I just looked at all these people in these silly costumes and all taking everything so seriously I thought it's a python sketch once I realized that it was a python sketch I could not stop laughing I wasn't laughing at any other the people cuz they were all playing their parts really well you know but I just it's so silly it's true every now and then you just catch a glimpse of tradition do we do the things we do well I don't know why we do and I know it's wonderful that there's a crown yes you know that that it's been I don't know put on people's heads for 800 years or that kind of thing but did you notice um um that marvelous man Justin the Archbishop countery who I met two weeks ago and I think he's one of the best human beings I've ever met he should have practiced putting the the crown on he remember doing all this whoops it is he needed a spirit level really I is it is difficult John um speaking of Monty Python now you said an interesting thing to me which I was absolutely fascinated by is that when you initially pitched montypython you sort of went in without quite knowing what it was going to be this is what's so interesting about our business is that people always assume that if something was successful it was always going to be successful yes and it's completely untrue but anyway that's true uh Chapman and I he was studying for medicine I just married Connie booth and didn't want to be out of the house all the time for the first uh year in London for her uh so I was writing with him all the time we used to watch this uh very funny kids show called do not adjust your set David Jason was in it but also palen and Jones and Eric idle and Terry Gil and we used to watch it and we'd met because we all work for Frosty of course and uh one day I said to Graham why don't we do a show with these guys and we rang them up and they said yeah all right and we went to a man called Barry Tuk who used to write with Marty Feldman and he fixed a meeting for us and we went in to see the head of light entertainment who was Michael Mills and we knew Michael a little bit Yeah and um he sat down he said I gather you guys would like to do a series and we said yes we would and he said well what are you proposed doing and there was a silence cuz we hadn't discussed it can you believe that so did you just wing it just sort of make it you it was embarrassing we said well we thought we'd do a comedy show with um humorous um things in it and jokes jokes rad inted to make people laugh he said well you going to have guest stars we said are we are we going to have she said well what about music we said we haven't really thought about music and and yet he offered you the he looked at us and I I thought this is the most embarrassing thing I've ever done this is the most important person in my professional life and I make a complete full and he looked at us and he said oh go away and make 13 programs breatht I mean that's never happened in the history of Television that a guy has commissioned 13 program not a pilot but 13 programs without having this idea what he was going to get it it would without the people knowing the slightest idea what they were going to be doing it wouldn't happen today would it of course it would well the nearest thing is our series yes cuz they came along and they said to me we're uh KGB news and I said what I said never heard of you what do you want they said you can uh would you like to do 10 1H hour shows and I said well doing what they said anything you like they said what they said anything you like you do what you like I mean nobody's have ever had an offer and we should say it it'll be out later in the year we don't know precisely when we don't know when and we're starting to record on Wednesday on Wednesday very exciting stuff I I did just want to say because we have got a clip from Monty Python just to remind people of the uh kind of thing that you got up to we can if we can show that fantastic and that's [Applause] um and John that's that's you in the in the armor that's well actually the truth is it's me in the armor till I have my leg chopped off oh and then they get a stunt double then we got a monopod um some one a onelegged person who was really really good at hopping and what I loved his name was Richard Burton and he was a silver smith in the city of London Fant and he took over the hopping but up to that time now what's so funny about that is that I've watched that film with an audience Holy Grail I watched it probably 40 times that is the scene that gets the most hysterical laugh a scene with a man having his arms and legs you see it all depends on the context do you see what I mean and the problem with a lot of the critics of Comedy is they don't understand the idea of of context yes absolutely and making that film that was a bit of a departure because you were then suddenly developing big long narratives and of course your the sketches in Monty Python's flying C we we were very bad at narratives we got it right once and that was Life of Brian Life of Brian yes absolutely you don't think it you got it right in holy gra I thought you did no it was just a lot of sketches and a terrible ending people say why is this such a disappointing ending and the answer is we couldn't think of anything better now at the ending the police come on and just arrest our cast it's a terrible end but let's talk a little about just quickly about Life of Brian because Life of Brian does feel so coherent and so sort of narrative very it was a very very good uh a movie I think and it was recently voted by International Film critics 11th funniest film ever made holy grow was ninth yes so we got two you got two in there pretty good and yeah it's absolutely hilarious it all happened because of a naughty thing that Eric said because after the success of Holy Grail um we were having we an Indian Indian restaurant with a journalist and he said uh what are you going to do uh next what's and Eric who hadn't talked about it with any of said we're going to make a film called Jesus Christ lust for Glory and he just said it he came out of nowhere and then you were committed we all scream with laughter and Sly said actually it's rather a good idea nobody's ever made a comedy set in the holy land at the time of Christ I mean you know exactly it's an unusual subject for a but actually I've adapted it I've done a a version of it for the London stage which I think we'll be making next year fantastic and then quickly just we haven't got much time but I want to talk to you briefly about Faulty Towers because um you know it's such a classic it comes up again and again as the best sitcom of all time uh and yet not everyone was convinced at the start oh no the interesting thing is you never know whether what you're going to do is going to be successful I mean I've been doing comedy 60 years I know now that whether something's funny or not but I don't know whether it's that funny or that funny I really don't I have to do it in front of an audience and I always say my co- writers are the audience yes but no no no um success was ever guaranteed I mean when python came out for the first time no critic picked it out as being good that seems amazing to me the head of Department Tom Sloan bumped into the director in the in the in an ele elevator and he said what is this python thing is it supposed to be funny I think it's awful now he was the head of the department then four weeks later when the heads of the Departments met to discuss the new programs six out of eight of them didn't like it and sort of thought it ought never not to be to so the the thing that you learn as you get old and it's not just true of show business but it's very true of show business that the people at the top have almost no idea what they're doing or what or what they're talking about and and successful programs usually succeed despite them and how did they feel about Faulty Towers were the executives on board with that um well the the guy who commissioned it a lovely man called Jimmy Gilbert I'd worked with on the frost programs he commissioned it uh but after the first show he said John you're going to have to get them out of the hotel M completely wrong completely wrong and he was the head of department so you kind of get to the point as you get older when you simply know that they have no idea what they're talking about I wrote a script for a woman in Disney and she read the first script she said but this is we don't get scripts like this this is 75% of the way there yes and then uh she gave me six notes and uh I emailed do you want anything else changed apart from these six didn't here back we changed those six we went on holiday we found when we got back they were lighting they were looking for new writers what well you didn't take any no notice of the SC notes we sent you and I looked at my co-writer he said I didn't show them to you I knew you get cross and she said but these are the things I W done and I looked at them and I said you know I'm awfully sorry I don't think I can do this and she said you can't do it I said I don't think so and she said why not I said well um I don't know how to make it worse I would be trying to make it better yes and that's not what you're after and no idea what she was doing yeah it's incredible and just finally cuz we don't have much time but please tell us what happened when Faulty Towers almost went to America because they they were trying to change it oh they did it three times they tried to reproduce It in America they failed every time the last time I hadn't been told I bumped into some people and they said oh we you you John C we just bought the rights to make 4S uh in uh in America I said ching ching you know oh and I said are you going to make any changes cuz Americans aren't used to little family hotels they no and I said we' found well he said we have changeed something I said what what's that they said we've written basil out absolutely true just trust the creatives I think that's the way John we are out of time but thanks so much for coming on today you're not going

Channel: GBNews

Views: 1,924,422

Keywords: GB news, John Cleese, King Charles's, Coronation, Andrew Doyle, Comedy, monty python and the holy grail, monty python, free speech nation

Id: t8-Rqv5Rcag

Length: 12min 17sec (737 seconds)

Published: Mon May 08 2023