John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleeseis an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionActor
Date of Birth27 October 1939
christmas scary joining
I can't tell you how scary it can be walking onto a movie and suddenly joining this family, it's like going to somebody else's Christmas dinner, everyone knows everyone, and you're there and you're not quite sure what you're supposed to be doing.
technology instruction impress
Technology frightens me to death. It's designed by engineers to impress other engineers. And they always come with instruction booklets that are written by engineers for other engineers — which is why almost no technology ever works.
bananas
How to defend yourself against a banana
powerful father erratic
God was treated like this powerful, erratic, rather punitive father who has to be pacified and praised. You know, flattered.
creativity thinking sense-of-humor
I think we're all born with a sense of humor. Creativity is another thing though.
laughter distance humor
I'm struck by how laughter connects you with people. It's almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you're just howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy.
christmas want calgary
Come to me. I want to plow you like a Calgary driveway at Christmas.
growing-up men umpires
For me, the great problem growing up in England was that I had a very narrow concept of what God can be, and it was damn close to an old man with a beard.
sarcasm doctors needs
It's a plastic surgeon you need, not a doctor
fake-people acting very-good
But then acting is all about faking. We're all very good at faking things that we have no competence with.
sarcastic business sarcasm
I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.
country littles england
England is a fairly envious little country and it's embodied in the press. They don't like anyone being more distinguished than they are.
music mistake creative
Nothing will stop you being creative more effectively as the fear of making a mistake.
humor ideas laughing
If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth.