I didn’t see anything for this.
We went to see John Cleese last night as he came to our town. It was awesome! His daughter, Camilla, opened for him, and then read him audience questions after the intermission. His show was similar to the Eddie Izzard Remix tour we saw last month. John would tell a story but then he had clips from the show, movies, and interviews that he used as well. Lots of fun!
Really glad it worked out to see him!
Is it just me or do others read the title as the “Late departed John Cleese”???
That’s what I thought too. I had to look up John Cleese to see if he was still alive.
What does the title mean?
That is what he’s calling his current tour. The “An Evening with the Late John Cleese” Tour.
Me too. I had to Google it as well to be sure he wasn’t dead.
For those interested, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is being re-released in some movie theaters. It’s not a big release but check local listings. I’m definitely going to see it.
To the OP, I’d like to see that tour. I’ll have to see if it is coming to a place near me.
ETA: I just checked his tour dates and it seems it is almost over with the last show on November 19. Sorry I missed it.
Why?
I don’t get it.
It is a “late John Cleese” performance as in it’s Cleese’s act in what is a late stage of his career.
And of course, as others observed, a riff on “the late John Cleese” being how he’ll be referred to in the years immediately after he becomes bereft of life, passes on, joins the bleedin’ choir invisible.
He’s advertised it by saying, “Come see me before I die.” or “Last chance to see me before I die”.
It’s very Cleese and Monty Python style to prod death and use it as a joke.
The day Terry Jones died, or very soon after, he tweeted “2 down, 4 to go”.
I saw John Cleese about five years ago when he did a show at the community college where my wife was working. He gave a talk during the first half and then the second half was a Q&A with one of our local TV news personalities. During the first half, one of his topics was the ending of “Holy Grail” and how the build-up went on far too long, then showed his edited version which he thought worked a lot better. I wonder if his ending is part of the rerelease?
Yes, the Monty Python’s always liked to hit taboo topics. Cleese said there is a difference between fun and mean teasing and they tried to stay on the side of fun. Basically, the group they are having a go at can laugh as well.
I think earlier, they did a 1 down, 5 to go tour. I was not surprised at the 2 down, 4 to go item.
The posters we get do have his face, in the cartoon style of the show, with a tombstone saying RIP on it.
@Whack-a-Mole I’m sorry you missed it.
Sorry late to respond.
Thanks for the discussion!
They definitely poke loving fun at the English. I’m not European so I can’t really say, but i’d like to think that their French-poking would be taken in good fun by the French, but it’s harder to say compared to their light satire of daily English life.
But their stereotypes of the Scottish and Germans seem pretty cringy to my modern American eyes (not to mention the literal blackface in some of their sketches, but its problemicity is more obvious). The humor seems broad to the point that I would think that some of them would at least not find it novel and humorous, while of course, it being a big world, some of them would take it in good spirits.
The “Welease Bwian” sketch from Life of Brian is an interesting case. On the face of it, it seems like it is making broad fun of speech impediments. I’d like to think that if I had a speech impediment, I’d still find it funny, not because it would be making light hearted and novel fun at me, but because it is humbling to the powerful (i.e. representatives of the Roman Empire.)
I do believe they have made some changes (nothing dramatic I do not think) to this version being re-released but I forget what they were. Maybe that ending is in there but I do not know. I am seeing it December 3. I’ll try to remember to report back.
I got to see Cleese during his 2016 tour with Eric Idle. Those two together just riffing off each other was quite the experience.
I saw him about 6 years ago in a show officially titled:
“Your Last Chance to See Me Before I Die”
IIRC, an earlier Python reunion featured an urn purportedly containing the ashes of the recently deceased Graham Chapman; this strikes me as a gag of a similar vein.
I saw that one. Halfway through the show, Cleese leans back and crosses his legs as he’s starting in on an anecdote, and accidentally kicks the urn over.
Took a look at the tour dates, he’s on the West Coast through April 8th of next year, just now buying tickets for the missus and me to see him in Portland on April 4th.
Thank Og for the SDMB, this would have passed me by.
Unless he does die he’ll be around again. Divorces cost a lot of money. Or as he said he was very sad when his ex-wife died because it was the wrong one.
Michael Palin’s father stammered, and he played a character with a severe stammer in A Fish Called Wanda. He has lent his name to the Michael Palin Center for Stammering in London.
I think the teasing is done with a mix of fun and empathy.