John Cleese was presenting a lame show on channel 5 the other night, and I got to thinking that you’ve basically got to go back to 1975 to find convincing evidence of this guy being funny. This would be unremarkable, nearly all comedians have a short shelf-life afterall, but we’re talking about the man who wrote and starred in two of the greatest comedy shows of all time: Monty Python and Fawlty Towers.
So he set the bar way, way high early on, but then appears to have called it a day, at least TV-wise. I know he’s had plenty of supporting roles in films, but he can do that stuff in his sleep. Anyone know if he ever tried writing a TV series again?
For the same reason they all stop being funny: they stop being angry. They have success and acclaim, they make some money, they make friends, they have leisure time, they participate in charity events, sports events, they have hobbies…and they just don’t have anything driving them any more. They lose their edge. See also: Bill Murray, Janeane Garofalo, etc., etc., etc…
To clarify, he WROTE those films as well as had supporting roles in them.
He also wrote, since 1975, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Meaning Of Life, and Fierce Creatures (which I liked, although most people didn’t).
For TV, he wrote a 4-Part Miniseries for BBC in 2001 called “The Human Face” which I happened to see on TLC at the time, and which was extremely good.
John Cleese nothing. What the hell is up with Graham Chapman? That guy hasn’t been funny in years.
[sub]Yes, I know. It’s a joke.[/sub]
Also, I strenuously object to any mention of Bill Murray in this thread. If anything, he’s gotten funnier as he’s gotten older.
As I remember it, he went throughwome pretty rough times after Fatty Owls, the 2nd series, divorcing Connie Booth, doubting his talent + I don’t think he was the most stable of the original Python, Monties, to begin with.
He did a nice little comedy called Clockwise, too, which basically was Basil Fawlty as headmaster. And he has that company that makes educational films and earns him a bundle.
And I agree - Bill Murray ages like good wine or cheese. His early 80’s comedies are awful, on par with the Porky’s or Police Academy franchises. Now his genuinely funny and a good dramatic actor too.
I think he’s managed to stay consistently funny longer than most of his Python-mates. What was the last genuinely funny thing you saw (performance-wise) from Terry Jones or Michael Palin. I know the latter has moved on to other things, and Gilliam has a directorial career, but if you compare the only other semi-active Python, Eric Idle, there really is no comparison–Cleese eclipses him easily.
I thought Cleese peaked in the original MP series. There was a synergy in the group that was lost when he left, but even the later series seemed more forced, and their reunion projects, while good, aren’t quite as good. Nothing he’s done since MP has been quite as funny. Well, except for the Germans episode of Fawlty Towers, and there he reprised his Silly Walk in an absolutely inspired move. Perhaps they wrote that episode just for that.
You can hear him on BBC7 online in the series “I"m Snrry, I’ll Read That Again” which overlapped MP. His best stuff there is as good as MP, and it’s a must-listen for Cleese fans. I’ve seen one episode of “At Last the 1948 Show” online, and I’d like to see more for comparison.
Well, he was his average funny self, but I wouldn’t call the series “extremely good”.
That I can agree with wholeheartedly.
You can’t be serious about Garofalo. I’d say she’s even angrier than she was at first. And in Murray’s case, his schtick hasn’t really changed since SNL, so perhaps like me you’ve just gotten bored with him.
George Carlin? He’s only gotten angrier and less funny.
For me, anger can be funny, but only in limited amounts and only if it’s creative and not self-righteous. You have to be super-good to get noticed, but once you’re successful, you don’t filter your stuff as much because you don’t have to.
I think it’s that the risks and fears of your early career (monetary and otherwise), not anger, are no longer driving you and your creative process.
Also, the best ideas are usually presented first, so there’s naturally a drop-off. And I think eventually everyone runs out of good new ideas. And you can get bored with even the best performer.
When they released that non-sequel to Wanda, he appeared on The Daily Show. He offered a great line, something like, “It is the goal of every Englishman to make it all the way to his grave without becoming embarrassed”. And one absolutely immortal ad lib, in response to one of the Five Questions:
Kilborn: Why does British food suck?
Cleese: We had an empire to run!
Any guy who can come up with that off the cuff (and his shock at the question was painfully obvious) is still funny in my book.
He started taking himself too seriously. Perhaps too he started trying to explain his humour, which is the surest way to stop being funny. Wild Creatures is close to being the biggest pile of shite I’ve ever seen. It made be ashamed to be British. Did we really need to be reminded how unfunny those “comedians” we watched on the telly when we were growing up really were?
Did he need a Connie Booth, a whoever-it-was-on-Python-who-criticised-his-scripts to keep his material lean and edgy?
