You can’t leave out the French taunter!
His cameo as Mr. Toad’s lawyer in Terry Jones’s film Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is probably the best part of that movie.
“I fart in your general direction!”
The owner of 17 Highbrow Street in The Great Muppet Caper. Cleese’s completely unfazed, deadpan reaction to finding a talking pig and “lizard” in his house is just about perfect.
This, and the taunting French knight in Holy Grail are my entries.
But if you despise them, it makes it hard to like the character.
My favorite Cleese character that never fails to make me lose it laughing has been mentioned earlier but his character name often gets mangled because some “official” books have it wrong, or people just don’t hear it correctly.
That character is Brian Equatlor. Equatlor not “Equator”. He even says "like around the middle of the Earth only with an “L” (followed by him guffawing).
That sketch where Chapman’s romantic evening goes off the rails is in my top 5 sketches of all time.
Another vote for Mungo the cook.
“Oh it makes me, mad. Mad!”
Well then, @Northern_Piper, @baker and I will just have to enjoy it ourselves!
-pardon the snip-
Ah yes, the infamous “Crunch Frog” bit. Another of my favorites!
I’m not sure it should count, because it’s Cleese as a narrator, rather than a character exactly, but I’ve always loves him as the narrator in “How Not to Be Seen.” The perfect escalation of quiet, educational film into all out insanity (with his voice work following along) makes it one of my classic “bad day” videos.
Huh, I see - thanks!
That reminds me of his short part as an art gallery visitor in the Doctor Who story arc City of Death. Exquisite.
You know, that’s the weirdest thing! I didn’t know the name of the character so I Googled it. I did a double-take when I saw Nigel-Incubator Jones and even checked it twice – or at least, I could have sworn I did – before styling it that way in my post. Then, this morning after reading your tongue-in-cheek tease, I checked again, and it was “Nigel Incubator-Jones”.
I guess we know who the actual twit is here!
Fun Fact: The origin of hyphenated surnames goes back to the Middle Ages. It meant that both a man and his wife were armigers in their own right. In other words, they had both inherited coats of arms from their fathers.
A woman could do this if her father had no legitimate male heirs, and the resulting coat of arms would be a combination of the two. A string of such marriages would produce ever more complicated coats of arms.
BTW, they’re properly called “coats of arms” or “armorial bearings.” There’s no such thing as a “family crest,” despite some hucksters offering to create one for you for a fee.
The gorilla
Seriously? No love for the pepperpots?
Sure, I could go for a little “Girl From Ipanema” “I dream of Jeannie with dark, brown hair” right now.
Does anyone but me remember Cleese’s brilliant turn as Marcus Rugman, makeup registration artist?
On The Avengers? Oh, yes!