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
laughing lovely going-away
That's a lovely experience when you make an audience laugh. Then the nerves go away for a bit. And sometimes you do things then that you've never done before that are really funny.
laughter cutting people
I started to make harder jokes before anyone else did. And the producers would get anxious. They'd say, 'That's a little bit hard-edged, isn't it?' And I'd say, 'Let's just try it and see how the audience reacts. If they don't like it, let's cut it out.' And the audience roared with laughter, so I learned you could do this harder humor and people loved it.
bored
I get bored easily. I've been bored most of my life.
funny sarcastic years
years ago we would have been burned for this. Now what I am suggesting is that we've advanced.
dancer terrible englishmen
I was a terrible dancer. I dance like an Englishman.
want unselfish great-things
I don't want to have to start being unselfish again. The great thing about being on your own is you do what you damned well like.
mean people prudes
When people say 'I'm not a prude, but ...' what they mean is 'I am a prude, and ...'.
laughter people division
Laughter destroys any divisions between people.
creativity thinking sense-of-humor
I think we're all born with a sense of humor. Creativity is another thing though.
thinking creative want
Some actors, I think, want to feel that they are as creative as the writer. And the answer is, frankly, they're not.
love-life holy-grail sides
The Americans all love 'The Holy Grail', and the English all love 'Life Of Brian', and I'm afraid on this one, I side with the English.
girl writing film
Who's ever going to write a film in which I get the girl? Me!
energy
Always start where the energy is.
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.