Cleese wants to share his hopelessness
Comedy legend John Cleese is coming to Toronto to tell the world “Why There Is No Hope.”
That’s the title of the British actor and comedian’s show heading to Roy Thomson Hall on Aug. 2 as part of the Unique Lives & Experiences lecture series.
Only Cleese, 80, a founding member of the fabled Monty Python comedy troupe, and his team are scheduled to be present at 3 p.m. at the King Street West venue, a publicist said. Spectators around the world can buy tickets for the live stream, priced at $19.99 (U.S.).
Cleese, an actor known for TV and films such as “Fawlty Towers” and “A Fish Called Wanda,” is also an author. His latest book, “Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide,” will be published in September.
The August show will be part lecture, part standup routine and part Q&A led by Cleese’s daughter, Camilla.
“As I prepare to travel to Canada, I have been gathering my thoughts on the future of our planet,” Cleese said in a news release. “I have reached the conclusion that the situation is completely hopeless, and that there is nothing that can be done about it, but that it really doesn’t matter. I shall also be singing a short selection of Peruvian burial ditties. All this in my first ever live stream.” See johncleese-uniquelives.com for tickets. Debra Yeo
Cordero may get lung transplant
The wife of Broadway star Nick
Cordero is hopeful her husband will be able to get a double lung transplant following complications from his battle with coronavirus.
Hamilton-born Cordero, 41, has been hospitalized for a little more than three months. He had his right leg amputated in April and suffered holes in his lungs. He has since tested negative for COVID-19 and is no longer in a medically induced coma, but Amanda Kloots told “CBS This Morning” he is unable to move his body because his muscles have atrophied.
She also said it’s difficult to tell whether Cordero understands what happened to him, but he can respond to commands by looking up and down when he’s alert. New York Daily News
Whedon accused of abuse on set
Actor Ray Fisher says director Joss Whedon’s behaviour was “abusive” on the set of the 2017 film “Justice League.” “Joss Wheadon’s (sic) on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable,” Fisher, who played the young superhero Cyborg in the DC Comics film, tweeted Wednesday.
Fisher added that Whedon was “enabled, in many ways, by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg,” two producers on the film.
Whedon has not responded to Fisher on social media, and emails seeking comment from him and from Warner Bros. were not immediately returned.
Berg told Variety that it was “categorically untrue that we enabled any unprofessional behaviour.” The Associated Press
Beavis, Butt-Head to return on CBS
“Beavis and Butt-Head” are coming back to TV in a reimagined version of the animated series about a pair of Gen X slackers.
“It seemed like the time was right to get stupid again,” Mike Judge, the creator and voice of both characters, said in a statement.
Judge will write and produce the series, and again will voice the characters, in a deal with ViacomCBS that includes two new seasons, other spinoffs and specials.
The original series, which drew praise for its social satire and criticism for its raunchy humour and violence, aired from 1993 until 1997 and was briefly revived in 2011. The Associated Press
Depp’s lawsuit allowed to continue
ABritish judge on Thursday rejected an attempt by tabloid newspaper the Sun to quash a libel suit from actor Johnny Depp over an article claiming he abused ex-wife Amber Heard.
The ruling means the two celebrities and their large legal teams will square off next week at the High Court in London.
Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, met on the set of the 2011 comedy “The Rum Diary” and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They divorced in 2017. Depp is suing the Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and executive editor Dan Wootton over a 2018 article claiming the actor was violent and abusive to Heard. He strongly denies the allegations.
Depp and Heard are both expected to give evidence in person at the London trial, which was postponed from March because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Associated Press