CLEESE ON WIT, DESPAIR
Comedy legend’s tour hits the city on Sunday
For John Cleese fans, it sounds too good to be true. It probably is.
But in late September, the iconic Monty Python vet tweeted that he had just finished the first scene of a new film called Python Abbey. It has a typically unhinged storyline, which Cleese described in a synopsis as: “A surprise, secret visit from Lord Python's best friend, Adolf Hitler, sends the downstairs staff into a tizzy.”
Sounds promising. On the other hand, not long before revealing this upcoming cinematic opus on social media, Cleese also tweeted “I have started writing a book called 'The 1,403 Most Pointless Lists.'"
So maybe we should take it all with a grain of salt. Still, when asked about Python Abbey specifically while on the line with Postmedia from a cafe in Vienna, he maintains it was only “half a joke.
“Because the more I think about it, the funnier an idea I think it is,” says Cleese. “I have never myself been able to watch that kind of drama with any interest at all and for years I've been missing things like Upstairs, Downstairs and The Pallisers and things like that. I'm not interested in stuffy, upper-class people because they don't seem to be terribly interesting. But I think as a parody it could be absolutely hilarious. So I'm semi-serious. The moment that somebody who might have a bit of money to make the film picks up the phone and says tell me more, I'll tell them more. Because I've got quite a lot worked out already in my head.”
A new film arriving unfiltered from the mind of John Cleese would be monumental for fans. The 80-year-old writer, comedian and actor seems to have a full slate of film appearances planned for the near future.
Internet Movie Database lists seven upcoming projects, including everything from a supporting role in the thriller Two Minutes to Midnight to the children's film Clifford the Big Red Dog. But the co-founder of the Monty Python Flying Circus and co-creator of Fawlty Towers hasn't been the main creative driver behind a major motion picture since 1997's Fierce Creatures, which was his followup to easily one of the funniest films of all-time, 1988's A Fish Called Wanda.
Still, it's not that Cleese is idle as a writer these days, it's just that his observations and comedy are delivered in a different format. As a celebrity social-media presence, his Twitter activity may rival William Shatner's in terms of sheer prolificity. Granted, it tends to get him in trouble every now and then. A tweet earlier this year when he suggested London was no longer an English city received a storm of criticism, including not one but two scathing columns in the Washington Post. (When informed of this, Cleese laughs uproariously and says he had no idea before asking me to send links to his publicist.) But for the most part, his tweets seem to focus on things he finds amusing, distressing or both.
This curious mix of amusement and despair has been the thrust behind his Why There is No Hope Tour, which returns him to Calgary Sunday for a performance at the Jack Singer Concert Hall. It requires Cleese to constantly be on the lookout for new material.
“I'm updating it all the time because I'm very amused whenever I come across something factual, purely factual, that reconfirms my basic ideas, which is that nobody knows what they are doing and almost nobody knows what they are talking about,” he says.
“I am trying to convince people, seriously, there is no hope, that there will never be a proper, organized, kind, intelligent society.
“It's not possible. The power-driven people are so desperate for power that they will always do anything, ultimately, not to give power up. So there is no real morality. But that doesn't mean you can't retire in a safe distance from the world and have a thoroughly nice life with wonderful friends and pets, which are vastly preferable to children.”
This world view is only strengthened by what he sees in the United States and, specifically, the strange spectre of President Donald Trump and his admirers. Alongside the British media, another favourite target on his Twitter account, Trump seems to constantly be front of mind for Cleese.
“I follow it a bit obsessively because I think if he gets re-elected it will be the end of civilization as we know it,” he says.
“What is so fascinating is not that a monster, an idiot, a delusional narcissist and paranoid like Trump can get to power, it's the support he has. Especially from the evangelists, who are supposed to know a little bit about the teachings of Christ. I don't know to what extent they think Christ's behaviour corresponds to Trump's. They are two opposite ends of the spectrum, which doesn't bother them at all. They love him because he is apparently conservative. If you think Christ was a conservative, you haven't understood.”
Which may be why Cleese is happy to be touring Canada again, a country where he says he would happily live were it not for the cold weather. The previous Canadian leg of the Why There is No Hope Tour saw him performing for 28,000 fans over 14 shows. Cleese has a long history with the Great White North.
In 1973, Monty Python was broadcast by the CBC and a live tour was extended into Canada, marking the iconic comedy troupe's first foray into North America as a live act.
“First of all, you're a very nice bunch,” he says.
“Everybody says that all over the world. I feel very much the same about the Australians. You don't take yourselves too seriously, you have a wonderful sense of humour and basically you are kind and friendly.”
Power-driven people are so desperate for power that they will always do anything, ultimately, not to give power up. So there is no real morality.