John Cleese
Overview
John Marwood Cleese (ˈ; born 27 October 1939) is 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
The Frost Report
The Frost Report was a satirical television show hosted by David Frost. It ran for 29 episodes from 1966 to 1967. It is most notable for introducing John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett to television and also launching the careers of several comedians and performers.The main cast were...

. In the late 1960s he became a member of Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...

and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different
And Now For Something Completely Different
And Now for Something Completely Different is a film spin-off from the television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus featuring favorite sketches from the first two seasons. The title was used as a catchphrase in the television show....

, The Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1974 British comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...

, Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team...

, and The Meaning of Life.

In the mid 1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth
Connie Booth
Constance "Connie" Booth is an American-born writer and actress, known for appearances on British television and particularly for her portrayal of Polly Sherman in the popular 1970s television show Fawlty Towers, which she co-wrote with her then-husband John Cleese.-Biography:Booth's father was a...

, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...

.
Quotations

Six hundred years ago we would have been burned for this. Now, what I'm suggesting is that we've advanced.

Defending the film Life of Brian|Life of Brian on BBC chat show Friday Night Saturday Morning|Friday Night Saturday Morning (9 November 1979)

If I like chocolate it won't surprise you that I have a few chocolates in my fridge, but if you find out I've got 16 warehouses full of chocolate, you'd think I was insane. All these rich guys are insane, obsessive compulsive twits obsessed with money — money is all they think about — they're all nuts.

On Fresh Air|Fresh Air with Terry Gross, promoting Fierce Creatures|Fierce Creatures, which Cleese says is a satire about Rupert Murdoch|Rupert Murdoch's greed. (1997)

If I had not gone into Monty Python, I probably would have stuck to my original plan to graduate and become a chartered accountant, perhaps a barrister lawyer, and gotten a nice house in the suburbs, with a nice wife and kids, and gotten a country club membership, and then I would have killed myself.

On Fresh Air with Terry Gross (1997)

He who laughs most, learns best.

As quoted in Creating Emotionally Safe Schools : A Guide for Educators and Parents‎ (2001) by Jane Bluestein, p. 215

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.

As quoted in Best New Games (2002) by Dale N. LeFevre, p. 9

If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?

As quoted in W.T.F.? : (What Is Wrong With Tom Faerie?)‎ (2006) by H. M. Leathem

 
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