Exclusive: John Cleese’s Channel 4 show about cancel culture appears to be a dead parrot.
The Monty Python legend announced the project in 2021, pledging to discover how the “impeccable idea of ‘Let’s all be kind to people’ has been developed in some cases ad absurdum.”
John Cleese: Cancel Me was slated to be produced by Clarkson’s Farm outfit Expectation, but nearly three years after being announced, filming has not taken place.
One source close to the show said Channel 4 could not come to a deal with Cleese, while a second person said the broadcaster was unable to make production work with his diary.
Channel 4 sources said the broadcaster would like to return to the project. It is unclear if Cleese feels the same way. His rep has been contacted for comment.
When the show was announced, Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer Ian Katz said: “The argument over...
The Monty Python legend announced the project in 2021, pledging to discover how the “impeccable idea of ‘Let’s all be kind to people’ has been developed in some cases ad absurdum.”
John Cleese: Cancel Me was slated to be produced by Clarkson’s Farm outfit Expectation, but nearly three years after being announced, filming has not taken place.
One source close to the show said Channel 4 could not come to a deal with Cleese, while a second person said the broadcaster was unable to make production work with his diary.
Channel 4 sources said the broadcaster would like to return to the project. It is unclear if Cleese feels the same way. His rep has been contacted for comment.
When the show was announced, Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer Ian Katz said: “The argument over...
- 4/19/2024
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
The Fawlty Towers revival continues apace.
Not content with rebooting the TV series with Rob Reiner, John Cleese has now penned a stage adaptation of three episodes of the 40-year-old BBC series, which is widely considered one of the best British shows of all time.
Fawlty Towers: The Play is based on three episodes: “The Hotel Inspectors,” “The Germans” and “Communication Problems,” and will merge the three into one. One of the episodes, “The Germans,” has caused a stir in recent years as a character repeatedly uses the N-word in reference to members of the West Indies cricket team. It was briefly taken down from UKTV’s streaming service four years ago before being reinstated.
Cleese said he has “assembled a top-class group of comedy actors” and written “one huge finale” to the play.
It was originally staged in Australia but is now coming to London’s West End Apollo Theatre,...
Not content with rebooting the TV series with Rob Reiner, John Cleese has now penned a stage adaptation of three episodes of the 40-year-old BBC series, which is widely considered one of the best British shows of all time.
Fawlty Towers: The Play is based on three episodes: “The Hotel Inspectors,” “The Germans” and “Communication Problems,” and will merge the three into one. One of the episodes, “The Germans,” has caused a stir in recent years as a character repeatedly uses the N-word in reference to members of the West Indies cricket team. It was briefly taken down from UKTV’s streaming service four years ago before being reinstated.
Cleese said he has “assembled a top-class group of comedy actors” and written “one huge finale” to the play.
It was originally staged in Australia but is now coming to London’s West End Apollo Theatre,...
- 2/2/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
The current generation will likely know John Cleese for his Tweets and his Gb News project "The Dinosaur Hour," which recently saw him trading witticisms with Stephen Fry in a 12th-century castle for some reason. Which is a shame because at one time he was pretty much unanimously viewed as a British national treasure and comedy great. So much so that when he dropped in on the "Cheers" crowd back in the '80s, he basically caused the whole show to buckle under the weight of his reputation, at least until the writers managed to compose themselves enough to get his episode back on track.
Appearing in the season 5 installment "Simon Says," Cleese played Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, a renowned marriage counselor and friend of Kelsey Grammer's Frasier Crane, who at one time attended Oxford with the distinguished doctor. Presumably, in the "Cheers"-verse, Finch-Royce was also a friend of Alan Cornwall,...
Appearing in the season 5 installment "Simon Says," Cleese played Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, a renowned marriage counselor and friend of Kelsey Grammer's Frasier Crane, who at one time attended Oxford with the distinguished doctor. Presumably, in the "Cheers"-verse, Finch-Royce was also a friend of Alan Cornwall,...
- 1/1/2024
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
John Cleese spent Boxing Day courting controversy on X (formerly Twitter) after he posted a joke in which he compared Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. The joke rubbed many of the comedian’s followers the wrong way, prompting Cleese to issue several responses in which he somewhat trolled those who took his post as fact and didn’t realize he was clearly messing around.
The joke featured Cleese listing “five ways Hitler was preferable to Trump” (“1. He fought for his country 2. He never used a teleprompter 3. He was nice to dogs 4. He wrote his own books 5. He never played golf 6. He wasn’t a big fat slob”), following by “five ways Trump is preferable to Hitler” (“1. He doesn’t practice genocide 2. He has nicer hair 3… 4… 5…”). It was clearly a joke for Cleese, but many of his followers weren’t laughing.
Almost immediately, Cleese issued an apology post: “I would like...
The joke featured Cleese listing “five ways Hitler was preferable to Trump” (“1. He fought for his country 2. He never used a teleprompter 3. He was nice to dogs 4. He wrote his own books 5. He never played golf 6. He wasn’t a big fat slob”), following by “five ways Trump is preferable to Hitler” (“1. He doesn’t practice genocide 2. He has nicer hair 3… 4… 5…”). It was clearly a joke for Cleese, but many of his followers weren’t laughing.
Almost immediately, Cleese issued an apology post: “I would like...
- 12/27/2023
- by Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
British comedian and actor John Cleese has sparked controversy after comparing Donald Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
In a message posted on X, the A Fish Called Wanda, Fawlty Towers and Monty Python actor wrote that there were five ways in which Hitler was preferable to Trump, who is seeking re-election to the White House.
“1. He fought for his country 2. He never used a teleprompter 3. He was nice to dogs 4. He wrote his own books 5. He never played golf 6. He wasn’t a big fat slob,” wrote Cleese.
He continued by listing five ways Trump is preferable to Hitler, writing “1. doesn’t practice genocide 2. He has nicer hair,” and leaving the other three spaces empty.
The message, which has been viewed more than one million times, prompted hundreds of below-the-line responses, with many criticizing comedian Cleese for the comparison, and others writing it was clearly meant in jest.
Cleese...
In a message posted on X, the A Fish Called Wanda, Fawlty Towers and Monty Python actor wrote that there were five ways in which Hitler was preferable to Trump, who is seeking re-election to the White House.
“1. He fought for his country 2. He never used a teleprompter 3. He was nice to dogs 4. He wrote his own books 5. He never played golf 6. He wasn’t a big fat slob,” wrote Cleese.
He continued by listing five ways Trump is preferable to Hitler, writing “1. doesn’t practice genocide 2. He has nicer hair,” and leaving the other three spaces empty.
The message, which has been viewed more than one million times, prompted hundreds of below-the-line responses, with many criticizing comedian Cleese for the comparison, and others writing it was clearly meant in jest.
Cleese...
- 12/27/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
John Cleese, the comedy veteran star of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers, has made a surprising admission – that he once killed a man.
Cleese wrote and appeared in the comedy hit film A Fish Called Wanda – also starring Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis – and he revealed in the latest episode of his new talk show that one man was laughing so much during a screening of the film, he had a cardiac arrest and died.
Cleese expanded on the story during a conversation in his Gb News series, The Dinosaur Hour, saying:
“Kevin Kline and I killed a man in Denmark. He was a dentist, he had a huge laugh. A famous laugh. Very popular. It was in Aarhus, not a big town, but everybody knew him.
“And he went to see Wanda and he started laughing about two minutes in and never stopped.
They carried him out dead,...
Cleese wrote and appeared in the comedy hit film A Fish Called Wanda – also starring Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis – and he revealed in the latest episode of his new talk show that one man was laughing so much during a screening of the film, he had a cardiac arrest and died.
Cleese expanded on the story during a conversation in his Gb News series, The Dinosaur Hour, saying:
“Kevin Kline and I killed a man in Denmark. He was a dentist, he had a huge laugh. A famous laugh. Very popular. It was in Aarhus, not a big town, but everybody knew him.
“And he went to see Wanda and he started laughing about two minutes in and never stopped.
They carried him out dead,...
- 11/18/2023
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
John Cleese, founder member of seminal British comedy group Monty Python, has said that they were “early targets of cancel culture.”
Cleese was speaking with The Sunday Times about his new Gb News chat show “The Dinosaur Hour,” which has an episode on cancel culture. Monty Python’s 1979 film “Life of Brian” caused a furore when it released among some members of the Christian community.
“You could say that we were early targets of cancel culture,” Cleese told The Sunday Times. “People don’t like to have their cherished ideas punctured or questioned. We all love to live in our own closed systems of thought, to be surrounded by people who think a bit like us. This is what happens on the internet too, where you get these blasted echo chambers. It’s why comedy is even more important today as a way of pricking those bubbles, opening them up,...
Cleese was speaking with The Sunday Times about his new Gb News chat show “The Dinosaur Hour,” which has an episode on cancel culture. Monty Python’s 1979 film “Life of Brian” caused a furore when it released among some members of the Christian community.
“You could say that we were early targets of cancel culture,” Cleese told The Sunday Times. “People don’t like to have their cherished ideas punctured or questioned. We all love to live in our own closed systems of thought, to be surrounded by people who think a bit like us. This is what happens on the internet too, where you get these blasted echo chambers. It’s why comedy is even more important today as a way of pricking those bubbles, opening them up,...
- 10/30/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
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