Black Cat Bone

Fawlty Towers is probably the most universally lived sitcom ever, 12 episodes of hilarity, 30 min. each. And then they quit, at the peak. You'd think that between that and the Pythons John Cleese would have the pick of movies, but there are surprisingly few really good ones that can match the television work.

The best:
Life of Brian
Clockwise
A Fish Called Wanda

Avoid:
Fierce Creatures
Spud
Privates on Parade

Sometime between A Fish Called Wanda and the writing, filming or editing of Fierce Creatures, JC apparently started relying heavily on focus groups for their feedback and simply stopped being funny. If you ever see him on chat shows now, he's become exactly the sort of small-minded Middle Englander he used to send up so brilliantly.

Couple of other good movies he was in - The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer and Silverado

He was in a dreadful Terry and June style sitcom fairly recently. It was like a sitcom from the 1970s and it was a bit sad to see him involved in something so blandly mediocre.

I cut him more slack than almost anyone. Bless his heart.

I guess he's been grumpy a long time but it's weird seeing it sort of become his default position.
damn those focus groups!

In the most recent clips I've seen, he doesn't really come off as grumpy at all. I mean, I'm sure he has his moments like any of us, but on the whole he seems quite open and lovely.

Even when he was being grumpy a lot, I always took it for an act.

I confess, I rather adore him.

Charlie O. wrote:In the most recent clips I've seen, he doesn't really come off as grumpy at all. I mean, I'm sure he has his moments like any of us, but on the whole he seems quite open and lovely.

Even when he was being grumpy a lot, I always took it for an act.

I confess, I rather adore him.

Oh god me too. If I met him I’d be hopeless. Total fangirl.

I nursed him in my private hospital days and he was an absolute gent. His wife at the time though was a grade A shithouse.

she wasn't by any chance a statuesque American blonde woman?

Sam Stone wrote:she wasn't by any chance a statuesque American blonde woman?

Yep.

JC always seems to get married to the same sort of woman with predictably ruinous divorces to follow.

IIRC, he claimed he was only doing his live tour of a few years back to pay his alimony settlement to his last but one wife (Alice someone). The only exception would seem to be the lovely Connie Booth. While blonde and American she doesn't seem especially statuesque - still two out of three ain't bad.

FWIW, CB is apparently now a psychologist and one of JC's daughters is a stand-up comedian