{"id":1992,"date":"2026-06-21T14:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cornelllunatic.com\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2026-06-21T23:27:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:27:34","slug":"the-cornell-lunatic-interview-with-john-cleese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?p=1992","title":{"rendered":"The Cornell Lunatic Interview with John Cleese"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Reprinted from our Spring 1999 issue.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">Few Cornell students would voluntarily line up for hours just for the opportunity to hear a professor lecture. Maybe that loser kid who highlights everything in the textbook would. I mean, he\u2019s really a top-notch student. But as for the rest of us, it would take someone really special. Someone like Carl Sagan. Or someone alive, like John Cleese.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike most professors, John Cleese is a member of the famed British comedy troupe, Monty Python. And unlike most college humor magazines, the <em>Lunatic<\/em> got a chance earlier this semester to speak with Mr. Cleese, now an official A. D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell. And he\u2019s also British, which was my favourite aspect of the whole interview. And now for something completely different from our usual array of humor pieces and bad puns&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:&nbsp;<\/strong>How often do you plan to visit Ithaca?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ll probably come in April and November and next year more&#8230; maybe four or five visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:\u00a0<\/strong>If there were a Cornell class on writing and performing humor, and one piece from your body of work would be included in the curriculum, which do you think it should be and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese: <\/strong>Given a choice between\u00a0one\u00a0that I think was a well-structured story and three or four of the better <em>Fawlty Towers<\/em>, it would be hard for me to choose.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:\u00a0<\/strong>Speaking of\u00a0<em>Fawlty Towers, TV Guide <\/em>recently named two\u00a0<em>Monty Python\u00a0<\/em>sketches and an episode of\u00a0<em>Fawlty Towers\u00a0<\/em>among \u201cThe 50 Funniest TV Moments of All Time.\u201d Are there any American TV\u00a0shows\u00a0that make\u00a0you\u00a0laugh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>Oh\u00a0yes!\u00a0Let\u00a0me\u00a0tell\u00a0you,\u00a0I\u00a0grew up on American humor&#8230; now I think you have currently much better humor than we have in England. I\u2019m not that impressed\u00a0by\u00a0anything\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0going\u00a0on\u00a0in England\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0moment.\u00a0And\u00a0I\u00a0think\u00a03rd Rock is very, very good&#8230; and <em>Frazier <\/em>I like a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:&nbsp;<\/strong>Is&nbsp;it&nbsp;true&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;going&nbsp;to&nbsp;take over for the character Q in the James Bond \ufb01lms?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u00a0did\u00a0a\u00a0day\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0James\u00a0Bond film. I\u2019m gonna take over eventually. I\u2019m playing a character named R, an assistant to Q.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:&nbsp;<\/strong>What\u2019s the status of the rumored Monty Python reunion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>Well,\u00a0I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know.\u00a0And\u00a0none of the Pythons know, because it\u2019s impossible to get us in a room&#8230; and\u00a0if we do, people charge their mind the next morning&#8230; But as far as I can make out, there\u2019s a very fair chance we might do it in New York for a couple of weeks in the spring of next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:&nbsp;<\/strong>So,&nbsp;you&nbsp;wouldn\u2019t&nbsp;be&nbsp;stopping in Ithaca?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re gonna offer them to come&#8230; it\u2019ll either be drugs or girls or caviar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:\u00a0<\/strong>We won\u2019t hold our breath. Author Toni Morrison is also a Cornell Professor-at-Large. If someone turns one of your books into a movie, would you want Oprah to be in it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:&nbsp;<\/strong>Oprah? Oprah to be&nbsp;in it? I don\u2019t know her that well. I don\u2019t watch that much&nbsp;television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:&nbsp;<\/strong>Who&nbsp;is&nbsp;your&nbsp;favorite&nbsp;Teletubby?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve never seen it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>[From the adjacent room, Cleese\u2019s wife shouts, \u201cYour granddaughter loves it!\u201d] <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese: <\/strong>Well&#8230; then I\u2019ll say Hieronymous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:&nbsp;<\/strong>What\u2019s&nbsp;the&nbsp;funniest&nbsp;language?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0funniest\u00a0language?\u00a0Dutch. Someone once said it\u2019s one of the most unlikely set of noises&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:&nbsp;<\/strong>Dutch&nbsp;is&nbsp;my&nbsp;major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:<\/strong> <em>WHAT?! <\/em>I\u2019ve never met anyone in my life who\u2019s learning Dutch. That would be wonderful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lunatic:&nbsp;<\/strong>Can&nbsp;we&nbsp;give&nbsp;you&nbsp;a&nbsp;free&nbsp;copy of our magazine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cleese:&nbsp;<\/strong>Is&nbsp;this&nbsp;a&nbsp;trick?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While \ufb02ipping through a recent issue&nbsp;of the&nbsp;<em>Lunatic<\/em>, Professor Cleese is immediately disgusted with our unique brand of collegiate satire and proceeds to kick the interviewer\u2019s ass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p> <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?p=1992\" title=\"The Cornell Lunatic Interview with John Cleese\"><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","category-featured"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Nlau-w8","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":742,"url":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?p=742","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":0},"title":"LL Cool J&#8217;s \u201cMama Said Knock You Out\u201d: An Analysis of Some Lyrics of this Famous \u201990s Song","author":"The Cornell Lunatic","date":"October 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Don\u2019t call it a comeback, I been here for years \/ Rocking my peers and putting suckas in fears\u201d In this rocking start to the song, LL Cool J emphasizes the fact that he is God, our Lord and Heavenly Father. He\u2019s been here for so many years that one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Content&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Content","link":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ll-cool-j-lunatic.png?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ll-cool-j-lunatic.png?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ll-cool-j-lunatic.png?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ll-cool-j-lunatic.png?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":589,"url":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?p=589","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":1},"title":"10 Reasons You Should Read Our Upcoming Issue","author":"The Cornell Lunatic","date":"January 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This semester, we have a \u201cheaven and hell\u201d theme for the magazine. You can have fun reading some slightly funny pieces while learning about God, Lucifer, and their love child: Ezra Cornell. Last semester, we raised over $10,000 dollars from alumni and other generous donors. Imagine if you could raise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Content&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Content","link":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HeavenHell.png?fit=811%2C510&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HeavenHell.png?fit=811%2C510&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HeavenHell.png?fit=811%2C510&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HeavenHell.png?fit=811%2C510&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1132,"url":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?p=1132","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":2},"title":"Writing for the Cornell Lunatic Is the New Punk Rock","author":"The Cornell Lunatic","date":"January 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, we\u2019re family-unfriendly. Unethical? Unquestionably! And boy, you better believe we\u2019re inappropriate. We are the Lunatic, and we\u2019re not ashamed to be lunatics. We are lunatics, because we don\u2019t shy away from topics that make everyone else cower in fear. We\u2019re not afraid to write about our desperate desires to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Content&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Content","link":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/thanks-matthew-press.png?fit=778%2C479&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/thanks-matthew-press.png?fit=778%2C479&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/thanks-matthew-press.png?fit=778%2C479&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/thanks-matthew-press.png?fit=778%2C479&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":523,"url":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?p=523","url_meta":{"origin":1992,"position":3},"title":"Hangman","author":"The Cornell Lunatic","date":"November 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Use the arrow keys to play the Cornell Lunatic\u2019s version of Hangman! 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However, rarely do we get a career performing these activities, as we will often end up selling our souls as we work on Wall Street making ridiculous amounts of money and start claiming that we are \u201csocially\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Content&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Content","link":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/RonFunches.jpg?fit=700%2C933&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/RonFunches.jpg?fit=700%2C933&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/RonFunches.jpg?fit=700%2C933&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/RonFunches.jpg?fit=700%2C933&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cornelllunatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Readers-John-Cleese.gif?fit=228%2C185&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1992"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2303,"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions\/2303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornelllunatic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}