{"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

Reprinted from our Spring 1999 issue.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike most professors, John Cleese is a member of the famed British comedy troupe, Monty Python. And unlike most college humor magazines, the 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…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunatic: <\/strong>How often do you plan to visit Ithaca?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ll probably come in April and November and next year more… maybe four or five visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Cleese: <\/strong>Given a choice between\u00a0one\u00a0that I think was a well-structured story and three or four of the better Fawlty Towers<\/em>, it would be hard for me to choose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunatic:\u00a0<\/strong>Speaking of\u00a0Fawlty Towers, TV Guide <\/em>recently named two\u00a0Monty Python\u00a0<\/em>sketches and an episode of\u00a0Fawlty 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

Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>Oh\u00a0yes!\u00a0Let\u00a0me\u00a0tell\u00a0you,\u00a0I\u00a0grew up on American humor… 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… and Frazier <\/em>I like a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunatic: <\/strong>Is it true you\u2019re going to take over for the character Q in the James Bond \ufb01lms?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Lunatic: <\/strong>What\u2019s the status of the rumored Monty Python reunion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>Well,\u00a0I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know.\u00a0And\u00a0none of the Pythons know, because it\u2019s impossible to get us in a room… and\u00a0if we do, people charge their mind the next morning… 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

Lunatic: <\/strong>So, you wouldn\u2019t be stopping in Ithaca?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re gonna offer them to come… it\u2019ll either be drugs or girls or caviar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Cleese: <\/strong>Oprah? Oprah to be in it? I don\u2019t know her that well. I don\u2019t watch that much television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunatic: <\/strong>Who is your favorite Teletubby?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve never seen it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[From the adjacent room, Cleese\u2019s wife shouts, \u201cYour granddaughter loves it!\u201d] <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleese: <\/strong>Well… then I\u2019ll say Hieronymous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunatic: <\/strong>What\u2019s the funniest language?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleese:\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0funniest\u00a0language?\u00a0Dutch. Someone once said it\u2019s one of the most unlikely set of noises…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunatic: <\/strong>Dutch is my major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleese:<\/strong> WHAT?! <\/em>I\u2019ve never met anyone in my life who\u2019s learning Dutch. That would be wonderful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunatic: <\/strong>Can we give you a free copy of our magazine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleese: <\/strong>Is this a trick?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While \ufb02ipping through a recent issue of the 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>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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