Michael Palin decided to give up on his considerable comedy talents to make those dreadfully tedious travel shows. Have you ever tried to watch one? – John Cleese
The really good idea is always traceable back quite a long way, often to a not very good idea which sparked off another idea that was only slightly better, which somebody else misunderstood in such a way that they then said something which was really rather interesting. – John Cleese
God was treated like this powerful, erratic, rather punitive father who has to be pacified and praised. You know, flattered. – John Cleese
When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy. – John Cleese
I was very sad to hear of the death of Ronnie Barker, who was such a warm, friendly and encouraging presence to have when I started in television. He was also a great comic actor to learn from. – John Cleese
I can’t tell you how scary it can be walking onto a movie and suddenly joining this family, it’s like going to somebody else’s Christmas dinner, everyone knows everyone, and you’re there and you’re not quite sure what you’re supposed to be doing. – John Cleese
In Britain, girls seem to be either bright or attractive. In America, that’s not the case. They’re both. – John Cleese
If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth. – John Cleese
The thrill I got discovering Buster Keaton when I was growing up was so exciting. He was one of the greats. – John Cleese
I just think that sometimes we hang onto people or relationships long after they’ve ceased to be of any use to either of you. I’m always meeting new people, and my list of friends seems to change quite a bit. – John Cleese
I think that sometimes you do something that makes a small group of people laugh, which is all we were trying to do; we were just trying to make each other laugh. – John Cleese
It seems astounding to me now that the video games are perhaps as important as the movie themselves. And people will spend 2 or 3 years obsessing about the video game in exactly the same way that they’d be obsessing about the movie if they were working on that. – John Cleese
Some actors, I think, want to feel that they are as creative as the writer. And the answer is, frankly, they’re not. – John Cleese
I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me. – John Cleese
I tend to have an odd split in my mind: I tend to look at it as a writer and when the writing thing is OK and I’m happy with it, then I put on my actor’s hat. – John Cleese
I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that’s to get rid of all my other desires. – John Cleese
I don’t miss London much. I find it crowded, vast and difficult to get around. Cabs are incredibly expensive. – John Cleese
I was always a sports nut but I’ve lost interest now in whether one bunch of mercenaries in north London is going to beat another bunch of mercenaries from west London. – John Cleese
Don’t let anyone tell you what you ought to like… Some wines that some experts think are absolutely exquisite don’t appeal to me at all. – John Cleese
For me, the great problem growing up in England was that I had a very narrow concept of what God can be, and it was damn close to an old man with a beard. – John Cleese
I would say that I began with a very edgy, very driven personality and after a sufficient amount of therapy over many, many years, I managed to become rather relaxed and happy. – John Cleese
