John Cleese Discusses Creativity, Political Correctness, Monty Python, and Artichokes

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Stupidity and nonsense, of course, were the prime targets of Monty Python, the anarchic comedy group that Cleese formed, in 1969, with Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Graham Chapman. “Monty Python’s goal,” Dave Eggers wrote in The New Yorker, in 2004, “was not only to make audiences laugh but, just as important, to tear apart the medium of television with extreme prejudice.” Its début series, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” stepped like a giant, naked foot on the mannerly English culture that Cleese now reveres. But Cleese’s career has stretched far beyond Monty Python, notably including the farcical sitcom “Fawlty Towers” and his Oscar-nominated screenplay for “A Fish Called Wanda.” He’s also written several books, including a best-selling memoir of his early years, “So, Anyway . . .,” and a new handbook called “Creativity,” which is billed as a “short and cheerful guide.”

“I wanted thirteen-year-olds to be able to read it in an hour,” Cleese told me, when he appeared in our Zoom room. He was speaking from—of all places—London, where he was passing through after shooting a movie in York. (“We were in a bubble, or whatever they call it.”) He had spent much of the pandemic Stateside, at a hotel in Bel Air, working on a musical version of “Wanda” and a stage adaptation of “Monty Python’s Life of Brian.” Next, he was off to Mustique with his wife, and after that—who knows? “We’re lucky to be alive, really,” he said, sitting in front of a picture of nuzzling zebras. Before we got to his recent spate of political skirmishes, our conversation (which has been edited and condensed) began on the subject of his new book.