By Uday Duggal

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I know what you’re all thinking. My God, he’s gotten old.”

With these words of introduction, a navy-blazered, brown-loafered John Cleese strode onstage at the University Cultural Centre last night.

Despite his opening self-deprecating assessment, the 74-year old seemed sprightly. For nearly two hours, he spoke about growing up in quiet Weston Super-Mare, a town and seaside resort (“Or, as my dad would say, a seaside last resort”) in Southwest England, before examining the highlights of his career, covering the Monty Python days all the way to his classic film, ‘A Fish Called Wanda’.

Source: LA Comedy Live Facebook (Photo by Aloysius Sim)

The show was liberally sprinkled with photographs and clips (well-loved scenes and rare snippets alike) that Cleese drew upon to great effect.

Watching Cleese’s performances in the clips only served to add to the magic of seeing him in the flesh. They were potent reminders of the man’s vast and varied body of work, from his role as the perpetually apoplectic Basil Fawlty to the fish-slapping silliness of Monty Python.

Cleese did not disappoint, delivering a night filled with memorable lines. 

On His Mother:

“My mother wasn’t a demanding woman. There was only one thing, one little thing, that she wanted; and that was her own way.”

“What brought colour to my mother’s life were her varied phobias… Claustrophobia, agoraphobia… So, you know, finding the right amount of space could be tricky… she was also petrified of fire, water, raccoons, Belgians, combine harvesters, and Princess Margaret.”

“So I said, Mother, if you really are feeling that down, I know a little man in Fulham, and if you like, only if you like, I could ask him to come down to Weston and kill you. She laughed at that tremendously, it never failed to cheer her up.”

On Starting a Career:

“I emerged with a law degree, was lucky enough to start work with a very important firm named Freshfields; they were solicitors for the Bank of England, and that is the story of how I got into showbusiness.”

On Actors:

“I thought then of trying acting work but that would mean -shudders- working with actors, and you know, they’re a fairly dim bunch…”

On Touring:

“We left Britain in the summer of 1964, and arrived in New Zealand in the autumn, of course, as it was their autumn, of 1922. Nothing worked in that country, and the Kiwis were rather proud of that.”

“We had to change some of the things because New York audiences didn’t understand anything that wasn’t about them.”

On The Mentality Of British Hotels:

“You know, we could run this place properly, if not for all the bloody guests.”

On Fellow Python Graham Chapman:

“Many Python fans don’t know Graham was a marvellous mime. He could do a hilarious wrestling-match-against-himself, which he would invariably lose, and he could also do the world’s best impression of a tangerine.”

Of course, you wouldn’t expect the man who once knocked out his co-star on set to pull any punches.

Cleese sent the audience packing with a final quip to cap an excellent evening: “Thank you so much for being the best Monday night audience I’ve had… all week.”

Top photo from here.

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