Quote

I can never do better than 'Fawlty Towers,' whatever I do. Now I very much want to teach young talent some rules of the game.

John Cleese

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

John Cleese
Age: 85
Born: 1939
Born: October 27
Actor
Autobiographer
Comedian
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Voice Actor
Writer
Weston-super-Mare
Somerset
John Marwood Cleese
Whatever
Young
Better
Towers
Much
Rules
Never
Talent
Game
Teach
Games

More quotes by John Cleese

Image
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
Image
Loving your neighbour as much as yourself is practically bloody impossible? You might as well have a commandment that states,'Thou shalt fly'.
John Cleese
Image
I think that money spoils most things, once it becomes the primary motivating force.
John Cleese
Image
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
Image
Basil Fawlty was an easy character for me. For some reason, portraying a mean, uptight, incompetent bully comes naturally to me.
John Cleese
Image
There's something about watching an animal that puts you in contact with where we came from and what we're still a part of.
John Cleese
Image
Aping urbanity, Oozing with vanity, Plump as a manatee, Faking humanity, Intellectual inanity, Journalistic calamity, Fox Noise insanity, You're a profanity, Hannity.
John Cleese
Image
If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time for considering alternative strategies... Do it in the 'closed' mode. But the moment the action is over, try to return to the 'open' mode... because in that mode we are the most aware, most receptive, most creative, and therefore at our most intelligent.
John Cleese
Image
Bureaucrats shouldn't be in charge of comedy.
John Cleese
Image
I would like to do my own eulogy, and then shoot myself and then get in the coffin.
John Cleese
Image
Who's ever going to write a film in which I get the girl? Me!
John Cleese
Image
Filming is like a long air journey: there's so much hanging around and boredom that they keep giving you food.
John Cleese
Image
years ago we would have been burned for this. Now what I am suggesting is that we've advanced.
John Cleese
Image
By watching the great, old comedians I picked up a few tricks about how to do physical comedy. And whenever I could learn something, I sort of added that to my repertoire.
John Cleese
Image
Now most people do not want an ordinary life in which they do a job well, earn the respect of their collaborators and competitors, bring up a family and have friends. That's not enough any more, and I think that is absolutely tragic - and I'm not exaggerating - that people feel like a decent, ordinary, fun life is no longer enough.
John Cleese
Image
Filming takes a lot out of you. It really does. It's immensely demanding, and you have to put the rest of your life in the icebox until you do your final shot.
John Cleese
Image
Students who laugh more- learn more. Students who laugh more earn more.
John Cleese
Image
I think the problem with people like this is that they are so stupid that they have no idea how stupid they are.
John Cleese
Image
Although I had good hand-eye coordination, I was so tall and skinny and muscularly weak that I just was not well coordinated. But what I started to do quite early on was watch some of the great old silent comedians, like Laurel and Hardy and Chaplin, and then later on Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton.
John Cleese
Image
The Americans all love 'The Holy Grail', and the English all love 'Life Of Brian', and I'm afraid on this one, I side with the English.
John Cleese