"It tells us a lot about how people respond to other people, that it's helplessness that makes us feel good about them, and if they can look after themselves we don't like them."
I still think Fawlty towers was the best comedy series of all time . Each episode was a classic . Beautifully crafted and performed. Unlike American sitcoms not dragged on and on, till you cant stand the sight of them anymore. Just brilliance.
Loved also the supporting character of the Major. Such as when the moose head was resting on the reception desk, manuel was out of sight cleaning shelving below counter, started a conversation with the major who then thought it was the moose head speaking to him. "Japanese is it, eh what?" "No, Canadian I think major"
Cleese's hallmark is rigorous logic. All his sketches build and escalate perfectly. Fawlty Towers is a work of genius, co-written with Connie Booth of course whose contribution should never be underestimated, FT is the best thing Cleese ever did and the only thing written with Booth
Thank you for never giving into the pressure of making MORE of these. This is a timeless piece of art that should never be tampered with and can never be competed with.
The Kipper and the Corpse was probably the only time Basil came out the victor by just diving into the laundry basket and leaving Sybil to have to deal with the entire catastrophe. Mrs Richards was a hysterical episode but poor old Basil still lost out when Sybil took his money off of him.
Major: (sees Basil with a dead guest) "I say Fawlty, he doesn't look quite the ticket" Basil: "Don't say anything Major but, he's dead" Major: "Ahh, shot was he?" 😂😂😂😂
We all are blessed knowing the wonderful dichotomy of Faulty Towers. This is a masterpiece from John Cleese, and their is no problem with what he says. We are blessed to see such wonder.
I didn't even know they would remake Fawlty Towers. Won't watch it. I never watched the remakes of Ghostbusters, Total Recall, Star Trek, Robocop, Pink Panther, etc etc etc. I hear about a remake and 99% of the time I go out of my way to never watch it, not even the trailer.
You do realise they have remade Fawlty Towers several times in one form or another since the last series right? The difference with this one is it's not being remade it's being continued with John Cleese and his daughter writing it.
@@PC1974 Unfortunately all legacies are ruined in the end, John has held off for decades, he actually had an idea for a movie where Basil went to visit Manuel in Spain and the flight was hijacked but ultimately said no however I think they need the money somehow, John lost alot of money due to his marriage break downs and he probably wants to help his daughter too.
I quite enjoyed this clip of John Cleese talking about Fawlty Towers in 1986. Obviously not as good as clips of John Cleese talking about Fawlty Towers in 1977 or in 1979 or even in 1981 but far far better than clips of John Cleese talking about Fawlty Towers in 1998- 2001- 2009 or 2024. What is your all time favourite year-clip of John Cleese talking about Fawlty Towers?
@@JohnBloggs-m8lWell thank you. Thank you very much for your well dones.Very much appreciated . If your well dones were meant of course.It's hard to tell sometimes isn't it? Especially in type. No.. you're right. I don't expect Cleese will ever read this but we can only live in hope....Can't we? Anyway -thank you once again. Goodnight and God bless. Ps. Co-incidentally enough User-et6pj4db9s was my mother's name. You've made me come over all nostalgic now😭
@@scottandrewbrass1931 lol very good. You could form a new python with that gift for the style. I tried to do python comedy myself in my early 20s. I'm in my 40s now. You can get all sorts of stuff out of just writing sketches on and on like they did and not ending them like a conventional sketch show would. I have some good ones but they'll never see the light of day now. Here's one anyway, one show opens with a totally bedraggled bride and groom crawling across deserts to get to the wedding ceremony only for someone to object to the marriage based on the groom being a bigamist so it's voided and the couple die from dehydration after which a program discusses the morality of making newlyweds traverse vast expanses to prove their commitment to marriage, debated by two atheists passionately until the host reminds them that they're atheists so they realise they don't care and the entire program ends immediately. The wedding couple traversing a desert is the start point, I just made up the rest right now. But you see how one thing can lead to another which is what Python did. Another sketch show would just stop at the wedding itself but that's killing the comedy, it's much more fun to keep going like Mr Pithers bicycle tour.
@@scottandrewbrass1931 ah well, you got further with it than I ever will. I was mainly good at parroting other styles but that's not really considered much of a talent if you can't produce original material. A new Pythonesque sketch show would be good though. Anyway all the best.
@@JohnBloggs-m8l It's all bollocks. There's really no such thing as true originality . You should keep writing regardless what age you are. Just remember. You'll never be as shit as Nish Kumar. That thought always keeps me going through the long winter nights. Take care man.
I like the fact that they only done 12 quality episodes rather than it drag on & become stale, i.e. i quite enjoyed the original ' last of the summer wine ' but in the end there were too many characters in it and it became boring
@glenmorgan4597 Yeah, good point. Shows like Last of the Summer Wine end up long in the tooth. I guess I'll just have to watch the 12 episodes of Fawlty again, for the 50th time 😁😎
For the life of me I can't understand why Only Fools and Horses is considered the best British comedy ever. Personally I'd rate Fawlty Towers at 1 and Black Adder and Steptoe and Son as a coin flip for 2 & 3. Mind Your Language was a also a favourite of mine when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I found OF&H too predictable as a 13/24 year old, as it's irony. Rising Damp was excellent too.
Possibly the greatest British sitcom ever. (The US, overall, has produced many just as good, if not better: Cheers, Frasier, Seinfeld, Curb...even The Simpsons.)
Cannot deny the US efforts have been and are brilliant. Absolutely. However, the US ones rarely have that edge to them that British comedy (sometimes) does, the US ones play out within safe parameters. There is always that little bit of patronising of the audience with US material, as if they feel the people are a little too thick to get jokes that offer no punchline. I'd add 'South Park' to one of the US greats and as the creators of it do say they were influenced by British humour and Monty Python to boot, how about we call it a score draw :)
I'm reading 📚 👀 Out Stealing Horses 🐎 by Per Petterson ..."Petersson catches so effectively, the thing that haunts all of us: The knowledge of how fragile life is ...surprise ing, and breathtaking" 😅 - Daily Express ✨️
Looks at that magnificent 1980s childhood summer happening in the background behind him. One house along, a grand memory and a home video is being created. I feel transported back in time by the foliage. Just think, there are normal under 40s walking about somewhere just out of frame, who think it is ok to have a moustache and woolen tank top.
Very interesting. Especially that he and Connie would literally start with a blank sheet and end up filling it with the multi-complexities of a comedy narrative. I think also that Sybil’s role was God-like and very controlling and Basil was the only one daft enough to try and subvert it.
I've always been in awe of how people can just create these complex and hilarious stories from basically nothing. All the dialogue and comedic timing included. It must be nice being that creative.
I get that FT is well written, acted, and have nothing but respect for John Cleese. But something about the show just gives me anxeity, so it's hard to watch for me.
It seems they have a plot outlined and much is ad libbed or impovised and may have several running gags that hopefully all meet to a conclusion. A rather hit and miss affair. But all seem extremely memorable, hilarious and replayed. Yet, there were only 12 episodes. 6 in '75 a gap of 4 years and another 6 in '79. There were some great stuff on TV then. I find that with some actors such as John Cleese or Jerry Lewis, their explanations sound complicated and bewildering.
I dont think its that. People don't like Cybil because she's not funny. People like to laugh, people like to laugh AT peoples foibles and she is just unpleasant. People don't like Fawlty, they like JOHN CLEESE pretending to be Fawlty. He's a total a hole (fawlty) but he's an entertaining one. And because Cybil is not funny they 'blame her' for his unpleasantness, the reverse of the saying 'behind every good man is a good woman'. Or like how Pink Floyd talks about the horrible teacher but sings that his 'fat and psychopathic wife with thrash him within inches of his life". When the truth is likely the very opposite. In fact a remake of Fawlty Towers that would be possible today would be showing Cybils off time when she's having an affair with a man who isn't a violent lunatic and where she's funny, relaxed, kind, and the opposite to how she is with Basil. Or even more popular would be the porn version where she's having one with Polly:)
@@Kris.G The fashions, probably. Or maybe all the references to Henry Kissinger? I just rewatched it a few weeks ago and I think it holds up really well.
Gold standard of TV comedy. Amazing piece of work.
And a great interview. Probably one of the few times I've enjoyed hearing Cleese speak outside of the roles.
And it was at the time of this interview that the world was blessed with another clevery plotted show called Blackadder. What wonderful times!
"It tells us a lot about how people respond to other people, that it's helplessness that makes us feel good about them, and if they can look after themselves we don't like them."
I still think Fawlty towers was the best comedy series of all time . Each episode was a classic . Beautifully crafted and performed. Unlike American sitcoms not dragged on and on, till you cant stand the sight of them anymore. Just brilliance.
That's why british comedy is, and has always been, far superior to american. Just look at The Office.
Seinfeld beats Fawlty Towers.
@@ColtraneTaylor
Just 12 episodes! Amazing
@@ogelsmogel The US Office is a billion times superior.
Loved this program. Constantly laughed.
Loved also the supporting character of the Major. Such as when the moose head was resting on the reception desk, manuel was out of sight cleaning shelving below counter, started a conversation with the major who then thought it was the moose head speaking to him. "Japanese is it, eh what?" "No, Canadian I think major"
Cleese's hallmark is rigorous logic. All his sketches build and escalate perfectly. Fawlty Towers is a work of genius, co-written with Connie Booth of course whose contribution should never be underestimated, FT is the best thing Cleese ever did and the only thing written with Booth
Not true. He wrote _Snavely_ (1978) with Booth and _Romance with a Double Bass_ (1975) with her, even if she was uncredited in that one.
Mrs Richards! How lovely to see you!! ............(This always has me on the floor laughing!)
Basil Fawlty, always the hypocritical fawner, hating his customers even as he butters up to them...
Thank you for never giving into the pressure of making MORE of these. This is a timeless piece of art that should never be tampered with and can never be competed with.
Bro Cleese has confirmed he is in the process of making more fawlty towers
He HAS given in... and, based on the quality of his output since Fish Called Wanda... it won't be good
@@Will-hg6zs He's doing it for the money.
My fave setup is “there’s too much butter on those trays”, “no no”, “uno, dos, tres”
Que?? 🤔 😂
Shows that total commitment pays off,wonderfull series. Thank you John.
Cleese firing on all cylinders. The guy is hyper smart.
Cleese talks about comedy like it's a science.....just brilliant
It is, though. 🤣
Pure craft
Because it is.
No it isn’t.
It’s an art
I watched it as a kid. I’m now 60 and and I laugh out loud as if I was back in the ‘70s. ❤ There’s nothing that comes close to FT.
I liked Blackadder almost as much. Curb Your Enthusiasm is the other comedy series that could make me laugh out of loud most episodes.
Even after years I still laugh out loud as if I am hearing it for the first time.
The best comedy series ever.
Gold. Totally golden.
A brilliant interview about a brilliant comedy
The greatest English language comedy series in history. But sometimes the analysis of brilliance falls short...like in this video.
Top show, top man along with a Connie and the cast. We can’t do stuff like this anymore. Such a shame.
What is this obsession people have with romanticising the past by shitting on the present? At least you didn't start with 'back when'.
"We can't do stuff like this anymore." Cleese is literally still running a Fawlty Towers stage show in 2024. Cheer up!
@@NxDoyle name a good modern comedy show
@@mclarenrob2 Peep Show
The Kipper and the Corpse was probably the only time Basil came out the victor by just diving into the laundry basket and leaving Sybil to have to deal with the entire catastrophe. Mrs Richards was a hysterical episode but poor old Basil still lost out when Sybil took his money off of him.
Major: (sees Basil with a dead guest) "I say Fawlty, he doesn't look quite the ticket"
Basil: "Don't say anything Major but, he's dead"
Major: "Ahh, shot was he?"
😂😂😂😂
"I'm a doctor and I want my sausages!"
The Major: "I took her - I took her to see Indiaaa"
Basil: "Really?"
The Major: "At Lords!"
@@lm_b5080 "at the Oval"
"Manuel. Let me explain. (pokes him in the eye.) You understand?" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@lm_b5080 It sounds like you saw the stage show, which changed it to Lord's for some odd reason.
Cleese is a smart man , as are all the Monty Pythons. Sadly there are no comedians around today who can take their place on TV or popular culture.
The actress who played Mrs Richards, was perfectly casted for this role.
What?
She were casted right well
@@GHCLPZ SHE WAS PERFECTLY CASTED FOR THIS ROLE
@@GHCLPZ😂
Those are definitely mid 80's British tress behind John. God I miss them. Trees were better back then
You certainly should be very proud Mr. Cleese of what you achieved with Fawlty Towers
3:17 This is how i am entertained by productions in general: keep me guessing, give me left turns without being unbelievable.
We all are blessed knowing the wonderful dichotomy of Faulty Towers. This is a masterpiece from John Cleese, and their is no problem with what he says. We are blessed to see such wonder.
Big mistake to revamp Fawlty Towers - huge!
Agree 100%.
I didn't even know they would remake Fawlty Towers. Won't watch it.
I never watched the remakes of Ghostbusters, Total Recall, Star Trek, Robocop, Pink Panther, etc etc etc.
I hear about a remake and 99% of the time I go out of my way to never watch it, not even the trailer.
You do realise they have remade Fawlty Towers several times in one form or another since the last series right? The difference with this one is it's not being remade it's being continued with John Cleese and his daughter writing it.
@@JohnBloggs-m8l it's still a bad idea. Let the original stand as a classic.
@@PC1974 Unfortunately all legacies are ruined in the end, John has held off for decades, he actually had an idea for a movie where Basil went to visit Manuel in Spain and the flight was hijacked but ultimately said no however I think they need the money somehow, John lost alot of money due to his marriage break downs and he probably wants to help his daughter too.
“ Too much butter , uno dos tres “ “ Que’ ? “
I quite enjoyed this clip of John Cleese talking about Fawlty Towers in 1986. Obviously not as good as clips of John Cleese talking about Fawlty Towers in 1977 or in 1979 or even in 1981 but far far better than clips of John Cleese talking about Fawlty Towers in 1998- 2001- 2009 or 2024. What is your all time favourite year-clip of John Cleese talking about Fawlty Towers?
Very Cleese like Pythonesque humour there, well done, John would be amused if he ever bothered to read this, which ofcourse he won't.
@@JohnBloggs-m8lWell thank you. Thank you very much for your well dones.Very much appreciated . If your well dones were meant of course.It's hard to tell sometimes isn't it? Especially in type.
No.. you're right. I don't expect Cleese will ever read this but we can only live in hope....Can't we? Anyway -thank you once again. Goodnight and God bless.
Ps. Co-incidentally enough User-et6pj4db9s was my mother's name. You've made me come over all nostalgic now😭
@@scottandrewbrass1931 lol very good. You could form a new python with that gift for the style. I tried to do python comedy myself in my early 20s. I'm in my 40s now. You can get all sorts of stuff out of just writing sketches on and on like they did and not ending them like a conventional sketch show would. I have some good ones but they'll never see the light of day now. Here's one anyway, one show opens with a totally bedraggled bride and groom crawling across deserts to get to the wedding ceremony only for someone to object to the marriage based on the groom being a bigamist so it's voided and the couple die from dehydration after which a program discusses the morality of making newlyweds traverse vast expanses to prove their commitment to marriage, debated by two atheists passionately until the host reminds them that they're atheists so they realise they don't care and the entire program ends immediately. The wedding couple traversing a desert is the start point, I just made up the rest right now. But you see how one thing can lead to another which is what Python did. Another sketch show would just stop at the wedding itself but that's killing the comedy, it's much more fun to keep going like Mr Pithers bicycle tour.
@@scottandrewbrass1931 ah well, you got further with it than I ever will. I was mainly good at parroting other styles but that's not really considered much of a talent if you can't produce original material. A new Pythonesque sketch show would be good though. Anyway all the best.
@@JohnBloggs-m8l It's all bollocks. There's really no such thing as true originality . You should keep writing regardless what age you are. Just remember. You'll never be as shit as Nish Kumar. That thought always keeps me going through the long winter nights. Take care man.
Finest comedy writing and acting ever.
"I have been complemented on my gestures by the Chief Psychiatrist at Broadmoor" flol
Living legend.
Mrs Richards!! Is this a piece of your brain. That line was ad-libbed. John Cleese - A comedy genius.
Excellent formula that was perfectly executed. I still find it strange how there were only 12 episodes. Like there has always been something hidden.
I like the fact that they only done 12 quality episodes rather than it drag on & become stale, i.e. i quite enjoyed the original ' last of the summer wine ' but in the end there were too many characters in it and it became boring
@glenmorgan4597 Yeah, good point. Shows like Last of the Summer Wine end up long in the tooth. I guess I'll just have to watch the 12 episodes of Fawlty again, for the 50th time 😁😎
Are you being served , Dads army and Faulty towers where the funniest sitcoms of all time, and all made around the same time
His home looks nice. Lots of trees.
I thought it was john Peel when I first saw him at the beginning!
After a couple of days on the rack, maybe.
Thank you John Cheese.
complete genious !!!
He starts describing Curb Your Enthusiasm after a while.
For the life of me I can't understand why Only Fools and Horses is considered the best British comedy ever. Personally I'd rate Fawlty Towers at 1 and Black Adder and Steptoe and Son as a coin flip for 2 & 3. Mind Your Language was a also a favourite of mine when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I found OF&H too predictable as a 13/24 year old, as it's irony. Rising Damp was excellent too.
Can’t stomach OFAH. Thank you, I thought I was the only one
I'm the opposite,Fawlty towers wasn't that funny,more irritating,ofah was working class humour 😂 I liked one foot in the grave also
Possibly the greatest British sitcom ever. (The US, overall, has produced many just as good, if not better: Cheers, Frasier, Seinfeld, Curb...even The Simpsons.)
Cannot deny the US efforts have been and are brilliant. Absolutely.
However, the US ones rarely have that edge to them that British comedy (sometimes) does, the US ones play out within safe parameters. There is always that little bit of patronising of the audience with US material, as if they feel the people are a little too thick to get jokes that offer no punchline.
I'd add 'South Park' to one of the US greats and as the creators of it do say they were influenced by British humour and Monty Python to boot, how about we call it a score draw :)
All crap imo apart from cheers,that was decent,that's why Americans loved the office,that was crap too😂
"What. You. Do. Now?" 🤣
He is the monster cause he didnt create himself, Basil was the perfect therapy
In this video John Cleese talks about Fawlty Towers 38 years ago.
Cruel toward
Manuel 😢❤❤❤
God level sublime comedy
Genius series
FARTY TOWELS. 🥰
7:30 is so good
Arse achingly excruciating, endlessly funny take on the absurdity of British snobbery which cannot be matched. Perfection.
And that's just the daily news these days 😂
Great beard
Threads coming together just like they discovered in Seinfeld.
I'm reading 📚 👀 Out Stealing Horses 🐎 by Per Petterson ..."Petersson catches so effectively, the thing that haunts all of us: The knowledge of how fragile life is ...surprise ing, and breathtaking" 😅 - Daily Express ✨️
And?
"What's wrong with you... Don't they have dogs in Calcutta?"
Am I getting a bit old or was John Cleese a bit sexy?
Effortless masculinity. Not a tattoo in sight
He was a sex symbol after a fish called Wanda came out
Less is more I think that helped if they'd gone on for another decade it would have probably lost some of its golden layer
Image ratio fail.
fascinating insight but cleese sounds deep into california
He looks here like Tom Segura distant cousin.
Thats the same formula as Seinfeld! I thought they invented that!
loved fawlty towers when i was a kid.feels a bit dated now.
Looks at that magnificent 1980s childhood summer happening in the background behind him. One house along, a grand memory and a home video is being created. I feel transported back in time by the foliage. Just think, there are normal under 40s walking about somewhere just out of frame, who think it is ok to have a moustache and woolen tank top.
Melvyn Bragg/Kitty the x dresser
Very interesting. Especially that he and Connie would literally start with a blank sheet and end up filling it with the multi-complexities of a comedy narrative. I think also that Sybil’s role was God-like and very controlling and Basil was the only one daft enough to try and subvert it.
I've always been in awe of how people can just create these complex and hilarious stories from basically nothing. All the dialogue and comedic timing included. It must be nice being that creative.
I get that FT is well written, acted, and have nothing but respect for John Cleese. But something about the show just gives me anxeity, so it's hard to watch for me.
I thought that was a Tom segura deepfake when I first started it
There's only genuine footage on this channel, rest assured!
It seems they have a plot outlined and much is ad libbed or impovised and may have several running gags that hopefully all meet to a conclusion. A rather hit and miss affair. But all seem extremely memorable, hilarious and replayed. Yet, there were only 12 episodes. 6 in '75 a gap of 4 years and another 6 in '79. There were some great stuff on TV then. I find that with some actors such as John Cleese or Jerry Lewis, their explanations sound complicated and bewildering.
I know nothing!
Back when Clease was funny
Back when people could spell
Back when you shouldve been left on the ass crack
I dont think its that. People don't like Cybil because she's not funny. People like to laugh, people like to laugh AT peoples foibles and she is just unpleasant. People don't like Fawlty, they like JOHN CLEESE pretending to be Fawlty. He's a total a hole (fawlty) but he's an entertaining one. And because Cybil is not funny they 'blame her' for his unpleasantness, the reverse of the saying 'behind every good man is a good woman'. Or like how Pink Floyd talks about the horrible teacher but sings that his 'fat and psychopathic wife with thrash him within inches of his life". When the truth is likely the very opposite. In fact a remake of Fawlty Towers that would be possible today would be showing Cybils off time when she's having an affair with a man who isn't a violent lunatic and where she's funny, relaxed, kind, and the opposite to how she is with Basil. Or even more popular would be the porn version where she's having one with Polly:)
Cleese's body language here makes it look like someone deepfaked his face onto Ingmar Bergman
I like it first time around as a kid but as an adult it wasn't actually that great in all honesty.
Still better than most tripe available now, and I say that as a 25 year old
"Ageing, brilliantined stick-insect."
Needs more autotune tbh
It was good in the day. Bit cringey now to be honest.
❄️
why?
@@Kris.G The fashions, probably. Or maybe all the references to Henry Kissinger? I just rewatched it a few weeks ago and I think it holds up really well.