John Cleese retiring to academia?

Posted by Maximum Fun on 13th June 2006

According to the (UK) Times, John Cleese is retiring from comedy.

“I’m too tired to write new comedy,” the Monty Python star told The Times in a rare interview. “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.”

Cleese, 66, will act as a “comedy professor”, holding masterclasses with students. Their set text will be insights gleaned from a lifetime in the business of making people laugh.

Cleese compliments Ricky Gervais and Eddie Izzard, and calls Bill Hicks a genius. He also mentions that he’s not in “Casino Royale,” (neither is his character, Q), and plugs the release of a World Cup meets Fawlty Towers single called “Don’t Mention the World Cup.”

Related from TSOYA: “Fawlty Towers Revisited” Interview with Author Lars Holm (MP3)