Did John Cleese get divorced again?

[CaptainWacky]

He's either desperate for money or really trying to get his daughter's acting career going (her IMDB credits are sparse!)

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/feb/07/fawlty-towers-john-cleese-reboot

There's almost zero chance this could be anything even approaching good:

1) Cleese hasn't done anything funny for decades, is just a moany old sod on Twitter now. A large part of what made Basil such a classic character was Cleese's exceptional physical comedy and there's no way the 83 year old Cleese is going to be able to goose-step.
2) Connie Booth co-wrote every episode of the original and isn't involved.
3) Prunella Scales has dementia and doesn't act anymore; Andrew Sachs is dead; Booth is long retired; Cleese will be the only original cast member involved.
4) Basil Fawlty himself would have died of a heart attack by now. I don't buy him having a secret love child at all.
5) If this was just a some sitcom about John Cleese and his daughter opening a hotel together nobody would give a fuck, the only reason to make the character Basil is to get "FAWLTY TOWERS TO RETURN" headlines.

I doubt it'll even get made, to be honest.

 

[whisky]

Andrew Sachs is dead? I must have blocked that out.

Yeah no way this is good.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Russell Brand gave a touching eulogy at the funeral.

 

[whisky]

Then fucked his granddaughter on top of the coffin?

 

[Mentalist]

He comes out with some glib comment about "wokeness" every couple of weeks, it seems. It just feels like he's hoping someone will object to something he's done so he can really go in, but nobody cares. I mean, he literally has a documentary coming out called "Cancel Me." It's pretty on the nose!

This was a particularly low point.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/john-cleese-bbc-monty-python-b2252969.html

He's got some show allegedly coming up on GBNews soon as well, which, shocker, is about cancel culture.
I want to give him the benefit of the doubt because he is a legend, but he just sounds like a grumpy old sod that's fixated on some persecution complex that doesn't exist. The last people that seriously wanted to "cancel" something John Cleese was in were the Catholic Church in the 1970s, ffs.

As for the Fawlty Towers reboot he's shilling around, it does indeed sound like an abysmal idea for all the reasons Wacky pointed out. I don't think it would even warrant a Comic Relief sketch at this point, let alone a new series.

 

[Kyehlar]

Am I the only one looking forward to this?

(*He says clutching his Fawlty Towers DVD tightly*)

 

[Dr Dave]

Yes.

 

[CaptainWacky]

 

[Volpone]

The thing that made John Cleese so funny was the same thing that makes most comedians funny: He was a smart but angry, unhappy person. It gives comedy its edge. I don't know, maybe I dreamed it, but I swear I saw him and Michael Palin do The Dead Parrot Sketch within the past 10 years. Same comedians, same script, but it was weak and lame.

 

[Mentalist]

He still had some bite and excellent comedy timing in recent years (although I guess 7 years isn't that recent anymore), like in this Conan interview that was pretty great.

 

[MODMAN]

1) Cleese hasn't done anything funny for decades, is just a moany old sod on Twitter now. A large part of what made Basil such a classic character was Cleese's exceptional physical comedy and there's no way the 83 year old Cleese is going to be able to goose-step.

He was one of the lead men in the greatest comedy troupe of all-time and followed it with unarguably one of the greatest comedies of all-time. To be fair, he earned the right to sit on his laurels.

That, and I concur with his views on the madness of the current PC climate. Woke. Whatever. There'll be a mean reversion soon enough.

But taking your whole list into consideration, I feel like my cautious optimism has been thwacked by a giant halibut.

This probably isn't a good idea.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Looks like we'll find out what Connie Booth's contributions to the original scripts were, since she won't be involved this time...

 

[CaptainWacky]

(INTERIOR: The new boutique hotel Basil Fawlty has opened with his daughter Camilla. Two men walks up to the front desk. One leans against the other.)

Guest 1: I'm so tired, let's just go straight up to our room and sleep.

Guest 2: Oh, I guess I have to ring the bell.

(He rings the bell on the front desk. BASIL FAWLTY walks in.)

Basil: Yes? What is it? What do you want?

(He does a DOUBLE TAKE when he sees the one man leaning on the other.)

Basil: Are you going to faint? Do you need somehwere to lie down?

Guest 1: Uhh.

(They stand apart.)

Guest 2: Hello, we've booked a room.

Basil: Ah! Our first guests! And you've booked TWO rooms. Wonderful!

Guest 1: No, it was one room.

(Basil does another double take.)

Basil: But where will you both sleep!?

Guest 2: In the same bed. We're married.

Basil: M...m...m...married!?

(Basil turns away for a moment.)

Basil(to himself): It's okay, Basil, it's normal now. Well, legal. And they're paying. IT'S FINE.

(He turns back around. The gay couple have obviously noticed his discomfort and are amused.)

Basil: Yes, that will be one room, with one bed. FOR SLEEPING IN. Primarily. What you do when the door is shut...I'LL NEVER KNOW. Fill this out, please.

(He hands a form to them. Guest 1 looks at Guest 2 and winks.)

Guest 2: Don't...

Guest 1: Hang on, there's no section for pronouns here.

(Basil pauses for a moment.)

Basil: Please, if you woke...you ALL would continue filling out the form, I'll be right woke. BACK.

(He walks into the office behind reception where his daughter Camilla is talking on the phone.)

Camilla: Yes, I can't wait to hook up tonight. Sssh, here comes my newly discovered father. I don't want him to know I'm sexually active with a man who isn't even my husband. Talk to you later.

(Basil looks stunned.)

Camilla: What is it, dad?

Basil: The guests. They're both men. GAY men.

Camilla: Oh, dad...

Basil: I'M FINE WITH THAT. Churchill wouldn't be, but times have changed! But they might be...trains!

Camilla: Trains?

Basil: TRANS. That's what it's called, isn't it? When they have pronouns? And different genitals to their clothes?

Camilla: Oh, dad...

Basil: Well they both look like men! How am I supposed to know!

Camilla: Well don't look up their trouser legs!

(Camilla starts to walk out but Basil grabs her arm.)

Basil: One more thing...don't mention the woke. I did once but I think I got away with it!

(Camilla sighs and walks out into reception. Basil follows after a beat.)

Camilla: If you'll just wait one moment I'll get Manuel the Third to take your cases to your room.

Guest 2: Thank you!

Guest 1: Your daughter slash son is very polite!

Basil: Slash!?

Guest 1: We don't know how THEY identify!

Basil: Well she's not a slash, I can assure you of that!

(Basil turns away again.)

Guest 2: Stop making fun of the old man.

Guest 1: It's only a laugh!

(MANUEL III walks in. He is a hunky young man.)

Manuel III: Que?

Basil: Take these two...men's bags to their room.

Maneul III: Que!

Basil: Don't worry, his grandfather's from Barcelona!

Camilla: Oh, dad...

(Manuel picks up all their bags as the men start to walk to their room. Suddenly, a RAT jumps out of Manuel's back pocket.

Basil: Oh no, not again!

Maneul III: It my grandfather's pet hamster's grandson!

(Basil starts to run towards the rat but trips. We see John Cleese's stunt double fall in slow motion. John Cleese's face is crudely pasted onto his. It switches back to Cleese when he's on the ground. Guest 2 runs over to him.)

Guest 2: Gosh, are you okay?

Basil: Fine! Dodgy hip! Bit of shrapnel in the war. You're...not Korean, are you?

Guest 2: I'm white.

Basil: Well you might have had surgery!

(The rat runs across the room and runs up Guest 2's trouser leg. Somehow, he doesn't notice. Basil starts inching towards him as Guest 2 stands over him.)

Guest 2: Well, if you're sure you're okay...what are you doing?

(He catches Basil looking up his trouser leg.)

Guest 1: He's checking to see if you're trans!

Camilla: Oh, dad...

PROBABLY NOT TO BE CONTINUED