Marvelous man. We can only hope that he lives as long as his mother, which gives the rest of us a few decades more of his unique presence on Earth. One of the best on-line interviews featuring John Cleese, he seems so relaxed and comfortable at Cornell. xx SF

When i was in high school in the late 70s, you could only see Monty Python on UHF, which had a noisy signal without a special antenna. I spent a lot of time at a friend's house watching it. Then the movies started coming out, have seen every one. Was thrilled with these special reunions and interviews.

A John Cleese interviewer who knows how to let the man talk! Well done that man.

I could listen to John Cleese discourse on these topics all day. His wisdom is profound. He knows way more than most celebrities who talk about what he does - because he knows just how little anyone knows at all!

John Cleese - there will never, ever be another one like you. Thank God. And Thank God for YOU! You have made our lives so much brighter. You have that healing power that all the greatest comedians have. But above all, you are intelligent and enthrall us, your audience, with your charming wit and infinite wisdom. Please read John's autobiography, "So Anyway..."

What a joy that John Cleese in our lives. He should live forever🎶❤️🤡👍🌈

A national treasure.

Ugh what an honor it must have been to sit through this. Those students are so lucky.

John is doing a talk at the university in my home town here in England soon. I got a ticket. Really looking forward to it. He's a comedy legend.

At 1:26 he talks about creativity and the conditions that can produce it, and his observations are in line with the Scientific American Frontiers series Alan Alda did about the brain, also with what some writers have said that they come up with their best ideas when they are thinking about nothing in particular. This interview is interesting also because it took place prepandemic and yet is still relevant, and thank God not timid. What a great gift in both comedy and serious thought is John Cleese and thank God for him.

Happy 80th Birthday John Cleese

Amazing how creatively John turns the terrible questions asked into something with content and humor!

John Cleese, you living legend! ❤ I loved every word you said in this conversation! ❤❤ 😂😮😢😂

That was marvellous. I enjoyed every second.

Throughout the universe there are pets who have heard their human friends laugh out loud for the first time thanks to these posts.

The only thing that would've made this even better was if John talked and took questions directly from the audience. This press director needs lessons how to be a press director.

I think this is the best John Cleese interview.

You would be surprised to know just how much there is to understand from learning how little you understand from what you have learned, let alone remember what you think you know.

Wounderfull relaxed interview Thank you for the upload CUP

Love. Love. Love.

What a beautiful mind.

Wonderful!

Come on Dean, provide a bit more pleasing reaction before issuing your next question.

Wonderful

I love how rebellious he is, and there's nothing anyone can or will do to stop him from dropping hard truths on this audience. Some of them will go on to accomplish great things, some may change the world, and when asked why they'll respond that years ago John Cleese told them that everyone should just do what they want, and speak up or take action to abandon broken systems, and the rest is history.

How to spot different trees from quite a long way away

In my capacity as a proctor I find this man to be quit the model . Thanks to a good man.

All these lovely comments and I just ramble... Ha!!! 😋 Loved this talk 💞 Darling man. Beautiful soul. Brilliant mind... and how sweet it was when he commented that he loved someone's laughter out in the audience... If he had said that to me I would have died/fainted 😂... Wonderful how he interacts with those listening. He truly appreciates people and notices them... even pokes fun at someone who yawned. He's more real than most and authentically charming. Highlights: Most people don't know what they're doing (in any given profession) Have modest aims ((they're actually achievable and believe it or not you'll be happier)) Avoid children, invest in cats instead ((Children cost a fortune, worry you sick... and "turn out like their mothers"... Hey! Wait a minute here!! 😤😤😤 I'd be a "mother" IF I had kids! Lol... Hmmm 🤔 on second thought, I get what he's saying... 😂🤣🤣🤣))

they had a choice Trump or lose the constitution ... they chose to keep the constitution

My favorite show of all time was Faulty Towers.

Sometime in the late 70's I watched a montython! Which was played on channel 15 knxv in phoenix Arizona! It was so enjoyable! My favorite part of the hol grail was the bring out the dead sketch. Really love John cleese!

- _"How can there be any hope in a society where people have less good attention span than a goldfish"_ LOL ; )

I didn't realize the Monty Python members were so well educated. Cambridge and Oxford.

Razor sharp wit Thank yoiu

Masterclass and I didn’t even have to pay for it.

HE REFERENCED TALEB. If Cleese wasn't the god-philosopher the world has culminated, he is now. Divine man.

It is extremely difficult for me to watch how Dean is so absent, always looking away from John... It is so unpolite.

John Cleese = Genius. Host = Cornell could have definitely done better than that

30:45 - why does the host half of the time looks like he's dead? Like here he doesn't move for like a minute. Should we call for help?

Has anyone counted how many times that JC said 'do you know what I mean'?

When they mention his many beautiful theatricals, they forget timebandits!

I have to say I prefer The Life of Brian over The Holy Grail...but I have been a fan of these guys for many years..too funny

41:15 - 41:25 😂😂😂 love it

John Cleese is brilliant as ever and never misses a stroke. The interviewer is disengaged, perfunctory and bordering rude at times. He sits like a sack of potatoes and exudes boredom. However was he chosen to host this interview?

I would like him to have a talk with Jordan Peterson. Just curious to hear what would come out of it since JC thinks "the world doesn't work" whereas JP is used to say quite exactly the contrary.

Top guy

The press director here doing his interview, Dean Smith, is a real peculiar person. Present and absent at the same time. Disengaged and doing his job at the same time.

I would think he'd be more interested in shrubberies than trees

why a life time job and seeing him it Cornell University too, John Cleese ,

When this man is gonna be cloned?? We need 1.000 of him, or more.

Cleese’s comments about the afterlife...I wonder if Ricky Gervais has heard this.

John saying there is no hope... Channeling his mother I see 😂🤣

STUPIDITY IS THE FUNNIEST THING IN THE WORLD

Nibble, nibble. nibble...lol

Read more...

Once in a while the universe ( or God if you like) gives us a Monty Python, and John Cleese.

Here's what Cleese had to say on Twitter about Biden, "Reading about Joe Biden's lack of boastfulness this morning, I felt deeply touched. It's such a relief to have a person like him in charge of the US. Maybe we could try it in the UK one day." I would have said, "You've got to be JOKING!" But, I'm afraid Cleese isn't funny when he talks about politics.

American audiences can’t listen to anyone successful or famous or rich without bursting into laughter at their every word, even at the serious points. He’s very funny in places, but it becomes impossible to watch this after a while since all he has to do is move in his seat for the audience to howl. It’s also why Cleese spends so much time there: no English audiences would hang onto his every word: as smart, irreverent and funny as he is.

Cleese has plenty to say about Trump but strangely seems to gloss over ever mentioning the dreadful alternative they were voting against, must one keep affirming ones self to the mob in the halls of academia? what happened to "we are all individuals" John?

I couldnt hear what 50 voices were saying, i had to put subtitles on ..maybe thats why it didn't get a BIG laff??

Skip to 8:50...

Like all great Englishmen, lives in the USA

Mr Cleese only knows the America he wants to see. Would love to hear about his knowledge of the US. Celebrity Bubble

1:21 The girls like that one. Cleese's Woolly Lemur

"You know?"

A "fish" called Jennifer

Awesome interview. That rogueish smile with the moustache reminds me a bit of David Niven. It is pretty clear that happiness is impeded by the pursuit of money for its own sake, and that the kind treatment of people rather than their complete inhuman exploitation ("tou have to prove your value to the company" type of idiotic two-faced management) would vastly reduce the interest in money as a proxy for happiness, and increase actual happiness throughout society. I really like what he says about being aware of emotions in order to control them. There is a whole range of levels from the physiological up through emotions, feelings, to thinking, and getting deeper down that range allows one to exercise more control over the reaction to external and internal stimuli, and actually control their thoughts (presumably to remain in the wonderful state of relaxedness/play where brain activity is regular, allowing thought to be most effective).

John Cleese, the perfect english man. Oh, and he left brexit UK. So smart indeed.

It's especially funny what he said about only 10% of shrinks knowing what they're doing.. I have always said "no one is qualified to help me" LOL ...seems it's true! 😝😅 ((The ones that could are terribly expensive and usually booked)) I have always had that impression tho... People basically read a text book or two, memorize answers. Pass a few tests, get a degree... and think that degree "qualifies them", when in reality it takes actual skill especially when it comes to helping people through serious life issues. There's some without degrees in psychology that are born for it, and others with degrees in psychology that seemed to have simply picked that profession out of a hat 🤣🤣🤣🤣

John ”you see what I mean” Cleese 😀

Why can the host in particular and Americans in general not pronounce Monty Python? Listen to John, it’s not Monny py-THON, it’s more Mon-Tea PY-thern.

i can see the being oppressed scene being one of the scene that made the archeologists and history guys stop and think about the little guy and what the bigger changes meant to them ...

memorable comedy: "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" Michael Caine; Steve Martin

So true about taking parents to the cinema and the things they will come up with to make all thing an impossible disaster (for cinema it could be changed to anything... shopping, meal out etc)

International Inter galactic Creative brain

Some people just need housing...any housing....

Acquisition only makes Ferengi happy 😂 ((My fellow Star Trek nerds will get this reference 🙌)) Humans think money or sex can do it for them and always wonder why they're so damn depressed We need to change our priorities as a society/culture

Fawlty towers memory sybill was in the hospital because of an ingrown toenail! And basil was sitting in sybill's room and annoying the nurses. And the nurse asks it he is still here and he looks all around and says apparently"

The interviewer seems uninterested.

58:00 - Spot-on with his comments about Trump. And you hear the audience applaud. NY is a blue state...this would not go over well in Trump territory!

There is a game called No Mans Sky with one Quintillion star systems. Could some people work with such people that worked on that computer game or others with huge amounts of detailed worlds and bring in some other high end ai systems and people like John Cleese to make one million star systems games with rich procedural mistake based cultures like most of humanities and in a comedic (isn't it all obvious by now what's wrong with it) style very much created by being similar to all of Monty Python's work, especially their wonderfully intellectually observant movies The Holy Grail and The Life Of Brian? They could be role playing games where the player played a character in the range of anything from a Travelling King On A Quest ala The Holy Grail, to a Not The Messiah ala The Life Of Brian or any of the secondary Main Characters or a completely new take like maybe someone sensible and knowing the obvious flaws in inter-galactic societies in a cosmic galactic multi-civilisation Universe with idiots running the show as usual.

I'm gobsmacked by his spiritual beliefs.

Cleese is marvelous. He does need the eliminate the phrase "you see what I mean" from his repertoire. He says it every four or five minutes and sometimes three times in the same sentence. It's irritating and unnecessary. Otherwise delightful.

I'm surprised young people know Monty Python.

Science? It's is all about facts. Faith/religion? It's all about truth. C'est-ça.

Great discourse from Cleese. Exceedingly dull and humourless host. Christ.

I would have loved to have seen 1776

Dear Mr Cleese - Would you please consider myself as a pro bono pupil. I think about 2 weeks would be my capacity.

Cornell has historically had the highest suicide rate among the ivies. If they think their approach is correct, I think this should give them pause...

I feel like Cleese and Alec Baldwin would have an interesting conversation.

I could listen to John Cleese talk every single day!! But that is the worst interviewer I think I have ever seen!

Such a terrible interviewer! How did he get the gig?

The unequaled rifle roughly raise because creator conversantly crawl against a meek clerk. inexpensive, red pheasant

56:00 and he means All research, even my favorite subject .🤦‍♂️ And yours .

I always felt that John Cleese was a rather childish immature not so witty comedian who lived in his own space, not exactly respecting the "Norms" around him. Success is relative to the people one caters for!

"You see what I mean?" Cleese uses this phrase far too much for me.

Please please wear socks

As much as I admire Cleese he got the standpoint of science completely wrong at the end (1:41:50). Science do not make proclamations of possibility for anything that is not supported by evidence.

30:45: Does Cleese realize how important sex, drugs and alcohol were in the 18th century military? Edit: Don't forget the gambling! King George had to tax dice.

I prefer Michael Palin. Just saying.