Last night we also went to an Evening with John Cleese presented by The Smithsonian Associates at the Church of the Epiphany. We snapped The Minister of Silly Walks himself (right) who was interviewed by NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon, and shared very funny stories behind his success. Cleese said he was often teased in grade school with the nickname Cheese.
In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty Python, and put on the popular TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus. His madcap buffoonery played completely straight, as in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, catapulted Cleese to the list of funniest men alive. Here, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Bruce Carlson, 2enimax's Lawrence Waldman and Ilsabe Urban.
Guests received signed copies of Cleese's new memoir So, Anyway. Cleese said his sense of humor was self-taught as his parents weren't the most humorous, and he loves when his fans say that they are close with their families when they watch his comedies together. Here, Oasis Environmental's Mike Realo, Heron System's Gordy Rush and U of MD Center for Environmental Science's Lisa Wainger.
Cleese followed his Python work as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in the British comedy Fawlty Towers, and his starring role in the film comedy A Fish Called Wanda. Here, Rohan Farm's Cathy and Max Hall, CSC's Rod Cowan and his wife Candace.
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