John Cleese interviewed by KERA Public Media’s Bob Ray Sanders 1990

[@tarnopol]

By far the best interview of him.

[@bartcolen]

Great interviewers always make for the best interviews. Good stuff.

[@andydixon2980]

I love Johns transparency and honesty. I would say he has definately channelled his pent up anger in the best possible way, brilliant, intelligent and outrageous comedy for its time, and remains so.

[@spidermonkey3333]

Fascinating interview.

[@Kris.G]

A set of very interesting questions. I don't think I've heard John discuss these things before. Great job Mr Sanders, what a fine interviewer you are!

[@Io-Io-Io]

Best John Cleese Interview ever. Hands down

[@KenCostlow]

I've looked for this for years!! I saw it when it first aired, and it's the best interview I've ever seen.

[@karenelizabeth1590]

Excellent quality on this video. Thanks for sharing it!

[@notquitegarrett]

Great, underwatched interview. Almost wish they didn't fade the audio out at the end.

[@c.m.9369]

God, when Cleese talks about how the standards for American presidents have gone down… He had NO idea what would be coming…

[@pacingBlue]

What a genius.

[@Io-Io-Io]

Order is half of life. It is so important

[@EnglishPolishOnline]

Great interview. Being an intellectual doesn't mean being boring. I'd say it's often (not always) the other way around.

[@Io-Io-Io]

Well, he's just a good observer and very precise here

[@davidsanderson5918]

Joyous.

[@MrTaxiRob]

His political views are very interesting, and they don't seem to follow any one party's views. A true independent.

[@wertor666]

Mostly old-fashioned british liberal. But yes... He is an independent thinker

[@BEAUTIFULSORROWw]

the intoduction...wow

[@BennyMcGhee]

I saw John and Eric in Austin, TX just over 26 years after this interview and I feel I can say without fear of contradiction that I will be dead years before I even reach the age that John was during this interview.

[@alyrx6270]

youre saying youre never gonna make it near 50 years old??

[@BennyMcGhee]

Most likely not. Way too much drug and alcohol abuse on my part in addition to frequent sexual relations with women of ill repute. I divorced my awful wife many, many years ago which would have otherwise lengthened my life by 30 years or more, but sadly I fell into the hands of the Devil, who has appointed me a loose date to show up at the gates of Hell…and I will have just turned 49 that week. I’m not looking forward to it as British comedy is not allowed in Hell. British comedians ARE allowed, but only if they are supporters of Joe Biden and the filthy left. John might be able to escape Hell based on his hatred of cancel culture, but I’ll be happy to see my favorite Python Eric Idle there, even though I absolutely disagree with him politically.

[@alyrx6270]

@@BennyMcGhee wow, that was very surreal but very interesting to read.. i really hope you feel better before your apparent predetermined demise happens, dude 😸

[@mikearchibald744]

The only part I'd dispute, unless of course I was having dinner with him, but the notion that 'we've ignored the middle east' and 'its not a moral weakness'. Clearly the problems in the middle east come from the colonial borders which were imposed on them. The middle east has usually been a larger empire, with divisions that were much like the 'united states'. Those colonial borders are not natural ones that have existed for centuries but colonial ones imposed. Saddam Hussein of course was Washington's man who fought a useful war against the greatest enemy in the region-Iran. And its been US involvement in Iran which led first to its dumping the electoral system it had in the fifties, which was directly attributed to the CIA, and then for the horrible US imposed Shah after that. Its certainly unfortunate that the democratic arm of the revolution in Iran was shunted by the religious zealots, but if you look at US support in the Middle East its clear that the US PREFERS the zealots to any kind of democracy, for obvious reasons. And liking George Bush is a bit much. The irony about film making is that its impossible to really gauge 'style' with success or failure. Monty Python famously made stuff just to make themselves laugh, although Terry Jones does admit they did some shopping and lots of editing with Holy Grail. But they seemed to do that LESS as they went on. And the shows are famous for having NO outside influence. Apparantly John had wanted a blacker ending to Wanda, something about showing her shoes that made you infer that she was going to rob him blind. The immediate 'love story' seemed very much tacked on for american audiences who can't seem to accept a comedy or even many movies at all, that don't have a happy ending of boy gets girl.