John Cleese, not quitting after all, returns to Edmonton
Posted on October 22, 2018 By Mike Ross Comedy, Entertainment, Front Slider
John Cleese is just about the coolest old guy we know.
Aside from his abundant post-Python fame playing hilariously unpleasant dad characters in sitcoms like Speechless, he’s proven himself a potent liberal voice on social media – tearing apart stupidity and cruelty with his keen yet subtle wit. Just one example: On the current trend of calling people “snowflakes,” he Tweeted, “Yes, I’ve heard this word. I think sociopaths use it in an attempt to discredit the notion of empathy.”
There’s plenty more.
Never mind that Cleese is a filthy liar. He’s back performing stand-up, Monday, May 27 at the Jubilee Auditorum – five years after mounting his “Farewell Tour,” which he called “Last Chance to See Me Before I Die.” Not true! (Demand was so great that he kept adding shows until he was doing a week-long residency at the Myer Horowitz Theatre in 2013). Perhaps he got his second wind, perhaps his post-Python fame has increased beyond his expectations – but fans are always eager to give supposedly retiring entertainers a pass when they say they’re going away and then change their minds. Just call it the “First Farewell Tour.”
On this run, the Dean of Silly Walks is doing a little talk. The topic: “Why There Is No Hope.” A lot of old people talk like that – Cleese is 78 – assuming the world is going to hell at the rate of their own bodies, but from this amazing and compassionate wit we can assume there’s a fair bit of irony, and, maybe, hope after all.
Tickets to the show start at $90, and are on sale now.