[Closed] So John Cleese expected free advertising for his tour but got...

I thought he handled the questions that were fed to him fairly well, and didn't say anything overtly controvertial (only half listening so may have missed something), especially as they appeared to be on a subject he hadn't really prepared for. He only seemed to take the hump when it got persistent.

I say that as someone who generally grimaces when people start banging on about people being "woke".

Just watched it now - once great comedian is now an out of touch rude dinosaur

Verses.

He should have been prepared for the cancel culture questions at least as he's just made a documentary on it.

When you do public interviews you're givn a brief to work towards, its generally accpeted as unprofessional if you deviate from that with a view to catchnig people out. I think he did fine and he has a lot of valid points.

I'm not sure where he is on the cancel culture thing, I think he pulled out of a talk at Cambridge University because he was expecting to be "cancelled". Seems like some bizarre attempt at getting some publicity.

especially as they appeared to be on a subject he hadn’t really prepared for

The subject he said he'd been reading widely on for a documentary? Nothing wrong with his answers, just odd that he was annoyed with the questions. Even odder if he's formally complaining rather then just shrugging it off and moving on... which I thought would have been more his style.

There's nothing overly controversial in there. He's absolutely right about the polarisation of society, and the comments about over protecting people are perfectly legitimate. I generally draw the line when people speak of 'woke culture' (what does it even mean??). But for the most part it's fairly balanced on his behalf and you can understand a bit of frustration given that the presenter is clearly looking for a juicy story.

It's difficult to see on a day to day basis how antagonistic journalism has become, but if you go back several decades, at least to Cleese's time, and watch interviews from back then, the difference is night and day.

That's not to defend his views, I know very little about them. And I am surprised how much of a grumpy old man he has become.

I think he pulled out of a talk at Cambridge University because he was expecting to be “cancelled”

He pulled out becuase someone else, who in the past had done an impression of Adolf Hitler, was 'cancelled' because of it. He acnowledged that he'd also done impressions of Hitler and withdrew on that basis. Clearly his point was made in protest.

Cleese has been prominent in the issue of cancel culture/culture wars/woke/identify politics etc since the Labour government made it illegal to make a joke about someone's religion. He predicted then that that path would lead to far worse outcomes and to some extent he is right.

I guess he wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition?

I have a meeting later today to go over some items I'm pretty familiar with. If you ask me about them again in a few days, I'll muddle through it but it won't be front and centre in my mind, especially if I'm planning to talk to you about something else.

As I say, he started out answering the questions (albeit a bit grumpily), it was only when it was clear that she wasn't going to deviate from them to what he had been booked to talk about that he got the hump.

I've not followed his career much lately, so wasn't aware he's doing doc's about it.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Nothing particularly wrong with what John Cleese says or does but he, like many other aging celebs, does need to know when to retire from the limelight.

‘woke culture’

It means judging people based on their membership of specific groups based on social, cultural, gender or ethnic identity. It is the far left's answer to the far right (in it's most extreme form) and in that form is predicated on Marxist ideology of power groups that seek to exploit one group over another for their own benefit and gain. Where Marxist ideology was previously based on this exploitation being economic, it is now regarded as cultural, hence the term cultural Marxism. All this was laid down in the Frankfurt school in the 60s but has recently gained new vigor with ideas embedded in critical race theory and third and fourth wave feminism.

Don't shoot me, I'm just explaining the mechanisms at play that explain 'woke culture'.

timbog160
Full Member
I guess he wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition?

Well done you.😁

I just think he misused the word "woke" - made him sound like he was against woke sensibilities, which he's obviously not. It is a shite word anyway.

I guess he wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition?

*round of applause *

He came across as fine to me just a bit grumpy. I think he had some valid points to make and the interviewer appeared to just be trying to catch him out rather than having an interesting conversation.

Ideally he should have stayed and said he'd rather discuss the shows he's doing than walk off. But I didn't see it as a big deal. Thought the interviewer came off worse.

Seems to simply get fed up of answering the same question over and over which wasn't the topic offered before the interview.

Bit of an overreaction though.

Well given I clicked on this thread, he got free publicity for his tour…

Regarding the way he answered the question about cancel culture I thought he made his point well.
I’m aware that my gen zee kids would disagree with what he says strongly and some further to the right would be be more damning of cancel culture. I’m closer to what he said than either of those extremes

Don’t shoot me

We won’t, but that’s all often repeated bullshit you’re typing there. We had another poster who typed exactly the same thing. I mean, word for word the same thing. Makes you think.

He was pretty reasonable. I suppose he has the reputation, age and experience to just walk off like that and not be worried about how it looks. Someone else might have felt forced to put up with it. (I'm assuming the interview did veer away from the agreed content)

He seemed a bit grumpy from the start, if the interview was supposed to be a vehicle for him to promote his upcoming tour I can see why it pissed him off when she finally got around to asking him about it it was immediately negative (like "so why Asia in the middle of a pandemic" sort of thing). Her switching back to cancel culture again I guess was enough for him to throw his toys out of the pram.

It is a shite word anyway

A point he made in the interview, more or less.

TBH I thought his answers were reasonable, but he did seem a little bit primed to be pissed off. It escalated very quickly, although perhaps he felt the journalist was straying off the brief from the outset.

I can sort of see his being a bit defensive: it's hard to have a balanced discussion around things like cancel culture at the moment, and hence probably very easy to get stitched up in interviews, etc. But if that's a worry for you, doing a documentary about cancel culture probably isn't the wisest thing to do.

....and here we go....

Thank goodness for Mr. Cleese. Not many people standing up for what they believe in in the face of overwhelming pressure from the on-trend 'You can't do this you can't say that.....' brigade.

He did seem a bit grumpy though I have to say. He has the intelligence to handle these questions easily if he could be bothered to do so, which clearly he couldn't on this occasion.

Kelvin you spend too much time here, go and ride a bike 😋

andykirk
Free Member
Thank goodness for Mr. Cleese. Not many people standing up for what they believe in in the face of overwhelming pressure from the on-trend ‘You can’t do this you can’t say that…..’ brigade.

@andykirk

Genuine question alert here.

What are the things you wish you could say but can't?

he's got a weird crease round his left eye hasn't he? I was more concentrated on that than what he was saying tbh.

the Labour government made it illegal to make a joke about someone’s religion.

What law would that be, then?

It is perfectly fine to make a joke about someone's religion. It is not perfectly fine to discriminate against someone because of their religion.

Easy to get the two mixed up if it reinforces your world view, I know.

Poop
I can say anything I like as far as I am aware.
What I object to is other people making the decision for me on what I can and can't say.

andykirk
Free Member
Poop
I can say anything I like as far as I am aware.
What I object to is other people making the decision for me on what I can and can’t say.

I literally don't understand what you mean by that as there is a contradiction the size of a super massive black hole there.

That's ok.

^^ But thanks for answering.👍

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

let's keep it seasonal shall we? 😂

I can say anything I like as far as I am aware.
What I object to is other people making the decision for me on what I can and can’t say.

You can say anything you like, but you object to not being able to say anything you like? That makes no sense, it's wholly contradictory. Which is it?

If you can, in fact, say anything you like then it's a wholly fictional problem; if you cannot say what you like then I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear what it is that you want to say but cannot.

When you do public interviews you’re givn a brief to work towards

ah jaysus he's a pillock, simply on the basis of his unpleasant, condescending and patronising manner to the news presenter.

The nearest he got to a specific thing that might be cancelled was when he was asked about whether racist humour that was once regarded as fine should be permissible, he said that cognitive behavioural psychologists think cosseting people makes them more vulnerable to depression (bollocks, incidentally - but then Clease did co author a book or two with Robin Gibb - I think, a psychotherapist anyway, one sometime between his divorces being on how to have a successful relationships - so he may be an expert). Meaning what? Folks should just put up with people being a bit racist to them? If he's so brave why didn't he just say that? I'm entirely happy to judge him by the colour of his skin [damn, can't post the pick of him from the link, face a deep porcine pink...]

If you can, in fact, say anything you like then it’s a wholly fictional problem; if you cannot say what you like then I’m sure we’d all be interested to hear what it is that you want to say but cannot.

Its political correctness gone mad

(NSFW)

Cougar - I'm afraid I don't understand what you wrote. I didn't say what you said I said. You said something I didn't say then asked me for an explanation. I can't explain something you said.

What I object to is other people making the decision for me on what I can and can’t say.

Who is deciding for you what you can say?

In the interview Clease may have wanted to say a bit of racism makes people more robust. It's likely the interviewer would have welcomed it if he had said that as there'd have been a story. He was the one deciding what to say (or rather not to say, given the flimsiness of his argument).

Cougar – I’m afraid I don’t understand what you wrote.

Well, that's something we have in common then.

I quoted what you actually said. If you didn't actually mean what you actually wrote then perhaps you could clarify as to what you did actually mean?

Again:

I can say anything I like as far as I am aware.
...
What I object to is other people making the decision for me on what I can and can’t say.

These two statements are mutually exclusive. The first states that you can say what you want, the second says that you can't say what you want. Which do you believe it to be, and if it's the second then what do want to say that you can't?

When you do public interviews you’re givn a brief to work towards, its generally accpeted as unprofessional if you deviate from that with a view to catchnig people out. I think he did fine and he has a lot of valid points.

I was a journalist for about 20 years and did exams and everything. This is not how public interviews work in a news environment. Chat show, maybe. News? No.

Chat show, maybe. News? No.

Seeing as the interview was to chat about his latest tour in the way that the no advertising BBC seems to like to fill the airwaves full of advertorial interviews, you could argue it was a chat show style interview

I was a journalist for about 20 years and did exams and everything.

I like your style. I'm assuming that you didn't write for some poncy publication?