John Cleese

[Cole Parker]

How can anyone not love John Cleese?

Well, maybe if you're French, or Italian, German, Belgian, Spanish or Australian:

Comment: From the BBC - by John Cleese.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats

and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved."

Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or

even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the

blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been

re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the

British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when

threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get

the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they

have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300

years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror

alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are

"Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire

that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the

country's military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to

"Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective

Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance"

to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher

levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose."

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat

they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.

These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy

can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to

"She'll be alright, Mate." Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!",

"I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend", and "The barbie is

cancelled."

[Chris James]

The man has been nothing short of brilliant for his entire career. Thank you for sharing, Cole.

[Richard Norway]

John Cleese has been one of my heros for a long time. Here's a video of his interpretation of creativity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGt3-fxOvug

[Guest Dabeagle]

I was leading a raid last night in World of Warcraft and, on a break, I stumbled on this and read it to the group. Well thank you.

[DesDownunder]

Aussies have another level, "Have a beer, mate." Whilst having the beer, the impending threat may disperse, or might become worse, to a point where it requires a response that is terse, such as, "Did anyone order the bloody hearse?"

John Cleese has long been one of my favourite people and is an inspiration.

Thanks Cole and Richard for the posts,

[Cole Parker]

Has everyone here seen the Fawlty Towers series? It well may be the funniest series of comedies on TV. CErtainly the funniest I ever saw.

There weren't very many of them, maybe 13 episodes? But I'll tell you, they were dangerous. If you had sore ribs when you watched them, you'd be indeep pain afterwards. I can't remember ever laughting that hard at TV shows.

If you don't know them, they're well worth the trouble to find. Amazing, terrific comedy. Cleese plays the part of a truly awful man, Basil Fawlty, and yet you end up sympathetic to him and his problems.

C

[DesDownunder]

We have seen them many times. Unlike many sit-coms, you can actually watch them again and again. Truly funny. Yes there were 13 of them.

John Cleese has said that they were great fun but required a lot of work which prohibited doing any more despite fans desires.

He did present his one man show, An Evening with John Cleese, here in Adelaide (Feb 6 - 14, 2012) as part of our Arts Festival.

Unfortunately, tickets were $116.90 / $94.90 which precluded me from being able to see him.

John Cleese biography at Wiki.