John Cleese was out promoting his autobiography So Anyway... last weekend at the Cheltenham Literary Festival and he offered up some interesting thoughts on his future endeavors. At 74-years old, Cleese has let it be known that he has no intention of embarking on another long film process. After being involved with the likes of A Fish Called Wanda, the Shrek series and Fierce Creatures, Cleese admits that spending another 2.5 years working on a film would probably kill him- not that he is afraid of death.
In fact, according to an interview originally in the Mirror, Cleese said he is actually "looking forward" to death.
"Most of the best people are dead - I will be in excellent company having a wonderful time. I have only got five or six years left and I will be gone - I won't have to worry about Isis or Ebola."
Cleese's comments were darkly comedic even about the topic of death and said in the same style that has minted Cleese as a comedic household name for decades. It's ironic that after cranking out such hits as Monty Python and Fawlty Towers Cleese actually says that writing his autobiography is one of the best things that he has ever done. The whole process took Cleese four months and forget about being trapped in front of his computer because he wrote the whole thing by hand with a good old pencil and notebook.
Have you been a fan of Cleese's work over the years? Was his style of dark humor your cup of tea? Are you surprised that the actor spoke so candidly about death? He has always had an honesty in his interviews that has often gotten him into trouble- like when he admitted that the crew from Monty Python were never exactly friends! Do you appreciate Cleese's candor? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
