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Clifford the Big Red Dog EXCLUSIVE: John Cleese on his India connect & HONEST opinion on today's comedy scene
In an EXCLUSIVE tête-à-tête with Pinkvilla, Clifford the Big Red Dog star John Cleese relived fond "quadrilateral cricket" memories of his father staying in India in the 20s. Check out his delightfully insightful interview below.
With decades of masterful experience, John Cleese has rightfully earned the badge of a legendary comedian, who has enthralled so many with his unique brand of humour. This week, his latest cinematic outing, Clifford the Big Red Dog releases in India as the veteran actor plays Mr. Bridwell, the magical animal rescuer, whose named after Clifford creator Norman Bridwell.
In an EXCLUSIVE tête-à-tête with Pinkvilla, upon knowing that I stayed in Mumbai, the delightfully insightful John enthusiastically perked up and shared his fond memories of India. "Oh, you're from Bombay! My father lived there in the 20s. [I chime in, "Oh! Oh my God! That must have been an interesting time."] Yeah, very interesting time. He used to tell me about the quadrilateral cricket matches between the Hindus, the Muslims, the Parsis and the Europeans," Cleese reminisced. Moreover, when you watch John in Clifford the Big Red Dog, the one word that you can associate the actor with is "evergreen," at the age of 82.
When I quizzed him on the "secret" behind his "evergreen" cinematic charm, Cleese humbly confessed, "I don't know! I suppose it's partly that I like to try new things. I do... I can get bored quite easily, which has its advantages and its disadvantages. It's probably why I don't have a great deal of money because people who did six or seven seasons of a television series, they have a lot of money, but I never did that. I mean, even on [Monty] Python, I only did 40 shows," before adding, "So, I think that I... but I've always moved on to something else that was new, different because that's what sets a little bit of enthusiasm going and I could feel the energy. So that, when you have that energy, then it becomes fun. Otherwise, you're just grinding it out 'cause that's what you have to do."
Clifford the Big Red Dog is brimming with comedic talents; from Jack Whitehall, who considers John Cleese to be his hero, to Kenan Thompson, Russell Peters, and more. Hence, I asked John for his honest opinion on today's comedy scene, what with him being a master in the hilarious craft. Talking in detail, Cleese admitted, "I don't think it's as good as it has been in the past and I think, it's being badly handicapped by wokery. Woke people seem to think that all jokes are harmful and they're not right. This is not sophisticated thinking. All jokes or nearly all humour is critical because if you have a human being who is next to perfect, there's nothing funny about them. What's funny about it is inappropriate behaviour, not appropriate behaviour."
"And what's funny in a plot is when things go wrong. If things go right, there's nothing funny about it. So, people don't understand about the nature of comedy because they think because it's critical, it's damaging and they don't see that there's two types of teasing. There's nasty teasing which is horrible and that makes people feel bad about themselves and they become miserable. We don't do that, or at least we don't if we're decent human beings," John continued.
Cleese concluded, "But, there's another type of humour or critical humour which is teasing people and this can be done with huge affection. We tease members of our family, we tease our best friends. And the woke people can't see that that's because it's coming out of affection. It is not in the slightest bit unpleasant. In fact, if you can tease people, it's a kind of bonding mechanism. And the more you know and love someone, the ruder you can be to them (laughs) because they know that you're... [I chime in, "...that you're kidding."] You want people to know that you love them, you can be horrible to them and it's terribly funny."
Watch John Cleese's (Bonus: Jack Whitehall and Darby Camp!) interview with Pinkvilla for Clifford the Big Red Dog below:
We can't wait to be hilariously charmed by Clifford and the supremely talented cast!
Are you excited to see John Cleese in Clifford the Big Red Dog? Share your excitement with Pinkvilla in the comments section below.
Meanwhile, also starring Izaac Wang, Tony Hale, Sienna Guillory, David Alan Grier, Paul Rodriguez, Horatio Sanz, Russell Wong, and many more and directed by Walt Becker, Clifford the Big Red Dog releases in India tomorrow, i.e. December 3.
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