The Stage

Cleese retires from performing

Published Monday 12 June 2006 at 10:30 by Liz Thomas

John Cleese is to step down from performing to write a history of comedy, admitting he will never manage to beat the popularity of Fawlty Towers.

The star has said he has achieved as much as he wants and is keen to host classes as a comedy professor, teaching upcoming talent how to make people laugh.

He told The Times: “I’m too tired to write new comedy. I can never do better than Fawlty Towers whatever I do. Now I very much want to teach young talent some rules of the game.”

“I want to write a book which is the history of comedy. It will cover the greats of silent cinema to Ricky Gervais, who is the height of modern entertainment. The Marx Brothers and Harold Lloyd will be in there too.”

He added that it was important to get back to really fine acting and writing, describing them as the “basic principles of great visual comedy.”

He explained: “But it is very rare today to see someone with that grasp of old-fashioned comedy. The last truly excellent performance I saw was Eddie Izzard. But Ricky Gervais is also a match for the great American sitcoms.”

Cleese, who began his comedy career with the famed Footlights group while studying at Cambridge University, has worked on everything from The Frost Report and Monty Python to Shrek 2 and Wallace and Gromit. He will not reprise his role as Q in the latest James Bond film Casino Royale.