John Cleese’s cancel culture special is reportedly near-canceled
The Monty Python founder was supposed to "find out, on camera, about all the aspects of so-called political correctness." What a shame.
Aux News John Cleese
Uh oh! It sounds like Monty Python co-founder John Cleese won’t be able to fart in our general direction via his show about cancel culture any time soon, because it has reportedly already been canceled. Help! He’s being repressed!
The project—pretty hilariously titled John Cleese: Cancel Me—was announced all the way back in 2021. “I’m delighted to have a chance to find out, on camera, about all the aspects of so-called political correctness. There’s so much I really don’t understand, like: how the impeccable idea of ‘Let’s all be kind to people’ has been developed in some cases ad absurdum,” the comedian said at the time. “I want to bring the various reasonings right out in the open so that people can be clearer in their minds what they agree with, what they don’t agree with, and what they still can’t make their mind up about.”
Unfortunately, we’ll all be left to navigate those treacherous waters alone because Cleese and Channel 4, which was set to air the broadcast, could not rectify their schedules. The show was never filmed, and while Deadline reports that the channel would be interested in one day returning to the project, it’s unclear if Cleese feels the same.
If this is upsetting news, don’t worry: Cleese has addressed his thoughts on “wokery” multiple times already. In 2023, he suggested that Monty Python were “early targets of cancel culture” because some members of the Christian community hated Life Of Brian (via Variety). In what’s now become a pretty standard rant, Cleese has also stated (via Calgary Herald) that “one of the problems we have [in comedy] is we have the woke generation,” who “started out with a good idea, which is ‘Let’s not be mean to people.’ Then they take it rather the wrong way by assuming people are rather more sensitive than I think they are.”
Some of those things people have been “sensitive” about? In 2021, the comedian withdrew from a Cambridge Union speaking engagement because the society had banned a different speaker for doing a Hitler impression. The previous year, he not only signed a letter supporting J.K. Rowling, but doubled down on Twitter/X, writing: “Deep down, I want to be a Cambodian police woman[.] Is that allowed, or am I being unrealistic ?” If Cleese really wanted to be canceled so badly, he didn’t have to go through the hoops of announcing and then never filming a show to make that happen.
76 Comments
Those responsible for canceling the cancellation special have been canceled.
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti…
A cancellation once bit my sister’s møøse.
You take that star, you beautiful bastard.
Canceled by
40 SPECIALLY TRAINED ECUADORIAN MOUNTAIN LLAMAS
6 VENEZUELAN RED LLAMAS
142 MEXICAN WHOOPING LLAMAS
14 NORTH CHILEAN GUANACOS (CLOSELY RELATED TO THE LLAMA) REG LLAMA OF BRIXTON
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and TERRY GILLIAM & TERRY JONES
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If you see one where people are swimming, you should shout:
LOOK OUT! THERE ARE LLAMAS!
No they haven’t.
That’s not an argument, that’s just contradiction.
Well if I’m to argue with them, I must take up a contrary position.
That’s two doors down. This is Abuse.
If only British citizens had the first amendment to protect them!In all seriousness I think there’s at least a 50% chance Musk swoops in to turn this into ‘Original Programming for X’ or some other such fate.
“In all seriousness I think there’s at least a 50% chance Musk swoops in to turn this into ‘Original Programming for X’ or some other such fate.”That lasts exactly up until Musk is the target of the joke – then he will immediately cancel it and blame something/someone else.
I need more context about the Hitler impersonator. Was it someone lampooning Hitler, or doing a loving tribute to Hitler?The “I want to be a Cambodian police woman” bit just misses the point entirely.
I’ll bet that he hasn’t even consulted with the Cambodian embassy about becoming a citizen!
Every right-wing blowhard says some variation of ‘If someone can say they’re a gender, then I’m x’ and think it’s the most mind-blowing, Voltairian, definitive takedown of modern gender ideas and the greatest piece of satire that the world has ever seen, when instead it merely demonstrates why there aren’t more right-wing comedians.
It’s one of the most deeply annoying elements of all this. I try hard to avoid Piers Morgan in my daily life, but whenever I do accidentally see him on something, he’s usually doing one of those. My brother-in-law falls for shit like that as well which is frustrating. The way Cleese talked up his proposed show actually sounded like a good idea, as in theory he would have understood the issues better by the end. But I suspect he already had his conclusion written and it would have been more of the same.
Man, what happened to make you lose your sense of humour?
I FINK HE’S GOT BEAUTIFUL LEGS!
I don’t like the sound of these here ‘boncentration bamps.’
Did you meet his good friends, Ron Vibbentrop and Mr. MacGoering?
I hope Michael Palin outlives them all.
I’d prefer Eric Idle to personally, but I’ll take either of them. The Pythons have neatly divided themselves into ‘already dead’, ‘determined to destroy their legacy on the way out’, and ‘must be protected at all costs’.
There’s so much I really don’t understand, like: how the impeccable idea of ‘Let’s all be kind to people’ has been developed in some cases ad absurdum,”Translation: “Someone give me one good reason why I can’t mock [insert marginalized people here] anymore.”
Yeah. Someone needs to ask people like him… can you give an example of being nice that is just “too much” for you to stomach?They won’t be able to give an example that isn’t actually being mean to someone.
That’s a bit of a tautology because anything humorous can be interpreted as ‘mean’ to someone. It might be yourself [self-deprecating]. It might be someone you think is sorely deserving. Humor is a safe way to process things that might be painful in other frames. The metric isn’t whether is has a capacity to be interpreted as mean. The metrics are the intent of the person making the joke and the capacity of the recipient to take that joke in the manner intended by the author. This is why Cleese asserts that some have sought to intercede for others in the often overcautious perception that people are more sensitive than that actually are.
No you don’t get it. It’s only bad if it’s being mean to someone that I don’t like, because everyone agrees with me
And he’s wrong because it’s not interceding for someone’s sensitivity, it’s interceding for someone whose voice is not as amplified. Generally because of demographics. But hell, he and Clapton probably have some “fun” thoughts about the demos of the UK these days…
Like yesterday I was in Costco and I hate Costco because of how many people there are at all times, but, anyhow, some woman was like “Oh hey Karen!” at some other woman and then she continues “oh it’s so cute you’re still wearing a facemask!” meanwhile Karen was like 80 years old. Some people are so ignorant it’s insane.
*smacks Cleese with a small fish*
Was it a….herring!?
It can’t be done!
He wished to register a complaint.
“I’m delighted to have a chance to find out, on camera, about all the aspects of so-called political correctness.” Why is anyone still talking about “political correctness” in 2024?
Because sometimes people as old as Cleese forget that political correctness is called ‘woke’ or ‘cancelled’ now.It’s literally the same boring, hateful discussion.
You must be one of those people who are rather more sensitive than Cleese thinks they are.
I’ve never wished more that Graham Chapman was still alive. He absolutely would have been able to explain to these other guys the difference between “mindless good taste” as Cleese described at his funeral and just common decency.
That’s silly!
Chapman was the most transgressive of all of the Pythons. He wouldn’t be a champion of Wokeism.
Old people complaining about change is as old as time.
I’m sure Fox Nation will be happy to host his special instead.
He’s absolutely right.
I disagree with the vast majority of what Cleese has said over the past number of years on these topics, but I have to admit that I kind of agree with the idea that one issue is that people assume that others who they are ostensibly protecting are more sensitive than is probably the case.
When “Life is Beautiful” came out there were many people who were outraged and thought that the film made light of the Holocaust and that it would be offensive to Jewish people. Maybe it’s not a representative sample, but of the Jewish people I know, none of them were offended by the film. One even noted that in Israel at the time, the only people who were offended were the ultra-right who had, in fact, not seen the film.
I’m with you on this: it’s one thing to find something unacceptably offensive in any context and another thing to think that you’re rushing to the defense of a group that you don’t think can articulate their own thoughts. But after a couple of decades of what sounds like pretty standard right-wing jackassery, I’ve given up the idea that Cleese can be an honest broker in anyone’s culture war.
It’s not articulation, it’s volume.
You’re not wrong there if what’s being said is so blatantly racist that any decent human being can see that it shouldn’t be on a stage.
Part of the issue, specifically with Cleese and his transphobic bullshit, is how much society at large is in denial about the issue. And in the UK there’s even more social fucked upedness over trans rights. This stupid old fuck thinks “derp I decide to be a Cambodian woman derp” is a remotely reasonable parallel to the trans experience.
Worst part is that I kinda wish he were serious.He should have the right to personally enact whatever transitionary medical care or what have you that is available so that he could in fact transition, move to Cambodia, and seek employment as a member of their police agencies. Age and physical condition may be an issue (he’s a little old and doughy, and that’s just not going to change regardless of whatever other care he receives) but if he deeply and honestly believed that he were in fact a “Cambodian police woman” then he should receive the support any other person attempting to transition should receive.
But even that is misunderstanding the reason people in privileged groups get defensive about the marginalized. It isn’t about sensitivity, it’s about recognizing that the in group has more of a voice and any objection the out group might have can be too easily dismissed. I see arguments about this as removing the agency of the group in question but agency is the issue.
I kind of agree with the idea that one issue is that people assume that others who they are ostensibly protecting are more sensitive than is probably the case.
Absolutely this.
I grew up in Wisconsin which has a large Hmong minority (they are an ethnic minority of Vietnam who were persecuted and so thought it was a good idea to side with the US during the war, which obviously didn’t work out for them so those that could emigrated to the US). I remember how in grade school Halloween celebrations involving masks were cancelled because the Hmong use masks for their religious ceremonies. Except nobody asked the Hmong if they were offended by Halloween masks. It turns out that they don’t give a fuck about Halloween masks, it was just people assuming that they’d be offended.
Okay. But where was the harm? Ultimately what does it matter that someone with good, if silly, intentions made an honest mistake out of a surfeit of goodwill? Given how careless and shitty the human race can be with each other I would vastly prefer that people overcorrect than not. And people like Cleese who hold comedy oh so precious seem to want it the other way. Be careless and shitty as long as you think you’re funny? Ugh.Of course as a transphobe Cleese’s version of offense isn’t even funny. Which is what people are constantly trying to tell these genuinely funny but woefully out of touch comedians. Your “offensive” material is just *bad*.
Okay. But where was the harm? Ultimately what does it matter that
someone with good, if silly, intentions made an honest mistake out of a
surfeit of goodwill?
Honestly, this is more breeding long term damage to the “be thoughtful of other people” movement. The kids in that area will learn about why they can’t do the completely unoffensive thing they think is fun and everyone else gets to do, and while it is a really small thing in reality, to those kids it will seem to be a lot bigger. So they’re now going to have some resentment/backlash internally to this. You do this enough times over the years and those kids when they grow up are going to be jaded by the oversensitivity they’ve grown up under and will be inherently more critical of any exceptions made.
This is slippery slope nonsense.
It was similar with a Christmas tree in Toronto. It was campaigned strongly against by city council, in support of recognizing other religions. From what I read about, none of the people of those religions cared, and -if anything – resented the notion that it might be blamed on them, which of course in some circles it was.
Cleese seems to have a habit of announcing projects that don’t really go anywhere.Aren’t we supposed to have a misguided Fawlty Towers revival and a Life of Brian musical, too?
Old man cancels cloud
Young man tells old man the cloud is a bicycle.
There’s a Monty Python sketch where a prisoner is going to be executed. A telegram comes in just in time, but it says the execution has been “candelled”. The prisoner is all “clearly that’s a typo for “cancelled” and the guards are like “no it probably just means we should light candles, right?”.I’m just saying, the least he could do is go with “candle culture”.
This reminds me of something Alexandra Petri posted on twitter: “chancel
culture is getting out of hand! everywhere you look people reserving part of a
church for the clergy and choir and separating it from the nave by steps or
a screen.”
Oh noes… he supported J.K. Rowling! Get ‘im!
So out of principle Cleese “cancelled himself” after some people took umbrage to … someone doing a Hitler impersonation as an example of bad taste… that didn’t offend the audience who voted in favour of the impersonator’s opinion that Hitler’s views are in bad taste… and this is supposed to be some “evidence” that Cleese likes Hitler, or something…? Because this is incoherent. Oh yeah, “Jo” Rowling too, somehow you think that her views are extremists and not her opponents.
I have this joke where I tell people I want to identify as an attack helicopter.
No-one can tell me what I can’t say!
I mean who actually wanted to watch “old white man complains about cancel culture”? like… c’mon at some point just stop giving them microphones.
Just do a podcast. If he actually cares about this kind of thing and it’s not just grabbing onto a fad. In the meantime both Kliph Nesteroff and Jesse David Fox have good books and audiobooks out on the subject.
is he the last surviving member of Monty Python? Just curious.
Only Graham Chapman and Terry Jones have passed. We still have Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam. Pretty sure Gilliam’s career is dead though
The comedy that made him famous is still funny. He’s the one who’s changed.
Why won’t anyone let them just ask disingenuous questions? They just want to experience others’ points of view, that’s all.
I think people that whinge about being cancelled should be taxed.
When the right wing cancelled bud light for daring not to be transphobic, the higher ups a InBev fired most of those involved, made clear they were in fact transphobic, sponsored UFC, and got Dana White to talk Trump (probably by paying them both a lot of money) into un-cancelling them, so that’s how much the right doesn’t engage in cancel culture
I feel like cancel culture maybe 50% exists. Like, are there gaggles of panicky, terminally online weirdos who will attack anyone who challenges the monopoly they feel they hold on correct opinion? Sure. But that’s not what people who complain about cancel culture are upset about; they’re mad that you can get kicked off cable for six months if you do some light sex crime between standup comedy sets. They’re scumbags who want to put the legitimate criticism they receive in the same category as 5 tumblr kids trying to exile/vilify a redditor they hate so they look better than they are. And of course they’re more than willing to engage in culture warfare of their own – for instance by having an ill-advised TV series over someone being mean to them on Twitter – because they’re completely immune to irony.
But 80+ year olds usually have their finger on the pulse of comedy and culture. Very odd.
The man is a legend and deserves better than this snarky nonsense. Maybe the writer should get some talent before lobbing stones.
He’s at the old racist relative phase of his life where we do our best to ignore it and try to remember the good times because no reason to “cancel” 90 year old great aunt Linda because she said some very rude things about the staff at the nursing home. After all she’s gonna die soon anyway.
Wish he’d hurry up already