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The BBC has killed comedy says Monty Python’s John Cleese and Eric Idle

If you throw enough of other-peoples-money at something you too can neutralize top talent and produce mediocrity.

Where are the young Cleese’s and Idle’s now?

They  [John Cleese and Eric Idle] say the British broadcaster would not be brave enough to take a risk on them these days.

Cleese says the BBC has completely “screwed up comedy” because it has become a bureaucracy and “bureaucrats shouldn’t be in charge of comedy”.

IDLE: “Executives do not on the whole do well with comedy. They can’t understand it, they can’t read it, they can’t spot it.”

CLEESE: “But they think they can because they spend their whole time talking to other executives about what’s working. It’s like a martian trying to understand sex.”

Cleese on political correctness:

“Political correctness is a bit like granny or your maiden aunt arriving at a party when you’re all having a good time,” John Cleese said.

“She comes in and they all start buttoning up and becoming self conscious and behaving properly and then when she leaves you can have fun again.

“Well a lot of humour is just about enjoying life, it’s spontaneity. We’re always teasing each other. It’s with affection. It’s nasty teasing we don’t want. There’s certain jokes that are mean and actually not funny.”

—  John Cleese rules out Fawlty Towers musical, says BBC has ‘screwed up comedy’

In November he said he said he’d never work for the BBC again…” a large proportion of the commissioning editors have no idea what they’re doing.”

 

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