John Cleese tries not to laugh

The picture is integral to my anecdote because you need to picture the man in his elder statesman years. I suspect many whippersnappers on Prose will look at that image and exclaim, “That’s Nearly Headless Nick!” And that is correct, in a sorta kinda way. But that’s a little like seeing Washington on the dollar bill and saying, “Oh yeah! He presided over the Constitutional Convention!” For John Cleese’s true glory is as a founding member of Monty Python who thereby revolutionized comedy.

A couple years back my wife gifted me tickets to a screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Rochester. Watching the movie with a few thousand superfans was a cool experience, but not the real draw: John Cleese would take the stage afterward. Audience members texted in questions, interviewer would ask them, and we’d all absorb the presence of John Cleese, Legend of Comedy. It was the presence that mattered, really, the witnessing; I was in the room with the man. I figured anything memorable that came from his responses was just gravy.

And then somebody asked, “What’s your favorite joke?”

He lost it. Uncontrolled laughter. Some moments later, Cleese gets out, “What’s black...” More uncontrolled laughter. I was not the only person leaning forward in my seat. Whatever this joke was, John Cleese, Legend of Comedy, is apparently incapable of delivering it.

“What--” (Cleese laughs) “What’s black and white” (Cleese laughs) “and crawls along the ground?”

He’s still laughing. Finally, tears streaming from his eyes, John Cleese chokes out, “A wounded nun.”