NO SENSE OF ‘IRONY’

John Cleese Moans About Being Forced to Cut N-Word From Stage Show

The “Monty Python” comedian lobbed shots at audience intellect when explaining why he dropped the racist slur from a stage revival of “Fawlty Towers.”

John Cleese thinks people are too “literal-minded” to enjoy his comedy, he said while explaining why he dropped the N-word from the script of the West End’s forthcoming Fawlty Towers revival. At a press conference for the show, Cleese lobbed shots at the intellect of some audience members as he talked through his decision to drop the racial slur from the production. “Whenever you’re doing comedy you’re up against the literal-minded, and the literal-minded don’t understand irony and if you take them seriously you get rid of a lot of comedy,” Cleese, who has been outspoken on how he thinks “woke” culture is killing the genre, said. “They don’t understand metaphor, irony or comedy exaggeration,” he added. “They’re not playing with a full deck.” The stage adaptation of Fawlty Towers includes scenes adapted from the 1975 episode “The Germans,” in which a character spews racist slurs during a cricket match. Cleese said he’d considered keeping the N-word in for the stage revival but ultimately decided “it’s not worth the trouble.”