John Cleese said he would tell the BBC ‘not on your nelly’ if they asked him to do a new program – as he announced he was joining GB News after being told it was a “free speech channel”.
An 82-year-old actor and comedian, he created and starred in the classic sitcom Fawlty Towers and was one of the comedy troupe behind the surreal sketch Monty Python, both of which first aired on the BBC.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Monday, he said: ‘The BBC didn’t come to me and say, ‘Would you like to have hour-long shows?
“And if they did, I’d say, ‘Not on your nelly’ because I wouldn’t get five minutes in the first show before I got canceled or censored.”
Today presenter Amol Rajan replied, “Well, we’ve given you five minutes today and I can promise you haven’t been censored yet.”
Cleese has previously spoken about cancel culture and criticized a perceived “stifling” effect of political correctness on creativity – saying there is no such thing as a “wicked joke”.
Asked about the genesis of his new show with GB News, he said: “I don’t know much about modern TV because I’ve pretty much given up on it. I mean, English TV.
“And then I met one or two of the people involved and had dinner with them and really liked them.
“And what they said was, ‘People say this is the right-wing channel – this is a free-speech channel’.”
According to GB News, Cleese’s new series will air next year and will feature him in conversation with “his choice of guests on a wide range of areas that interest him”.
Writer and comedian Andrew Doyle will serve as the program’s executive producer and said: “John will have complete creative freedom to have the conversations he wants to have with the people he cares about most.
“Like John himself, it will be far from predictable.”
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GB News was set up in June 2021, with former BBC political broadcaster Andrew Neil serving as chairman and primetime show host before stepping down in September.
Cleese will join the channel’s on-air talent including former This Morning host Eamonn Holmes, former Ukip executive Nigel Farage, former Sky presenter Colin Brazier, ITV News reporter Alastair Stewart and former Labor MP Gloria De Piero.
Asked about his thoughts on the limits of free speech, Cleese said: “Someone once said to me, ‘Everyone is in favor of free speech, especially for the ideas that they like “.”
Reflecting on whether free speech should extend to those who spread misleading opinions and information on public health issues, he added: “If there is a factual answer to something like that, then that should be done.
“That’s the job, to lay out the facts and then have slightly separate opinions and have a proper argument about it, but not try to avoid a public debate and then try to spread through social media.”
Cleese, who shot to fame in the 1970s as co-founder of the surreal comedy group Monty Python alongside Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Sir Michael Palin, previously criticized the BBC when UKTV, which is BBC-owned, has temporarily removed an episode of Fawlty Towers for apparent “racial slurs” and “outdated language”.
On how he thinks Monty Python would be received today, he said: “Well the guy who was in charge of light entertainment about four years ago said he wouldn’t order it now because that’s six whites, five of whom went to Oxbridge.
“But the thing is, they made a program that a lot of people liked.”
He added: “If people like something, then the BBC should do more. And if people don’t like something, they probably should do less. But their job is to produce the best programs possible.”
While Cleese has previously backed the Liberal Democrats and the Social Democrats, he said he doesn’t belong to either party and now sees politics as a “confusing mess”.
He added: “After that dreadful Brexit debate, when I thought this country had sunk to the lowest intellectual level I can remember, I kind of lost interest.”
The actor continued, “I live in hotel rooms. I’m in hotel rooms 10 months a year, so I’m interested in a lot of political things everywhere, but I don’t think this country is in good condition at present.
“In fact, I think the last three Conservative administrations have been increasingly disastrous.”
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