John Cleese on the Dick Cavett Show, 1979, part 2 of 6

First off, sorry about the poor video quality. This came from an old Betamax tape, recorded at the slow speed and not stored in the best condition over the years...

In this segment, John give an anecdote on the filming of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," and then discusses how "Life of Brian" came about before delving into religion, religious offense, and the 1970-era court case against ABC.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• John
• Cleese
• Dick
• Cavett
• Monty
• Python
• interview
• Life
• of
• Brian

[PhilipPorter]

Were US audiences more open minded or intelligent back then? Or is this a New York thing? I don`t imagine a comedy mocking religeon would receive such an easy going reaction in the US these days.

[Dantemadison]

@PhilipPorter Nah, it was pretty much like today -- same voices out there on both sides, only not quite so loud. My Mom took me to see the film when it came out. We both loved it. Her brother kinda scolded her for going to see it as the Vatican gave it a "C" rating ('C' for 'condemned' meaning it was literally a sin to see the film).

I remember listening to her speaking to him on the phone, telling him the film was not blasphemous at all.

[121o121]

Compare Dick Cavett to the idiot women on "The View"; Montel Williams; Maury Povich; Jerry Springer; Carson Daly; Oprah Winfrey; etc.

Age discrimination and pandering to cretins keeps many entertaining, educated elders off the air.

We miss you on TV, Mr. Cavett.

[dabble778]

This is a real gem. Thanks for putting this up :-)

[pwarren1010]

@PhilipPorter Dont mean to bust in on your conversation but I would have to say reaction would be worse then.Churches today are less religious today.No doubt in my mind

[MoveOverCasanova]

it is great how always when a python simply explains what jokes didn´t work for "life of brian", the audience laughs like forced to, only because "a python tells a joke", though all he does is tell the story....misunderstanding is so everywhere everytime

[Bloodlovefreak]

I've never heard of Cavett but this interviewer is of the first rate kind that seems entirely absent from current US television.

[Intbel]

@comanchio1976 - Yup. My favourite also. A classic, that.

[crispiegee1]

Dick Cavett is just such a subtly funny guy. Dry, intelligent and always classy. A talent like him could never survive today.

[watayapupuya]

@ugleeamerican

How many balls does he have and where are they?

[reyzaguirr]

blessed are the cheesemakers...

[evo5dave]

Being from the UK, I have no idea who Dick Cavett is but, despite the terrible and overlong intro, he's actually quite an interesting interviewer.