John Cleese – Completely Different Emcee
In 2008, We Are Most Amused celebrated the King's 60th birthday with a surprisingly entertaining evening of comedy.
Back when Kasterborous was just getting on its feet, I would occasionally contribute articles to other websites.
One such article was a review of We Are Most Amused, a charity event in 2008 held in celebration of Prince Charles’ (now our king) 60th birthday. Robin Williams and Joan Rivers added an international flair to a jamboree of British comedy A-listers, and John Cleese held it all together with the expected aplomb. It had the vibe of one of those old Secret Policeman’s Ball events, only with televisual glitz and members of the Royal Family in full view.
(That may or may not be a reference to Princess Margaret’s nightlife. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.)
Originally published on BlogCritics.org, the review did quite well, I understand, but is no longer online. So now it is here.
Prince Charles celebrates his 60th birthday this year, and among various engagements Thursday, November 13th was the date that The Princes' Trust - an organisation setup by Charles to help young people - held an evening of A-list comedy entertainment in his honour at the New Wimbledon Theatre in London.
The performers were Rowan Atkinson, Robin Williams, Bill Bailey and relative newcomers Michael McIntyre, Stephen K Amos and Omid Djalili, with a brief appearance from Joan Rivers.
Wisely, the organisers chose John Cleese to hold it all together - which he did in fine style, playing up his own advanced years by appearing on stage in a wheelchair and attended to by two busty blonde nurses.
(I understand Cleese has recently had surgery.)
“Winners, like North Vietnam?”
Cleese impressed further by constantly apologising for the length of the show and dismissing the quality of the obviously superb acts and the Prince's likelihood of being entertained with wonderful quips - a well-received one being "I bet when the Duchess of Cornwall told you, Sir, that she had a couple of tickets for Wimbledon, you thought you were in for a treat."
Now, it could be said that over the years, John Cleese has lost his way somewhat as a legendary comedian. Some might even say that he has lived off past successes for the last 20 years.
In Cleese's defence, I would say this - none are better, and few will reach the level of recognition and success as a comedian and comic actor during far longer careers.
So what if he's restricted his career to cameo appearances alongside Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Ratcliffe? He wrote Fawlty Towers and A Fish Called Wanda!
A night in Wimbledon
Cleese impressed further by dismissing the quality of the acts and the Prince's likelihood of being entertained with wonderful quips - a well-received one being "I bet when the Duchess of Cornwall told you Sir she had a couple of tickets for Wimbledon you thought you were in for a treat."
With this level of emceeing holding together a diverse range of comics, the evening could only go well. Highlights included Iranian-born Omid Djalili as well as Bill Bailey and Robin Williams, both individually and together performing a hilarious song that they improvised for 20 minutes backstage.
(Andrew Sachs also turned up, to rapturous applause, as Fawlty Towers waiter Manuel.)
Rowan Atkinson meanwhile was on hand to perform one of his classic one-man show sketches "And Now From Nazareth, The Amazing...", appearing as a vicar reading from the Book of John and telling the story of Jesus and the Feeding of the Five Thousand with the result that everyone wants to book the Christ for party entertainment.
The star of the evening wasn’t a Windsor
Throughout it all, however, the evening's best performance was truly owned by John Cleese. Nursed yet sporting increasingly serious injuries as the evening progressed; he eventually rose to his feet for the finale, provided by Eric Idle in a tutu leading a rousing chorus of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's 1979 movie The Life of Brian.
The Prince of Wales and his consort Camilla and son Harry typically haven't revealed their opinions of the show, but they all seemed to be enjoying it considerably.
With Cleese in his best form in a very long time, they will have no complaints.
It’s like reading an account of a completely different era, isn’t it? Harry having fun?! Behave.
Seriously, though, I enjoyed writing this review at the time, and re-reading it today. It was one of the best variety shows I had seen in quite some time at that point, and to be honest, it could even be the last really great example of that once proud British tradition.
After all, Britain’s Got Talent’s manufactured variety audition show has overshadowed the Royal Variety Performance somewhat. As with anything, once a creative process becomes mechanical, it stops being interesting to me.
More later this week
I shall be back on Thursday with a few thoughts about recent announcements and a preview of our next podcast. Until then, you can catch up with previous episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and all the other places you find podcasts.
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Until next time!