Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Parrot May Be Dead, But John Cleese Is Not

John Cleese is undoubtedly a comedy legend. Among his many credits: he is a founding-member of Monty Python, co-creator and star of the sitcom “Fawlty Towers,” and he wrote and co-starred in the film “A Fish Called Wanda.” Cleese recently toured the U.S. and Canada with his one man show “Last Time To See Me Before I Die.” 

But despite the morbid title John Cleese is still actively writing and performing for the stage, movies and television. Host Frank Stasio speaks with Cleese about the behind-the-scenes stories from his many years in comedy, including how the Monty Python troupe settled on a Norwegian Blue parrot in the famous dead parrot sketch.

Cleese will be at the Durham Performing Arts Center this evening at 7:30 p.m. for a screening of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” followed by a Q&A with the audience. 

Laura Pellicer is a digital reporter with WUNC’s small but intrepid digital news team.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Related Stories
More Stories