Editing John Cleese (section)

== Style of humour ==
[[File:Monty Python Graffiti Leicester.jpg|thumb|Graffiti of Cleese in "[[The Ministry of Silly Walks]]" sketch in Monty Python—[[Leicester]], 2007]]

In his ''Alimony Tour'' Cleese explained the origin of his fondness for [[black humour]], the only thing that he inherited from his mother. Examples of it are the [[Dead Parrot sketch]], "[[The Kipper and the Corpse]]" episode of ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', his clip for the 1992 BBC2 mockumentary "A Question of Taste", the [[Undertakers sketch]], and [[Dead Parrot sketch#Further uses|his eulogy]] at Graham Chapman's memorial service which included the line, "Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard! I hope he fries."<ref>{{cite news |title=Monty Python reunion: 10 things you didn't know |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/comedy/comedy-news/10463439/Monty-Python-reunion-10-things-you-didnt-know.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/comedy/comedy-news/10463439/Monty-Python-reunion-10-things-you-didnt-know.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=27 May 2019 |work=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> On his attitude to life he states, "I can take almost nothing seriously".<ref name="WTTW"/> 

Cleese has criticised [[political correctness]], [[Woke|wokeism]] and [[cancel culture]], saying that despite initial good intentions to "not be mean to people", they have become "a sort of indulgence of the most over-sensitive people in your culture, the people who are most easily upset [...] if you have to keep thinking which words you can use and which you can't, then that will stifle creativity." According to Cleese, "The main thing is to realise that words depend on their context [...] PC people simply don't understand this business about context because they tend to be very literal-minded", and that he imagined a "woke joke [...] might be heart-warming but it's not going to be very funny."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/john-cleese-political-correctness-comedy-woke-bbc-fawlty-towers-a9702986.html |title=John Cleese condemns 'woke jokes' and claims 'political correctness' is stifling creativity|first=Adam|last=White|date=3 September 2020 |access-date=8 March 2021 |work=The Independent}}</ref> He has also argued that political correctness and wokeism are a threat to humour, creativity, and [[freedom of thought]] and [[Freedom of Expression|expression]].<ref name="Reason 2022"/>

In 2020, following a controversy over the content of the ''Fawlty Towers'' episode "[[The Germans]]", Cleese criticised the BBC, saying "The BBC is now run by a mixture of marketing people and petty bureaucrats. It used to have a large sprinkling of people who'd actually made programmes. Not any more. So BBC decisions are made by persons whose main concern is not losing their jobs... That's why they're so cowardly and gutless and contemptible." He likened the style of humour in ''Fawlty Towers'' to the representation of [[Alf Garnett]] from another BBC sitcom, ''[[Till Death Us Do Part]]'', saying "We laughed at Alf's reactionary views. Thus we discredited them, by laughing at him. Of course, there were people—very stupid people—who said 'Thank God someone is saying these things at last'. We laughed at these people too. Now they're taking decisions about BBC comedy."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53020335 |title=Fawlty Towers: John Cleese attacks 'cowardly' BBC over episode's removal |date=12 June 2020 |access-date=14 June 2020 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>