Posted On: Thursday - August 27th 2026 9:45PM MST
In Topics: TV, aka Gov't Media Humor Political Correctness Movies ctrl-left Bread and Circuses
This "Being [whomever] deal seems to have originated with the 1999 movie Being John Malkovich. John Malkovich was an actor at the time, maybe still is, and I remembered him from some movies before that one. Oddly enough, I just looked, and I see that John Malkovich did not star in Being John Malkovich. WTH, it was John Cusack, along with... ooohhh, Cameron Diaz! I remember her from some movie in a white bikini, but as for being John Malkovich, who cares? Being an actor? You remember your lines, that's all - it's not rocket surgery. I can't even remember if I've seen Being John Malkovich - it couldn't have been that darn exciting to be him, I guess.. [Updated:] Per The Alarmist, with a scene "linked"-to in the comments, it was a good move. No, I haven't seen it, so disregard all that above.
Alright, but John Cleese, shown above, IS memorable. His olde English Monty Python's Flying Circus, aka, Monty Python, troupe (olde English for "group"?) made some of the funniest skits I've ever seen. From over half a century ago, 57 years in fact, to ~40 years ago, that humor can still be found all over youtube and on Peak Stupidity. That so many people I know enjoy it is pretty impressive considering the American v English cultural differences. The British The Office show was one I got on my Cantonese ripped/burned DVDs for the first season, and even though Ricky Gervais is a funny guy, no, it was not nearly as funny to me as the Steve Carell American show (the rest of the DVDs I bought for $2 total - the girl couldn't tell).
And to think, if anyone in the 6 member troupe was the straight man, it was usually John Cleese. Yet, he was STILL funny.
Pretty prescient, that one, or accidentally prescient, I should put it, as it's not like these comedians thought anyone would ever speak that way seriously, much less 40 years later! That scene must have been seen more than ever in the last 10 years in amazement on youtube.
The Monty Python troupe consisted of 6 funny guys, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, the eventual subject of this post, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. They'd often play the women's parts too, but occasionally there'd be real women - we can usually tell... very easily! One Sue Jones-Davies played the woman Judith in the above scene... the woman besides Loretta that is. (Eric Idle. Watch as he is about to crack up near the end.)
Monty Python made 3 movies, only 2 of which I know of well. First was Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1975. I remember going to see their 2nd and most controversial one, The Life of Brian from 1979. However, as much as the great skits can be seen to humorously illustrate points here (Peak Stupidity) and there, I believe I've seen the first one pretty much full through and the second similarly long after the first time. I suppose their movies are just a bunch of skits put together.*
About that controversy, The Life of Brian was a spoof on the Life of Christ, obviously. During the time of its release, that was not quite the laughing matter it is now. I can remember the controversy, yet free speech law reigned in the end. In the meantime, no movie studios were bombed or directors assassinated, as if had been, say, I dunno, The Life of Mohammad.
Yes, Monty Python made fun of everybody, no holds barred, except, yeah, could one talk about The Moslems? There really weren't many in the English speaking word in that era, such as their home, so I can't see holding that against them.
Something you couldn't do today is make fun of stutterers. It'd be a mean thing to do in person of course, but... crimey, I mean, I think Michael Palin here is so funny he might even cure a few people with the problem. This was as late as 1988.
That scene is from the movie A Fish Called Wanda. It's not a Monty Python movie, per se, but 2 of the 4 of the main characters are from the group, Michael Palin and John Cleese (both in this scene). I really, really tried to find my favorite scene, in which Michael Palin tried to tell someone, "It's in the b-b-b-b... It's in the b-b-b... it's in the ... b ... lavatory!"
What Monty Python did though, per a friend of mine, is continually ridicule the Conservative Establishment of their beloved England.** Now, this friend is really into watching old movies and TV shows and picking out the agendas within, and then explaining this to me. Was it all in fun, or was there an agenda being implemented as these funny guys made fun of everything English? (Or, do you just make fun of it particularly because that's what you know best?) Was making fun of an important mythical history, the roots of olde England, a bad thing too?
That's one of my very favorites (it's from The Holy Grail) - Eric Idle is hilarious. I'd say he's making fun of the left quite a bit in this one, to great effect.
I write of being John Cleese in this post because he's one of these 6 funny guys who has been making political statements. Normally, I wouldn't want to hear anything some actor's got to say, but Mr. Cleese's comments against wokeness and the Moslem invasion of Britain or different from what you normally get from them. To be fair, shouldn't it be not worth listening to either way?
You can read his comments anywhere, but here's just one article, from ZeroHedge: John Cleese: "Some Cultures Are Better Than Others". The bolding is by ZH (actually Modernity News) writer Steve Watson, or the editor:
"I am not a racist. I am a culturalist," he stated in a post that now has over ten million views, adding "I believe that some cultures are better than others. I prefer cultures that do not advocate stoning, pederasty, wife beating, female genital mutilation, and beheading opponents. Call me old-fashioned..."I'm too tired to argue about the "I'm not racist" bit. It's great that he supports Restore Party's Rupert Lowe.
Cleese had earlier made plain his preference for Lowe over the rest of the political class, stating he trusts the Great Yarmouth MP "more than any of the other leaders." The Metro reported the comments as Cleese pushed back against the predictable pile-on.
Mr. Cleese is quite the Conservative. At least, NOW he is. He has seen over this century the terrible changes in his home, and he doesn't like it. At least he speaks out. Fine, but my friend has told me numerous times that John Cleese himself was a part of the reason Great Britain has gotten to this point. Oh, maybe it was not a BIG part, but it was a tearing down of the Conservative Establishment that Monty Python did with their skits, shows, and movies. (He brings up their third movie The Meaning of Life as their most "damaging".)
It was just a funny TV show and just 3 funny movies! What difference could that make for the future of Great Britain? Well, media does play a part in changes to a society. Some cultures are better than others, Mr. Cleese accurately says. Being John Cleese, could he reflect a bit on his life and see that maybe his hilarious comedy group played a small part in changing the culture of his home for the worse? That is, even if it wasn't intentional?
The spread of Islam isn't the only cultural change that one might have noticed while being John Cleese. However, that major existential issue is what John Cleese is most concerned about now. Therefore, an interesting thought experiment is to consider whether he and his troupe of comedians would have made some very funny skits regarding Islam during their prime years, had it been anything anyone cared about. Their skits on their Flying Circus TV show were about British life, seeing as that's where they lived as did lots of their viewers, and almost no Moslems did.
I wouldn't have expected a movie about Islam from them, to rival The Life of Brian, as I mentioned above, but is that because nobody cared or because those certain people cared too much, even back then? Nowadays, the 6 Monty Python actor/comedians are very old, and I don't think they'd come off as so funny anyway, but England's too far gone to allow them to as much as make a funny skit. Comedians would probably die, or they'd be arrested before they filmed the first cut. So, Mr. Cleese has been able to speak out at least, but that's about it. Maybe they should have made that movie... MOAR royalties.
I'm just passing this along. Maybe Monty Python's effect on society was truly all just fun and of no consequence. I have a dozen funny scenes I wanted to feature here, but this is just a very short bit from A Fish Called Wanda. John Cleese is the upstanding Barrister, and the other guy in the cell is one of the crooks (working with Michael Palin, Kevin Kline - hilarious in this movie - and Jamie Lee Curtis.)
Maybe that's only funny if you've seen more of the movie...
* Then too, all movies are just a bunch of scenes put together, something that I don't really think about when watching. "Wait, they filmed this part AFTER that part? That seems ... not right ..."
** Wait, Conservative? Sure, economically, the place had been Socialist for a couple of decades already. It was the 1960s and 70's (and a bit of the '80s) too, so you know... However, just as in America, hippies and protesters notwithstanding, the people and the Establishment were still pretty Conservative.
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[UPDATED 08/29:] Commenter Alarmist corrected me about the John Malkovich movie, so that's been noted. Added the 2 paragraphs starting with "The spread of Islam".
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Comments:
The Alarmist
Friday - August 28th 2026 12:18AM MST
PS
Malkovich on Malkovich…
https://youtu.be/yXl6y3X_tX0
🍸
Malkovich on Malkovich…
https://youtu.be/yXl6y3X_tX0
🍸
The Alarmist
Friday - August 28th 2026 12:03AM MST
PS
Come on… the real star of Being John Malkovich was Malkovitch himself, as seen here ….
https://youtu.be/MHt_dZnUtHg
Anyhoo, how can you not like a film that teases out the comedy genius not just of Charlie Sheen, but also Orson Bean? And the concept of being dumped alongside the NJ Turnpike as the consequence of your Malkovitchian Voyeurism … comedy genius.
Seven and a half thumbs up.
🕉
Come on… the real star of Being John Malkovich was Malkovitch himself, as seen here ….
https://youtu.be/MHt_dZnUtHg
Anyhoo, how can you not like a film that teases out the comedy genius not just of Charlie Sheen, but also Orson Bean? And the concept of being dumped alongside the NJ Turnpike as the consequence of your Malkovitchian Voyeurism … comedy genius.
Seven and a half thumbs up.
🕉
I'll change some text above when I add another thing I was going to write about John Cleese and the Moslems in England.