![\"John](\"https:\/\/img.resized.co\/breaking-news\/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL2ltYWdlLmFzc2V0cy5wcmVzc2Fzc29jaWF0aW9uLmlvXFxcL3YyXFxcL2ltYWdlXFxcL3Byb2R1Y3Rpb25cXFwvN2Y2MzJlMDIwODE0MDg4MzllOTg5NTA0MTg0Mzg2N2ZZMjl1ZEdWdWRITmxZWEpqYUdGd2FTd3hOell4TkRJMU5ESXpcXFwvMi4yMjM0OTQ5NC5qcGc_dz02NDBcIixcIndpZHRoXCI6XCI2NDBcIixcImhlaWdodFwiOlwiMzgzXCIsXCJkZWZhdWx0XCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5icmVha2luZ25ld3MuaWVcXFwvaVxcXC9ibi1ub2ltYWdlLnBuZ1wiLFwib3B0aW9uc1wiOntcIm91dHB1dFwiOlwiYXZpZlwiLFwicXVhbGl0eVwiOlwiNTVcIn19IiwiaGFzaCI6IjBmMTZiOWY0ZjdhZGE1MjgyMTQ2ZTRmNTM4Yjk4ZjMyNjI1NWQyODkifQ==\/john-cleese-says-nervous-breakdown-gave-him-a-grasp-on-what-is-important.jpg?w=640\")
Actor and comedian John Cleese is touring Europe in the documentary John Cleese Packs It In (Andrew Matthews\/PA)<\/p>\nActor John Cleese has said he is \u201cglad\u201d he had a nervous breakdown following his third divorce as it gave him \u201ca much more realistic grasp of what was important in life\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Monty Python star describes having \u201ctwo and a half, three months of a nervous breakdown with suicidal thoughts\u201d in his new documentary, John Cleese Packs It In.<\/p>\n
In the 90-minute film, which sees Cleese embark on a European tour, the actor explains that he is still touring in his 80s because of the financial impact of his split from psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger in 2008.<\/p>\n
Actor and comedian John Cleese is touring Europe in the documentary John Cleese Packs It In (Andrew Matthews\/PA)<\/p>\n
He told the PA news agency: \u201cIt was very unpleasant waking up in the morning, because you feel very, very depressed for the first couple of hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut once they got me on a mild dose of an antidepressant, then I got rid of it fairly quickly and was performing again within about three or four months.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think I\u2019m glad it happened to me, because it gave me a much more realistic grasp of what was important in life, because we can certainly get distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of his tour, Cleese travelled to cities including Gothenburg, Ghent and Rotterdam, where he indulged in activates such as cheese tasting.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The actor, known for his role playing Basil in Fawlty Towers, said he enjoys the \u201cgood feeling\u201d of audience laughter while touring and added that TV and streaming \u201cis a world so different to what I grew up in\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the old days, I used to have a lot of stage fright, but when I go out now to perform, the people have bought tickets because they like me,\u201d he told PA.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo as I come out, there\u2019s a lovely reception because they like the kind of humour that I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if he was apprehensive about bringing a camera crew into his life, he added: \u201cThis is what we have to live with now, isn\u2019t it? And I don\u2019t have anything particularly to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n
The actor also reflected on the changing comedy scene and the idea of \u201cwoke\u201d which he said is \u201ca whole spectrum\u201d that is \u201ctotally sensible and admirable\u201d at one end, and the opposite at the other end.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI feel that we\u2019re in danger of not understanding the nature of comedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I think few people really understand is that all comedy is critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have a very clever, kind, generous, wise, amusing person, there\u2019s nothing to laugh at.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t laugh at people who are very likeable and friendly and kind and generous. We don\u2019t laugh at them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe laugh at people who were torn apart by ridiculous, egotistical emotions like competitiveness or anger or those kind of negative emotions, as we call them, that\u2019s what we laugh at.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut just because we\u2019re laughing at people doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s unkind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can be unkind, and it\u2019s very nasty when it is. When people make, not so much jokes, but pretend jokes that are intended to hurt people\u2019s feelings and make them feel bad about themselves, it\u2019s wrong, as simple as that. It\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Cleese Packs It In will play at more than 350 UK cinemas on November 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor John Cleese has said he is \u201cglad\u201d he had a nervous breakdown following his third divorce as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-135446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}