{"id":171572,"date":"2025-12-02T20:01:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171572\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T20:01:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:01:15","slug":"john-cleese-says-the-bbc-doesnt-know-how-to-nurture-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171572\/","title":{"rendered":"John Cleese says the BBC doesn\u2019t know how to \u2018nurture comedy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fawlty Towers actor John Cleese has said he thinks the BBC doesn\u2019t know how to \u201cnurture comedy\u201d, and that \u201cthere\u2019s not much great comedy these days\u201d, while reflecting on his time working with the broadcaster.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to LBC on Tuesday, the 86-year-old said he thinks \u201cvery few people understand comedy\u201d, and reminisced about the \u201cwonderful\u201d collection of talent that used to be at the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>He went on to say the BBC is a bureaucracy, and said: \u201cBureaucrats aren\u2019t very good at humour\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Cleese said: \u201cIn the case of the BBC, there isn\u2019t the executive understanding of how to nurture comedy, which is why there\u2019s not much great comedy these days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s because John Birt turned the BBC into a bureaucracy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd bureaucrats aren\u2019t very good at humour \u2013 because they try to decide things in committee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"1005\" width=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.resized.co\/breaking-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\/john-cleese-says-the-bbc-doesn-t-know-how-to-nurture-comedy.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"John Cleese is seen in London promoting two Fawlty Towers specials created to commemorate the 30 years Fawlty Towers Anniversary.\" data-title=\"Fawlty Towers staff reunion\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Archive\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Archive\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Ian West\" data-usage-terms=\"\"\/>The 86-year-old comic actor told LBC he doesn\u2019t think the BBC knows how to \u2018nurture comedy\u2019 (Ian West\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to presenter Nick Ferrari, the comic actor said: \u201cThey use a lot of committees to make decisions \u2013 which is rubbish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t write comedy in a committee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was wonderful when there was a collection of talent at the BBC,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>He went on to remember working on BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers with actor Bernard Cribbins, saying: \u201cI\u2019d never seen such a wonderful performer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also reminisced about working on the show with actors Ken Campbell and Geoffrey Palmer, and said: \u201cThere\u2019s so many good comedy actors in England, we should be celebrating them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about the Fawlty Towers theatre production, Cleese said: \u201cIt\u2019s a really wonderful production.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not dating at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fawlty Towers actor John Cleese has said he thinks the BBC doesn\u2019t know how to \u201cnurture comedy\u201d, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-171572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171572","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=171572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}