Monty Python star Cleese has responded on social media to Margolyes\u2019s claims that he was \u201cvenomous\u201d to her while performing in a comedy show, with the comedian explaining that he had \u201cliterally never met someone so brash and vulgar\u201d. <\/p>\n
It comes after clips from Margolyes\u2019s interview on The Romesh Ranganathan Show<\/a>, which was released in May, started circulating online. In the chat, Margolyes revealed that her experience with comedy troupe Footlights at the University of Cambridge was \u201cnot joyous\u201d, with the all-male group choosing not to speak to her off-stage while acting in a 1962 revue. <\/p>\n \u201cJohn Cleese and Graham Chapman were particularly venomous,\u201d said the Harry Potter star, 85, who is known for bawdy, unfiltered comments. \u201cIt wounded me terribly and I wasn\u2019t invited to the cast party so I complained and I went to the cast party but I\u2019ve never really forgiven them.\u201d<\/p>\n She said that Cleese, 86, and Chapman, who died in 1989 aged 48, were \u201cbrilliant young men\u201d who \u201clacked that thing which is a human part of the gene\u201d, adding about Cleese: \u201cI\u2019m glad he\u2019s old and unfunny.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharing the clip on X on Thursday (27 August), Cleese gave his take on the fall-out, writing: \u201cSeveral of us, rather repressed and socially unskilled lower middle class boys, had literally never met someone so brash and vulgar, and I’m afraid we shrank away from her. <\/p>\n \u201cNo abuse or anything. We just kept out of her way,\u201d he added. \u201cRecently, Miriam also blamed Bill Oddie for our bad behaviour. Not fair. He wasn’t in the show that year. 1962, I think it was. 64 years ago. How time flies…\u201d<\/p>\n The Independent has contacted Margolyes for comment. <\/p>\n In 2021, Margolyes called the late presenter Bill Oddie \u2013 as well as Cleese and Chapman \u2013 a \u201ctotal s***\u201d over the same incident<\/a>, adding: \u201cI\u2019d assumed comedy was not for me after the nastiness of Footlights.\u201d <\/p>\n At the time, Oddie responded to Margolyes on X, explaining that he actually campaigned for women to join the Footlights troupe, which only allowed men at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cHey Miriam. It would really sadden me if you had me down as a Footlights mysogynist [sic],\u201d he wrote. \u201cI was incensed that women couldn’t be \u2018members\u2019, but I got no support from the \u2018all male\u2019 council, whom I accused of not wanting the competition! Such as Germaine, Emma Thompson, and YOU! X.\u201d <\/p>\n While on Ranganathan\u2019s podcast, Margolyes said that she still bears \u201cso much rage and irritation\u201d over her treatment in the show, calling the Footlights men \u201call so mean-spirited and jealous of anybody who took their light\u201d. <\/p>\n Margolyes broke into acting after leaving Cambridge, going on to play Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films and secure roles in The Age of Innocence and Call the Midwife. However, in recent years, she\u2019s regularly made headlines with her outspoken views, live TV slip-ups<\/a> and outrageously candid stories. Last year, she revealed on This Morning that she had forgiven her End of Days co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/a> for apparently breaking wind in her face during filming. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Cleese \u2013 who starred in BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers as well as multiple Monty Python films and the Shrek franchise \u2013 has regularly spoken out against cancel culture and political correctness. Last year, he branded BBC comedy executives \u201cstupid\u201d and \u201cclowns\u201d<\/a> after being left frustrated by an ideas meeting with the broadcaster, adding that commissioners are \u201ctoo influenced by the passion and nastiness of the extremely woke\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-583020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Miriam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-05-06-at-11-47-38.png\")
Miriam Margolyes on ‘The Romesh Ranganathan Show’ (‘The Romesh Ranganathan Show’)<\/p>\n