We went for our wedding anniversary (ironic, perhaps as it is the Alimony tour) and did not know what to expect at all as we had deliberately not looked at any blurb beforehand.
We have always been a Cleese fan and love all things Python and Fawlty. John opened with an explanation (similar to that said on interview I understand) that he needed to do this tour in order to be able to pay the alimony of $20,000,000 to his wife and that they split acrimoniously – he then went on to add a funny twist to that by showing just what $20,000,000 can buy you these days!
Mostly it was an interesting monologue of his comedic career, interspersed with clips from TV and film from the likes of The Frost Report through Python to A Fish Called Wanda, etc.
He came across as always having been passionate about his craft and yet humbled by other ‘greats’ in the comedy industry and of having a genuine feeling of having been very lucky to have been given the opportunity at the outset to go into comedy on the television.
There was no stand-up, but his anecdotes were funny, poignant and very honest and human, especially the references to his mother and to black humour.
We thoroughly enjoyed the show and it passed very quickly, possibly too quickly.
Our thanks to Janine Tozer – @mana4tee