The name's Cheese - John Cheese

Did you know that John Cleese's father's name was actually Reginald Francis Cheese? I kid you not!

There's quite an intense interview with him in the January issue of Esquire (the British edition, of course). I never really found John Cleese uproariously funny, in a peculiarly funny kind of way. And now I know why (I think): In this interview, he comes out as a "technical comedian", an introvert who much rather considered a career in academic psychology or law: "I was precise with the use of words and I thought clearly in categories". So he is really working hard at being funny: "I am always quite surprised how cavalier a lot of comics are about their approach to the thing. They don't realise how difficult it is." And later, he explains that "I was always much more motivated by the fear of being bad than by the desire to be good." Amazing. I wonder how much of that is actually true ... but it's certainly a good promotional effort for his new commercial website.

Ah, and here's something Bush-related: When asked what he thinks he will always be remembered for, he goes: "Maybe some people will say 'He's the guy who assassinated George Bush' - probably that. Actually, I wouldn't assassinate Bush, I would assassinate Cheney - can you rewrite that for me, please?"