The wonderfully historic and atmospheric Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre provided the perfect setting on September 30th for an evening with British comedy royalty. Hosted as part of Toronto’s Just For Laughs festival, John Cleese: “Not Dead Yet!” delivered a cheekily irreverent celebration anchored by a 50th-anniversary screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But while the film remains a timeless classic, the live Q&A that followed was the true pièce de résistance—offering fans a priceless encounter with Cleese’s unfiltered perspective, wit, and iconic storytelling.
Walking onto the stage to enthusiastic applause, Cleese immediately set a playful, sharp-witted tone with the audience. When a fan opened the Q&A by asking about an obscure 1976 Toronto rumour involving a double-decker bus and police helmets, Cleese deadpanned, “Why are you insane?” before assuring the crowd that the story was pure fiction. The evening moved seamlessly between hilarious backstage memories and genuine, touching interactions with fans.
One of the night’s highlights was Cleese reflecting on the chaotic production of The Holy Grail. He admitted that he and co-writer Graham Chapman were “very lazy in those days” and preferred writing and performing over handling production logistics. He shared how co-directors Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones constantly quarreled over the edit, with one Terry secretly re-editing the film while the other slept. Cleese candidly called the film’s abrupt ending “rotten,” explaining that the low budget simply ran out of money, contrasting it with the far more satisfying conclusion of Life of Brian.
Cleese also offered intimate reflections on his late comedy partner, Graham Chapman. Describing Chapman as “the naughtiest man I have ever met,” Cleese recalled Chapman’s total lack of public embarrassment, as well as the surreal tale of the surviving Pythons carrying Chapman’s ashes across the Atlantic in an urn to the Aspen Comedy Festival.
While the evening was primarily filled with laughter, Cleese didn’t shy away from heavier topics, offering his perspective on satire, criticism, and modern culture. He distinguished between healthy cultural criticism and “phobias,” arguing that comedy thrives on challenging ideas and dismantling pomposity. “The moment you introduce humor, pomposity goes away,” Cleese remarked, highlighting laughter as a “very democratic force”.
The event was not without minor technical flaws—the sound balance on stage occasionally made it difficult for Cleese to hear audience questions, leading to a few moments of cross-talk. However, the host handled these hiccups smoothly, repeating questions and keeping the momentum going.
Ultimately, John Cleese: Not Dead Yet! was a warm, insightful, and profoundly funny evening of comedy history. From “And now for something completely different” to an unforgettable live Q&A, it was a night to remember—leaving the crowd still laughing, still quoting Python, and deeply glad to have been there.