John Cleese joked that he was “very worried” about the success of the Fawlty Towers show because the auditions were “awful”.
Despite his initial skepticism about revisiting the iconic show, having previously turned down a musical and a TV show, the writer eventually accepted an offer in 2015.
John, 84, appeared on This Morning on Friday alongside actors Adam Jackson-Smith, who plays John, Basil, and Paul Nicholas, who plays The Major.
Speaking to presenters Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond, John joked: ‘I was really worried because the auditions had been awful.
“I was disappointed with the rehearsal. We kind of fooled the critics because these guys aren’t very good.”
John Cleese has joked that he was “very worried” about the success of the Fawlty Towers stage show because the auditions were “so awful”.
John, 84, appeared on This Morning on Friday alongside actors Adam Jackson-Smith (centre), who plays John, Basil, and Paul Nicholas (right), who plays The Major.
Asked about his involvement in the show, Adam said: “It’s wonderful. From the first preview, we had an incredible reaction from the audience. It was amazing to see an audience laughing along with 700 other people.”
John added: “There’s something special going on. It’s not often you go to the theatre these days and sit in a laughing audience.
“Watching the audience, seeing them sway back and forth, is a wonderful feeling.”
This comes after John admitted he agreed to the West End production of Fawlty Towers because of the financial security it would provide him.
In a candid interview, John revealed that he does it for the money so he doesn’t have to fly economy anymore.
He said The times:But it’s about getting some money so I can live somewhere sunny, because I have a problem with the British weather.
“And if there is a crisis, you can invest money in it. That’s the best thing about money.
“The next step is to have enough to not have to travel on commercial flights. I’m 1.93m tall and flying seems like a nightmare to me.”
John wrote BBC Two’s Fawlty Towers, which ran from 1975 to 1979 for two seasons, with his 83-year-old ex-wife Connie Booth (both appear in the show).
Asked about his involvement in the show, Adam said: “It’s wonderful. From the first preview, we’ve had an incredible reaction from the audience” (West End cast pictured)
The comments come after it was announced last year that the actor is writing a new TV show set in the Caribbean, which will see Basil’s daughter, who has worked in hotels all her life, embark on a new job and enlist the help of her father.
He is also working on a musical and a non-musical version of Monty Python’s Life of Brian, as well as another comedy film about cannibalism.
John wrote BBC Two’s Fawlty Towers, which ran from 1975 to 1979 for two series, with his ex-wife Connie Booth, 83.
The 12-episode comedy is based on a real-life hotel owner, Donald Sinclair, who ran the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay and the couple were fascinated by his incredibly rude behaviour.
John was married to Connie, 83, from 1968 to 1978 after the two met on the comedy circuit while studying drama in New York.
The couple co-wrote and starred together in both series of Fawlty Towers, with Connie playing barmaid Polly Sherman, although they divorced before the second series was completed and aired.
This comes after John admitted he agreed to the West End production of Fawlty Towers because of the financial security it would provide.
In 2020, the BBC removed an episode of Fawlty Towers from UKTV over “racial slurs”.
In the film The Germans, Cleese’s hotelier annoys a German family with constant references to the Nazis.
Despite the controversy, John confirmed that the new West End production of the classic 1970s comedy will include the scene in which a delirious Fawlty, suffering from a head injury, continually mentions World War II.
It’s been 50 years since the first programme was recorded at the BBC studios in December 1974.
