Contains digital video of English comedian, actor, and writer John Cleese’s December 9, 2016 appearance in the Center for the Arts for the 2016-2017 Distinguished Speakers Series.

Begins with a video montage of past Distinguished Speakers Series appearances (0:00) and an introduction by Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Education Andrew Stott (3:25). Cleese’s speech (6:13) about his life and career covers topics such as growing up in England during World War II (7:44), going to school (13:00), getting started in comedy (15:10), writing for television and Monty Python (25:50), the development of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (40:36), Life of Brian (51:07), and A Fish Called Wanda (58:14). Also includes sketches and clips from Cleese’s work, including as “Top of the Form” (20:45), “Fish Slapping Dance” (33:27), “Knights of the Round Table” (43:44) and the castle confrontation scene (46:04) from The Holy Grail, a scene from Life of Brian in which Brian denies being the Messiah (56:29), and the dog deaths (1:01:28) and Ken’s stutter (1:03:45) from A Fish Called Wanda. A question and answer session follows the lecture (1:07:46), in which Cleese answers the following questions from the audience: Why did you leave out “Fawlty Towers?” (1:08:51); What do you think of our next president? (1:14:55).