He's more famous for a sketch about a Norwegian blue parrot than a Norwegian taxi, but John Cleese may have to change his routine. The actor and comedian reportedly took a cab from Oslo to Brussels on Friday costing 30,000 kroner (£3,300) after he was stranded, along with thousands of others, in the Norwegian capital by the volcanic ash plume from Iceland.

Cleese was in Norway to appear on the Scandinavian talkshow Skavlan when the cloud descended, closing airspace around the city. "We checked every option, but there were no boat and no train tickets available," he told Norwegian TV2 in a telephone interview posted on the network's website. "That's when my fabulous assistant determined that the easiest thing would be to take a taxi."

The taxi carried two extra drivers for the 930-mile journey. Cleese then planned to take the Eurostar to the UK. "It will be interesting. I'm not in a hurry," Cleese said, adding that from Brussels he planned to take the Eurostar train to London, where he hoped to arrive by 3pm today.

"I will think about a joke you've probably already heard: how do you get God to laugh? Tell him your plans," Cleese said.