Article content

For John Cleese fans, it sounds too good to be true. It probably is.

But in late September, the iconic Monty Python vet tweeted that he had just finished the first scene of a new film called Python Abby. It has a typically unhinged storyline, which Cleese described in a synopsis as: “A surprise, secret visit from Lord Python’s best friend, Adolf Hitler, sends the downstairs staff into a tizzy.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Comedic despair: John Cleese says you can have a 'thoroughly nice life' even if there is no hope for civilization Back to video

Sounds promising. On the other hand, not long before revealing this upcoming cinematic opus on social media Cleese also tweeted “I have started writing a book called ‘The 1,403 Most Pointless Lists.'”

So maybe we should take it all with a grain of salt. Still, when asked about Python Abby specifically while on the line with Postmedia from a cafe in Vienna, he maintains it was only “half a joke.”

“Because the more I think about it the funnier an idea I think it is,” says Cleese. “I have never myself been able to watch that kind of drama with any interest at all and for years I’ve been missing things like Upstairs, Downstairs and The Pallisers and things like that. I’m not interested in stuffy, upper-class people because they don’t seem to be terribly interesting. But I think as a parody it could be absolutely hilarious. So I’m semi-serious. The moment that somebody who might have a bit of money to make the film picks up the phone and says tell me more, I’ll tell them more. Because I’ve got quite a lot worked out already in my head.”