Ahead of the debut of his new show on GB News, John Cleese revealed he’s struggling to get guests.
The British comedian, 83, has been criticised in some quarters for joining the controversial news channel and for taking aim at so-called ‘woke politics’.
His brand new talk show, The Dinosaur Hour, will see Cleese interview different guests – and the first episode is set to be broadcast on October 29.
However, people aren’t exactly queueing around the block to appear on the show with him.
In addition to a range of celebrity guests, which Cleese has admitted have been harder to persuade than he thought, non-celebrities have also been invited on.
‘You’ve got to have celebrities to get people to turn on but then you can interview people who are really interesting. And a lot of celebrities aren’t interesting at all,’ he said.
Speaking to GB News, he explained why he’s found it harder than he thought to get celebrity guests in front of the camera on his brand-new show.
‘Most people are frightened of getting fired and the people who employ them are frightened of getting fired and that end of woke is not very nice.’
Cleese has said he chose to put The Dinosaur Hour on GB News because they gave him ‘the most extraordinary offer in the history of television’.
It comes after he actually had six pitches rejected by Netflix bosses, which left him feeling disillusioned.
‘I went to Netflix and I gave them six ideas and I thought two were really good and they never even called my agent back,’ he revealed.
He continued: ‘I’ve no idea what they are looking for. The main thing, as you get older, is you realize that very few people have any idea what they’re doing.’
And Cleese has opened up about the nature of his latest venture, which will feature names such as Stephen Fry, Trevor McDonald, and Sir Tim Rice.
He’s revealed that the show is ‘aimed at dinosaurs’ who are ‘out of touch’, either by choice or by accident, and feel alienated from the rest of modern TV.
‘The show is for all those who are out of touch,’ he explained. ‘All the dinosaurs who are out of touch. You can be out of touch for two reasons.’
More Trending
‘You can be voluntarily out of touch because you’ve given up – which is a very sensible point of view – or you could be out of touch without knowing.’
The Fawlty Towers star continued: ‘I wanted to make it look like a very, very strange gentleman’s club a little bit like the bar in Star Wars.’
‘I just wanted to create something different because I thought that would start people out by saying, “What’s this about?”‘ he added.
Deals of the Day
Save £300 on the 'Ferrari of lawn mowers' that gardeners are calling 'unbelievable'
Festival season is looming! The ultimate packing checklist to brave Glastonbury and more
Tesco becomes first UK supermarket to make major aisle change in 93 stores
Stop what you’re doing – Dolly Parton has collaborated with Good American
Score over £220 of beauty best-sellers for just £49 with this Boots beauty box
Watch The Dinosaur Hour on GB News from October 29.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE: Miriam Margolyes gives John Cleese a proper tongue-lashing as she brands him ‘poisonous’ and ‘sour’
