“An Evening with the Late John Cleese" at the Adler Theatre -- November 10.
Friday, November 10, 7:30 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
Despite the event's title, an Oscar-nominated international treasure will indeed appear at Davenport's Adler Theatre on November 10, when the nationally touring An Evening with the Late John Cleese treats audiences to an evening with the legendary British actor, writer, and comedian famed for Monty Python's Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, A Fish Called Wanda, and the James Bond and Harry Potter franchises.
Emerging from the sketch-comedy troupe Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, the British 83-year-old Cleese first achieved success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and as a scriptwriter and performer on television's The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he cofounded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus, and along with his Python costars Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Graham Chapman, Cleese starred in several films including 1975's Monty Python & the Holy Grail, 1979's Life of Brian, and 1983's The Meaning of Life.
In the mid-1970s, he and his first wife Connie Booth cowrote the sitcom Fawlty Towers, in which Cleese starred as hotel owner Basil Fawlty, for which he won the 1980 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance. In 2000, the show topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, and in a 2001 Channel 4 poll, Basil was ranked second on its list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.
Among many movie credits, Cleese costarred with Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin, and Kevin Kline in 1988's A Fish Called Wanda (for which Kline won an Oscar) and 1997's Fierce Creatures, both of which Cleese also wrote. For A Fish Called Wanda, he received Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe nominations. He also appeared in 1981's Time Bandits (1981), 1985's Silverado, 1994's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, two James Bond films (as R and Q), two Harry Potter films (as Nearly Headless Nick), and the last three Shrek releases
The recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Cheers and a nominee for 3rd Rock from the Sun and Will & Grace, Cleese has specialized in political and religious satire, black comedy, sketch comedy, and surreal humor. He was ranked the second-best comedian of all time in a 2005 Channel 4 poll of fellow comedians and co-founded Video Arts, a production company making entertaining training films, as well as the Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows designed to raise funds for the human-rights organization Amnesty International. With all-new routines shaped by his impeccable timing, trademark eccentricity and clever wordplay, Cleese's November 10 touring event demonstrates through observational humor and gifted storytelling how he has become nothing short of comedy royalty.
An Evening with the Late John Cleese lands in Davenport on November 10, admission to the 7:30 p.m. show is $49.75-99.75, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting AdlerTheatre.com.
