“I’m Not Dead Yet!” — John Cleese and The Holy Grail at 50
Words and photos by Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography
It’s funny how a single sentence can pull an entire room of people together. For John Cleese, it was right there in the title, Not Dead Yet! — part self-deprecating joke, part cultural commentary, and entirely on-brand for the 85-year-old Monty Python legend who still knows how to command a stage.
His recent turn at the Music Center at Strathmore wasn’t just a comedy show, and it wasn’t just a nostalgia trip either. It was like watching a man pick through his own legend with tweezers and occasionally a sledgehammer, laughing all the way through.
On Oct. 4, the evening kicked off with the kind of dry absurdity that’s defined Cleese’s whole career. The audience was treated to a big-screen viewing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, now 50-years-old but still as gloriously ridiculous as the first time King Arthur argued with a peasant about systems of government. Every scene, every absurd transition drew laughter, and it was hard not to notice that half the audience seemed to know every line by heart.
You realize the film has outlived generations of comedy trends; mockumentaries, cringe humor, whatever “meta” means this week and still feels anarchic. And then, just when the nostalgia had reached its peak, Cleese wandered onstage like a bemused professor who’d misplaced his notes. He greeted the crowd with a grin that said, You’ve been waiting fifty years for this, haven’t you?
Watch King Arthur (Graham Chapman) argue with an old woman about an “anarcho-syndicalist commune” on YouTube:
What followed wasn’t a monologue so much as an ongoing argument with the universe. Cleese sat on a stool in killer bunny slippers (yes, really) and began riffing.
He talked about how The Holy Grail was made for next to nothing — literally, the cast had to use coconuts because they couldn’t afford horses. “That,” he said, “wasn’t a creative decision. That was poverty.” He paused just long enough for the crowd to laugh, then added, “And it’s the best joke I ever stole from an accountant.”
Thanks to George Harrison mortgaging his house because he wanted to see the finished movie to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd. and others putting up production money, the world got to see a silly little movie about King Arthur and his search for the Holy Grail (and a horrifying encounter with a little killer rabbit)!
That’s Cleese’s magic, he never lets the myth stand unexamined. He’ll make you laugh at a joke you already know, then turn around and tell you the punchline was actually an accident.
That self-awareness kept everything light. Even his gripes came wrapped in charm, like listening to your favorite uncle roast civilization while making you tea.
What really pulled the night together were the stories. The kind that sounds almost unbelievable except, well, it’s John Cleese, so you believe every word.
He talked about the chaos of shooting The Holy Grail in Scotland, where it rained so often the mud became an extra character. How they used the same castle, over and over for multiple scenes, because no other castle owners in the whole country of Scotland would let the Pythons film at their castles.
He also reflected on his late friends and collaborators, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, and others with that mix of humor and quiet reverence that only someone who’s spent decades sharing creative oxygen can muster.
Watch John Cleese deliver a eulogy for Graham Chapman in 1989 on YouTube:
It’s strange how The Holy Grail still resonates half a century later. Maybe it’s because it pokes fun at authority, or maybe it’s because everyone feels like they’re chasing something impossible, a metaphorical grail that never stops moving.
Cleese touched on that too, in a moment that caught everyone off guard. “We made that film to make each other laugh,” he said, “and somehow, it made the world laugh too. That’s what I call a lucky accident.”
By the end of the night, Cleese had been onstage for nearly two hours, and he looked like he could’ve gone longer. Maybe that’s the real surprise. He’s not slowing down mentally and not creatively. The jokes are sharp, the timing as wicked as it was in 1975. Sure, he walked a little slower leaving the stage, but he still had that glint in his eye and bunny slippers on his feet.
Here are some photos of John Cleese presenting live at Strathmore on Oct. 4, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
