John Cleese Presents

John Cleese Presents review

Sadly, the comic device topping and tailing the extracts, with Cleese as an inept disc jockey who forgets that radio is not television, fails to raise a titter and, as it's what you hear first, many could be forgiven for switching off.

John Cleese was on Radio 4 last week, flogging his autobiography by pretending to host a phone-in programme that goes so wrong that he has to read his book out on air. Though this may have seemed a sweet idea on paper, it did not work at all in real life. The jokes were off-key and bitter, the acting preposterous and stupidly irrelevant (were we meant to believe he thought his microphone was a camera? Not even a six-year-old thinks that). The tone was really off. I was surprised Radio 4 put it on air. Just let him read his book!

John Cleese Presents slammed by critics and fans

Audiences have already taken against John Cleese's new "car crash" of a radio comedy show, John Cleese Presents.

Review: John Cleese Presents, R4

Worth a listen. Just don't expect to be dancing around the kitchen.

John Cleese Presents review

Such readings might have made a good Radio 4 Book Of The Week had they done it when the book was published. However, the odd format, more suited to Radio 4 Extra continuity than a stand-alone programme, seems like an attempt to make up for lost time.

John Cleese interview

John Cleese on divorce settlements, fellow Python Michael Palin and his return to radio.

John Cleese Presents (10 May, 9.30am, Radio 4) is one of the more curious offerings of the week, being the first time he has tried his hand at being a radio disc jockey. There aren't any records, their place being taken by extracts from the audiobook of his autobiography. People under the age of 50 may find this puzzling.