File:John Cleese and me (210257734).jpg

One of the funniest and nicest men who ever lived.

John Cleese poses with Alan Light at the Governor's Ball following the telecast of the 61st Annual Academy Awards, 1989.

NOTE: Permission granted to copy, publish, broadcast or post any of my photos, but please credit "photo by Alan Light" if you can. Thanks.

Scanned from the original 35MM film negative.

OOPS: From a 2014 interview:

What is the most irritating thing people do when they meet you?

Cleese: “They walk up to me in the street and say, ‘Can I have a photograph with you’? I say, ‘You mean, to commemorate the fact we met five seconds ago?’ I think it’s a generational thing. For me, you took a photograph with someone because you’d had dinner together, or been to a party, or a football match. There was some relationship implied by a photograph. And there is no relationship as far as I’m concerned. When people ask me for autographs, that’s fine, if they want a picture of me, that’s fine. But the whole selfie culture – which I do think is poison, I think it’s literally poisonous. I don’t understand the celebrity culture. I don’t understand why people would use Facebook. It’s hard to write for a generation that’s obsessed by Facebook when you have no idea why.”

As the interview wraps, Cleese gathers up his coat. A man walks over from across the bar. “Could I get a picture with you?” he asks. “I’m sorry, I don’t do that,” Cleese replies with a contrite smile. “Sorry.”