‘Some of the woke don’t understand anything about irony’: John Cleese’s documentary will explore positive and negative of cancel culture

John Cleese provided further insight into his upcoming cancel culture documentary, John Cleese: Cancel Me, which is set to air next year.

The 82-year-old actor, who was Monday’s guest on The One Show, promoted his latest family comedy Clifford The Big Red Dog with hosts Michelle Ackerley and Jermaine Jeans.

Jermaine later shifted the conversation towards John’s next project, and asked what his insightful show, which will explore the ‘woke’ generation’s approach to comedy, would be about.

‘There was a poll in Britain asking do you know what cancel culture is, 58% of the people didn’t.

‘I think it’s not clear on what it is,’ John explained.

The writer and comedian also admitted he felt the concept was good as it’s helped people be ‘kind’ to each other, but also has more of a ‘puritanical’ side to it.

The comedian’s upcoming documentary will explore the good and bad side of cancel culture (Picture: ITV/REX)

The episode of Faulty Towers was removed in 2020 (Picture: Rex)

‘I’m trying to figure out the good side and of it and the not so good, some, not all of the woke don’t understand anything about irony,’ he added.

The star, who is best known for comedy classics Fawlty Towers and Monty Python, will meet some famous faces who have found themselves on the receiving end of cancel culture, as well as the people who are doing the cancelling.

It comes after a controversial episode of classic comedy Fawlty Towers aired on the BBC earlier this year after previously being removed from UKTV due to racist content, with some viewers divided on its return to back to the screen.

John criticised the BBC for taking the episode down (Picture: Rex)

The episode, titled The Germans, sees Basil Fawlty making comments about the Second World War to a German family.

It also shows a guest at the hotel using racial slurs in relation to the West Indies cricket team and in one scene, Basil seems shocked at being treated by a Black doctor in a hospital.

John later criticised the broadcaster’s move to take down the episode.

More: BBC

‘One of the things I’ve learned in the last 180 years is that people have very different senses of humour,’ he vented to the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘Some of them understand that if you put nonsense words into the mouth of someone you want to make fun of you’re not broadcasting their views, you’re making fun of them.’

The One Show airs on weekdays at 7pm on BBC One.

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