Our favorite 5 interviews of all time: British comedy!


If you are a Monty Python fan, this roundup of Q&A interviews with brilliant British comedy talent might end up being your favorite in our anniversary, best-of collection!

In addition to the razor-witted Jonathan Lynn and Lucie Pohl, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin round out my favorite comedy interviews of all time.

As a reminder, Tellyspotting is 15 this year (a teenager!). So I’m sharing with you a total of 15 of our most interesting conversations – five each from the comedy, mystery and drama genres – from the past 15 years.

Q&A with Jonathan Lynn – Yes Minister/Yes, Prime Minister

June 2013

Political satire series Yes Minister ran from 1980 to 1984. Its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988.

It was 1980 that Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay created one of the most brilliant British situation comedies that has ever been produced, one that is still so eerily timely some 40+ years later.

In 2013, Tellyspotting had the opportunity to sit down with Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister co-creator Jonathan Lynn in conjunction with the release of his book, Comedy Rules: From the Cambridge Footlights to ‘Yes Prime Minister.’ What an absolute treat.

I asked him about the magic that goes into inspiring an audience to empathize with or feel warmth toward otherwise difficult-to-like characters, such as Basil Fawlty or Edmund Blackadder. His answer was insightful.

“Recognition. That’s why people laugh,” he told us. “I don’t know that people do feel empathy for Blackadder or Basil Fawlty, though some may. Empathy is not essential for comedy. It is essential for tragedy. Comedy is criticism.”

Q&A with Michael Palin Monty Python’s Flying Circus

October 2013

Michael Palin and KERA’s Bill Young in New Orleans, 2014

I’m humbled by this part of our history so much: KERA-TV in Dallas was the first television station in the United States to broadcast Monty Python’s Flying Circus back in October 1974. 

In 2014, Tellyspotting had the great good fortune to sit down with troupe member Michael Palin at the BBC Syndication Showcase meeting in New Orleans. Michael was in town to talk about his newest project that would be coming to PBS that year, Brazil with Michael Palin.

In a nutshell, Michael Palin is one of the nicest, most accommodating individuals on the planet, so grab a coffee and enjoy.


Bonus Monty Python content:



Q&A with Eric Idle Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Entire Universe

December 2017

Eric Idle and Brian Cox, professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester, teamed up on the musical The Entire Universe. Photo: @EricIdle, Twitter/X

Eight years ago, Eric Idle – actor, writer, musician, one of the founding members of the Monty Python troupe and one who always looks on the bright side of life – was understandably over-the-top excited. He had just launched some of the most intelligent, ambitious comedy around, The Entire Universe.

We sat down with the delightfully brilliant Mr. Idle as he explained just how does one cram 138 billion years of history into one hour … as a musical!

Q&A with John Cleese Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers

June 2021

KERA VP of Television Bill Young and John Cleese talked about creativity as part of Monty Python & KERA: The Flying Circus That Could.

John Cleese has spent the better part of five decades looking at what makes creative people so darn good at it. He’s one of the original founding members of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Then, alongside former wife Connie Booth, he was the creative force behind Fawlty Towers, which, IMHO, just so happens to be the greatest British comedy series of all time. So, Cleese knows a bit about creativity and being creative.

John was in Dallas in 2019 to accept the Ernie Kovacs Award from the Dallas Video Festival (the interview was saved for later publication on Tellyspotting, in 2021). While in town, John stopped by our studios to talk about his new book Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide, the need for everyone to embrace chaos, and, of course, about KERA being the first television station to introduce U.S. viewers to Monty Python.

(Bonus: Read a bit about his book here on Tellyspotting.)

Q&A with Lucy Pohl a.k.a. Harmony di Gauthier Red Dwarf XI

July 2018

Lucie Pohl in the first episode of Red Dwarf series XI, “Twentica”

Joining the boys from “the small rouge one” for a guest starring role in Red Dwarf series XI’s Episode 1, “Twentica”, is Lucie Pohl. You might also know her from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and she’s also the voice of Mercy in the massive video game Overwatch.

In “Twentica,” Lucie portrays Harmony de Gauthier: one-half brilliant scientist, one-half showgirl in 1920s America. Harmony, a.k.a. Professor Baldwin, holds court at the Lady Be Good Club, where she finds herself in hiding from a world where technological progress and scientific discovery have been outlawed. Her simple task as leader of the Resistance Bunnies? Bring about the downfall of Twentica’s overlords, liberating all of humankind. Certainly no pressure there!

How big of a fan was Lucie when she got the role?

“I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I didn’t know Red Dwarf before I got the audition. I blame it on American ignorance and the fact that I was a Baywatch fan as a kid, which probably lost me a few brain cells,” she told us in 2018.

“When I got the audition I thought it was a show about dwarfs, all red apparently, in an enchanted forest.”

See the mystery genre and drama genre of my favorite interviews from the past 15 years.


In: Actors/Actresses,Archive,Comedy

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