Reader TTS

John Cleese is back on TV in _Hold the Sunset_ (streaming anytime on BritBox), his first BBC show since _Fawlty Towers_ 39 years ago. Written by Charles McKeown (_Brazil_, _The Adventures of

Baron Munchausen_), the “seniorcom” stars Cleese and Alison Steadman, 72 (Mrs. Bennet in the Colin Firth version of _Pride and Prejudice_) as a couple of old friends and old flames who

decide to get married and run off to someplace sunny for a grownup honeymoon — until her middle-aged yet not very grownup son leaves his wife and kids, moves back home and thwarts their

retirement plans. The Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks actor offers a few reflections on his new show about a December-December romance and his views on life and comedy at age 79: ON HIS

CHARACTER IN _HOLD THE SUNSET_ For the first time in my life, I'm playing myself. And my wife [says] it's the first time she's ever seen me onscreen and recognized me,

because I just sit there making snarky remarks and hoping someone else will open the front door. ON WHETHER LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO EDIT ONESELF   Oh, yes, I think that's right. The closer

you get to death, the more you don't give a ----. It's as simple as that. Cleese (left) stars with Jason Watkins and Alison Steadman in the BBC series "Hold the Sunset,"

which is available to American viewers through the BritBox streaming service. Adam Lawrence/BBC FOR ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, TV REVIEWS AND MORE, GET AARP’S MONTHLY LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER. ON

AGING I think [after] about the age of 60, height becomes a handicap, because you get old and stiff, and you can't move properly, and trying to get into things like cars becomes a major

undertaking. I would say for the first 60 years of my life, I was very grateful that I was tall. And now it's very inconvenient. ON HIS GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT 79 My greatest

personal accomplishment is to have established a really good relationship with our cats. My greatest professional accomplishment is, or will be, a movie that I'm writing now. It's

a light comedy about cannibalism, and it's called _Yummy_. [Cleese may be kidding; what's certain is that he's just published a book of his lectures, _Professor at Large: The

Cornell Years _(Cornell University Press), and his next films are 2019's _The Naked Wanderer _and _The Martini Shot_, costarring Derek Jacobi, 80, and Matthew Modine, 59.]  ON THE

CHILDHOOD SOURCE OF HIS GROWNUP COMIC GIFT  It was a survival mechanism when I went to school. Because I was very tall, and everybody teased me for being called “Cheese,” and I found if I

could make them laugh, the atmosphere improved, and they embraced me more happily.