Comedy doesn't work if you're literal-minded, says Cleese
The writer and actor was speaking at the launch of a stage adaptation of Fawlty Towers, which is about to open in London.

Cleese acknowledged that some lines of dialogue have been removed due to changing societal expectations.

But he said comedy writing is generally more difficult because of viewers who "don't understand metaphor, irony, or comic exaggeration".

Cleese has merged three of the most popular episodes of Fawlty Towers into one over-arching narrative for the two-hour play.

They are Communication Problems, The Hotel Inspectors and the more controversial episode The Germans.

"There was a scene where the major used a couple of words you can't use now, racial slurs, so we took that out," Cleese told journalists on Thursday.

But he added that writers are also "up against" people who interpret jokes literally, sometimes not allowing for a scene's tone or set-up.
"You see, there's always a problem with comedy that you deal with the literal-minded," Cleese said.

"I remind you of Till Death Us Do Part," Cleese said, referring to the Alf Garnett, the lead character of the1960s sitcom who would regularly make highly offensive comments.

"People were roaring with laughter at him, not with him. But there were also people saying ' thank God these things are being said at last'.

"So whenever you're doing comedy, you're up against the literal-minded. And the literal-minded don't understand irony, so that means if you take them seriously, you get rid of a lot of comedy, because the literal-minded don't understand metaphor, irony, comic exaggeration.