John Cleese has branded his late Monty Python co-star Graham Chapman a fantasist who was convinced his friends were swindling him.
The actor, 80, said although he cared deeply about his friend – who died in 1989 aged 48 – he found a lot of things about him ‘difficult’.
The Fawlty Towers star said for years after the Pythons broke up Chapman became convinced that money made by the group was being hidden from him.
Outburst: John Cleese has branded his late Monty Python co-star Graham Chapman a fantasist who was convinced his friends were swindling him (pictured 2017)
Speaking on Chris Hardwick’s ‘Id10t’ podcast, he said: ‘I found a lot of things about Graham that were very difficult because he was a fantasist and I never quite knew what he was going to say about our relationship.
‘If he was in the wrong mood he could have said something quite cutting and unkind so I was never totally trusting of him. As I say he was genuinely a fantasist.
‘I was always a little worried about what he would say because he recounted one or two things that happened between us that were just insane.
‘I mean insanely wrong, it was worse than Trump.’
Co-stars: The actor, 80, said although he cared deeply about his friend – who died in 1989 aged 48 – he found a lot of things about him ‘difficult’ (pictured in 1979’s Life of Brian)
During Donald Trump’s run for US Presidency in 2016, Cleese described Trump as ‘a narcissist, with no attention span, who doesn’t have clear ideas about anything and makes it all up as he goes along’.
Chapman played the lead role in both the Holy Grail and Life of Brian films. He died from tonsil cancer in 1989.
Cleese continued: ‘After the group broke up the guy who did the finances for the group told me every three months an accountant would ring up asking to see all the figures.
‘It was because Graham had convinced the accountant he had been swindled. They would give them all the figures and those accountants would go away and three or four months a different group of accountants would come back.
Claims: The Fawlty Towers star said for years after the Pythons broke up Chapman became convinced that money made by the group was being hidden from him (Chapman pictured second right in 1983’s The Meaning of Life)
‘He was quite sure there was more money somewhere that the Pythons had squirrelled away. Of course it was a fantasy because he never did anything very successful apart from Pythons.’
At Chapman’s memorial Cleese delivered a eulogy to Chapman with a dark humour he believed Chapman would have appreciated.
He said Chapman would never forgive him if he missed the ‘glorious opportunity’ to shock the world on his behalf and become the first person at a televised British memorial service to say ‘fuck’.
TV history was created after Michael Palin, Graham, John, Eric Idle and US animator Terry Gilliam sat down at a tandoori restaurant in north London, in 1969, to discuss working together on a new BBC comedy
Hard to trust: Cleese said: ‘I found a lot of things about Graham that were very difficult because he was a fantasist and I never quite knew what he was going to say about our relationship (pictured with Michael Palin and Chapman in Life of Brian)
They wanted to move away from the punchlines and structure of traditional sketch comedy.
Irreverent TV series Monty Python’s Flying Circus was born, making its debut late on a Sunday night on BBC One on October 5, 1969, just before the weather bulletin.
Some 45 episodes of the show, with its surreal, stream-of-consciousness style, aired until 1974, and it snapped up Bafta awards and even led to a German spin-off.
Jones made his directorial debut, alongside Gilliam, with Monty Python And The Holy Grail in 1975.
He added: Of course it was a fantasy because he never did anything very successful apart from Pythons’
Jones later directed Life Of Brian (1979), about a hapless man mistaken for Jesus.
The film was attacked as blasphemous but has since been voted the funniest of all time.
Jones also went on to direct The Meaning Of Life (1983), the Pythons’ last film together.
It featured loosely linked sketches and the unforgettable song, Every Sperm Is Sacred.
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Beginnings: Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin shot to fame in 1969
