John Cleese and Dee Dee Penny

Episode notes

New to Bullseye? Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or with your favorite podcatcher to make sure you automatically get the newest episode every week.

And if you’re looking for a particular segment to listen to or share, check us out on Soundcloud.

 

Dave Hogan/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesJohn Cleese on His Early Life and the Road to ComedyJohn Cleese is one of the most influential figures of comedy. He’s best known as one the creative forces behind the legendary comedy troupe Monty Python. But before that, he was almost a lawyer.

Cleese went to Cambridge, studied law, and was about to accept a job with a big firm when another opportunity came up. This one was perhaps slightly less distinguished, but infinitely more appealing to Cleese. The BBC was impressed by his work with his college comedy revue, The Footlights, and offered him a job writing and producing comedy.

In his memoir So, Anyway… Cleese discusses his journey, from his childhood in prep school, to his early days of sketch comedy at Cambridge, to the co-founding of the Pythons.
Cleese will talk about being one of the “scientific” minds of the Pythons, writing and re-writing with his comedy partner Graham Chapman, and how he felt about the recent Monty Python reunion.

Cleese’s memoir, So, Anyway is available now in paperback.

This interview originally aired December 9, 2014.

If you liked this, let someone know! Click here to share this interview.

 

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesDee Dee Penny of Dum Dum Girls Talks about Early Days on MySpace, Creating a Persona, and Overcoming Anxiety and Stage FrightKristin Gundred, AKA Dee Dee Penny, is the creative force behind the band Dum Dum Girls. But she wasn’t always front and center. She’s played in bands for almost fifteen years now, playing drums and singing in other people’s groups. Eventually she realized the only way to create the music she wanted was to do it herself. So Dee Dee created a MySpace page and started working on her music.

Now Dee Dee and Dum Dum Girls have three studio albums under their belt, including their most recent, Too True.

Dee Dee talks to Jesse about making music in her bedroom, constructing the persona of Dee Dee Dum Dum, and overcoming anxiety and stage fright to be a rock musician.

This interview originally aired August 19, 2014.

If you liked this, let someone know! Click here to share this interview.

The The Outshot: Is ‘What’s Up Fatlip’ the Least Braggy Rap Song Ever Written?Don’t call it a comeback. Jesse tells us about the LEAST braggy rap song ever written, “What’s Up Fatlip?”

If you liked this, let someone know! Click here to share this segment.