When John Cleese lost his cool with Ed Balls on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, it made for difficult viewing.
The 83-year-old Fawlty Towers star came on the show to discuss his new GB News job when he took issue with former Shadow Chancellor Ed’s questioning style.
Ed, 56, peppered John with questions without allowing him to finish, but even Susanna Reid let out an audible gasp as the latter snapped: ‘Will you shut up?’ at the former.
The Dinosaur Hour, John’s new talk show, will feature him interviewing various guests; the first episode will air on October 29.
As the TV icon started to talk about the programme, Ed butted in: ‘You’re the only presenter joining them [GB News] rather than leaving them at the moment.’
John then replied: ‘They’re clearing out a certain amount which is not a bad idea. They do believe in free speech…’
However, once again Ed interjected, quipping: ‘Get the old blood out and the new blood in.’
It was then that John fired back: ‘Will you shut up?’
Clearly shocked, Susanna, 52, gasped then awkwardly said to Ed: ‘Well, er, yeah. You’re asking a question then talking over the answer.’
Never a dull moment!
Some have slammed British comedian John for joining the contentious news channel and taking aim at so-called “woke politics.”
And there aren’t exactly long lines to appear on the show with him.
Non-celebrities have been invited on the show, in addition to a variety of celebrity guests, whom the star admits were more difficult to persuade than he anticipated.
‘You’ve got to have celebrities to get people to turn on but then you can interview people who are really interesting. And a lot of celebrities aren’t interesting at all,’ he shared.
He revealed to GB News why it’s been more difficult than he expected to obtain star guests on his brand-new show.
‘Most people are frightened of getting fired and the people who employ them are frightened of getting fired and that end of woke is not very nice.’
He also stated that he opted to air The Dinosaur Hour on GB News because they made him “the most extraordinary offer in television history.”
