By Eduardo Unda-Sanzana - [1], CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58212950
A new video has renowned humorist John Cleese poking fun at the Trump Administration.
In it, while speaking at a Memphis roundtable discussion on crime, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller praised President Donald Trump at great length, going on for several minutes about how his purported accomplishments are “a national miracle that will be studied not only for generations, but for centuries to come.” Even Trump seemed to recognize the egregious flattery, turning to FBI Director Kash Patel and saying, “Kash, see if you can top that!”
Patel, in turn, went on to hail the chief for just shy of two minutes, prompting Trump to acknowledge that the podcaster-turned-government official “did pretty good” with his exorbitant extolment.
After that, it was Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton’s turn to lay it on thick, thanking Trump for “delivering freedom.”
Cleese thought there was something funny about all this soaring sycophancy.
“Hard to believe this isn’t a Monty Python sketch,” he tweeted with a clip of the video.
The Monty Python comedy troupe — of which Cleese was a founding member — released a sketch comedy series and string of movies between 1969 and the 1980s, and became renowned for highlighting the absurdity of wide-ranging political leaders and movements. One of their most effective methods involved exaggerating the behaviors of their comedic targets. The fawning words of Trump’s cronies, Cleese’s post suggested, is a comedy sketch unto itself.
It is no secret that President Donald Trump enjoys flattery. There was, for example, the August 2025 cabinet meeting where officials took turns praising Trump at length, saying he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, had kept 258 million Americans from dying of fentanyl, and saved college football.
And such events are not solely a second-term affair, as they featured in the first Trump Administration as well. During a similar meeting in 2017, then-Vice President Mike Pence — who Trump would later say deserved to be hanged — told him, “It is the greatest privilege of my life to serve as vice president.”
If these flattery sessions are not new for Trump, neither are his jibes from Cleese, who has frequently criticized the president.
In the past, he has called Trump a “short fingered vulgarian” who has “lost his mind.” This Sunday, following Trump’s statement that he was “glad” about James Comey’s death, Cleese posted that the president “should be aware that when he dies, the glorious outburst of happiness and celebration will be heard on the outer moons of Jupiter.”
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