>Cleese in "Fawlty Towers

I think that John Cleese is a genius. I can just about watch re-runs of Fawlty Towers (sadly, I think there were only twelve episodes). I agree that some of it is wonderful and some (especially the "war" episode) is too painful to watch. Although the programme includes moments of pure slapstick it has a level of self awareness that helps the humour along (apologies if this analysis sounds pretentious). It seems to work on so many different levels that if one part of it is irritating there is another wonderful moment just around the corner.