HIS madcap creations inspired today’s comic stars. But now John Cleese is retiring to write the history of comedy for a generation struggling to locate its funny bone.

“I’m too tired to write new comedy,” the Monty Python star told The Times in a rare interview. “I can never do better than Fawlty Towers whatever I do. Now I very much want to teach young talent some rules of the game.”

Cleese, 66, will act as a “comedy professor”, holding masterclasses with students. Their set text will be insights gleaned from a lifetime in the business of making people laugh.

“I want to write a book which is the history of comedy,” Cleese said. “It will cover the greats of silent cinema to Ricky Gervais, who is the height of modern entertainment.”

Fawlty Towers is regarded as a classic of comedy screen-writing 30 years on. But too much of the television comedy Cleese sees at his California home lacks quality.

He said: “When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy.”

His history of comedy will be unashamedly old-fashioned. “The thrill I got discovering Buster Keaton when I was growing up was so exciting. He was one of the greats.

“The Marx Brothers and Harold Lloyd will be in there too. But it is very rare today to see someone with that grasp of old-fashioned comedy. The last truly excellent live performance I saw was Eddie Izzard. But Ricky Gervais is also a match for the great American sitcoms.”

There will be a chapter on “creating the perfect comedy-drama” for the stage. Cleese said: “We were very lucky in the Sixties and Seventies to have Tom Stoppard, Alan Bennett, Alan Ayckbourn and Michael Frayn. Their work is very funny and written with great skill.”

Often called a comedy genius himself, Cleese awards that title to Bill Hicks, the controversial American stand-up who died of cancer in 1994 aged 33.

Hicks lacerated the religious Right and perceived American hypocrisy during explosive live routines that led to comparisons with Lenny Bruce.

Based in Santa Barbara, Cleese was speaking on a flying visit to London to see his dentist (“Four hours in the chair — I must have worse teeth than Martin Amis”).

In a continuing act of penance for Basil’s goose-stepping performance in Fawlty Towers, he is appealing for goodwill between England and German fans during the World Cup.

His single, Don’t Mention the World Cup, urges: “They might have bombed our chip shop 60 years ago, but a billion pints of lager later, here we go.”

Cleese, who will be supporting England from Santa Barbara, said: “My father fought against the Germans for 3½ years but he held no prejudice afterwards. All the Germans I have ever met have been very nice.”

The star has limited his recent screen work to voiceovers for computer games and the Shrek films and a documentary on football for German television. There is no Python reunion on the horizon, despite the success of the Spamalot musical, but he would like to have continued his role as Q in the James Bond series.

He said: “Q doesn’t appear in Casino Royale but it would have been nice if the producers had the courtesy to telephone me.”

MASTER JOKER

More recently, he has brought a classy comic touch to the role of Q in the James Bond franchise