What does an angry young man do when he gets to the age of 69? Well, if the recent antics of John Cleese, 69 today, are anything to go by, he turns into an angry old man. To judge by a recent online interview at tinyurl.com/3vvsjl, Cleese is unlikely to be attending any Republican fundraisers in his adopted American homeland. Of Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, he says, “I used to think that Michael Palin was the funniest Palin.” He then goes on to compare her to a parrot, albeit one with more life than a Norwegian Blue.

The interview was given to the online video discussion channel www.seesmic.com, which allows video responses from viewers in real time. It's an interesting idea, and another example of Cleese's fascination with the possibilities of the internet. At www.cleeseblog.com Cleese has been keeping his fans up to date with his life since April 2007, often posting under the name Jack Cheese. Cleese also produces regular free video podcasts at www.johncleesepodcast.co.uk and discusses aspects of Western philosophy on a paid for video podcast ($1 a time) at www.headcast.co.uk.

The latter is informed by the sense of the ridiculous that permeates Cleese's classic work with the Pythons, notably the infamous Pope meets Michelangelo sketch that even the BBC considered too hot for broadcast. A subsequent live performance is available at tinyurl.com/6nknne.

One of the great comedy clichés is that the secret is in the timing, and Cleese is a master. Ponder, for instance, his timing of a recent series of commercials for Kaupthing (tinyurl.com/6fecxu). It's the biggest company in Iceland, he tells us. Not any more it isn't. Kaupthing was one of the biggest casualties of the recent global banking collapse. We can only hope that Cleese's similar commercial for the Polish bank BZ WBK Commercial, at tinyurl.com/5khe4h, was more successful. As he heads into his eighth decade, he's clearly planning for the medical attention he may need by his ninth. Happy birthday, Mr Cheese. He's from Santa Barbara via Weston-super-Mare, you know.

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