John Cleese at the Civic Theatre

John Cleese at Auckland's Hilton after his press conference about his forthcoming show. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Our only opportunity to offer a standing "cheers for the good times mate" passed in a long moment of sideways I-will-if-you-will glances.

It was none other than John Cleese standing before us, bowing, smiling and then bowing again.

He was saying how warm we were and how much he'd enjoyed himself, yet we just sat there and politely clapped out the time until the curtain dropped for good.

It wasn't that his show John Cleese: His Life, Times and Current Medical Problems was dull.

He'd offered up big dollops of charm, wit and irreverence, even dragging out a stuffed version of his poor, old dead mum on wheels before firing one of his many cheesy-named cats from a cannon, twice.

It wasn't that the show was honey-coated.

We had only just got used to thinking "Cor, that's John Cleese that is" when he was flashing us a scarily long medical scar while describing the overhead close-up of the pink nasty he'd had removed as looking like a piece of sweet and sour pork; and commemorating the loss of his virginity.

Maybe we went along hoping he'd be the cruelly aggressive yet simpering Basil Fawlty, with some flashbacks to his salad days of stomach-straining comedy, but this was never going to be a series of punchlines or a best-of Cleese showcase.

It was more of a dad and daughter (Camilla) celebrity roast broken up with a few set-piece gags and television clips.

The biggest laughs accompanied the Fawlty Towers highlight reel while the immortal parrot sketch was Nu Zildised as a customer complaint over a dead sheep: "Ee's not dead, they're very heavy sleepers ... "

For a show apparently about his life and times, it told us more about the life and times of those around him.

We left knowing more about the quirks and qualities of his late parents and fellow Python Graham Chapman, than about the man we'd trooped along to celebrate.

No matter, his comic skills shone through warmly and, well, in Python's own words, we smirked a lot.

Where and when: Civic Theatre, Auckland, tonight, Wednesday and Saturday; TSB Theatre, New Plymouth, Friday