Carry on cruising

We've all laughed at television's Fawlty Towers. Now get ready for Fawlty Funnels.

John Cleese, manic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in the TV series of the mid-1970s, will be the star of a transatlantic British Comedy cruise on the Queen Elizabeth 2 in June.

Cleese, who also featured in the Monty Python classics, will head a team of comic performers and writers "to celebrate the comedic art form in all its variety, from stand-up to satire, film, television, and theatre," says the Cunard Line.

Episodes of Fawlty Towers featured a live rat, a dead guest, an Australian suspected (wrongly) of planning a dirty weekend - and a lunatic in the lobby. The lunatic was, of course, Basil, who had mad confrontations with everyone from his prim wife Sybil to a visiting health inspector.

As someone whose wit often went overboard at the seaside hotel, Cleese should be a riot on the QE2.

For the sake of his cabin steward or waiter, one only hopes that the crew member assigned to Cleese on QE2 is not a Spaniard from Barcelona named Manuel.

Passengers will be prepared for some surprising madcap antics but Cunard is optimistic.

"Cunard is thrilled to have John Cleese be a part of our comedy crossing," says Deborah Natansohn, Cunard's senior vice-president of worldwide sales and marketing. "Everyone loves the Monty Python movies. They poke fun at British literary and sacred history, and are a testament to his comedic genius."

On board there'll also be a special book-signing, giving guests the opportunity to get to meet Cleese.

The six-day British Comedy cruise departs from New York for Southampton on June 20. Fares start at $2760 a person for a double occupancy cabin, including port charges.

- NZPA