Written by: Alan Russell
There were countless reasons to be jealous of James Lee, but one humorous cause for envy was his serendipitous meeting with my comedic hero, John Cleese. It happened, he told me, as he and his art director were cycling through a less populated area of Stanley Park. Anxious to know how the conversation went, I eagerly quizzed James on the encounter. He replied “Well, we told him how much we admired his work. Then, when he discovered we were in advertising, he was highly complimentary about our craft saying, modestly, he wished he had that kind of talent.” “And then what happened?” I asked. “Nothing”, said James, “I just kept looking at him thinking to myself “Holy #@!#$!!, I’m talking to John Cleese. Holy #$@!%!, I’m talking to John Cleese.” I’d guess that was one of those extremely rare moments when James Lee couldn’t conjure up quite the right words.