John Cleese to bond with Minnie Driver in American TV comedy

07-Dec-2003 • Actor News

John Cleese, known to Bond fans best as "Q", is flying to join American TV comedy "Will & Grace".

The veteran comedian has signed on to do six episodes of the Emmy-winning NBC comedy, playing Lestor Finster, the father of Karen Walker`s (Megan Mullally) late husband`s mistress Lorraine Finster (Minnie Driver).

Minnie Driver starred in "GoldenEye" as Valentin Zukovksy`s mistress.

Driver is also returning to the show for as many as six episodes for more clashes with Mullally after Lorraine`s homicide attempt on Karen in the show`s season finale in May. To make things more complicated between the two, romantic sparks will start to fly between Karen and Lestor, putting Lorraine and Karen in the strange position of daughter and stepmother.

"The budding and perverse romance between (Lestor and Karen) is going to span the whole season," "Will & Grace" executive producer Jeff Greenstein said.

The comedic potential in the height discrepancy between 6-foot-5-inch Cleese and 5-foot-4-inch Mullally was one reason to go after Cleese for the role.

But it was the producers` great admiration for his work -- including "Monty Python`s Flying Circus", "Fawlty Towers" and "A Fish Called Wanda" as well as his memorable Emmy-winning performance on an episode of NBC`s "Cheers", directed by "Will & Grace" executive producer James Burrows -- that led to Cleese`s casting in the role.

"He`s just a magnificent actor, and he knows funny," said Greenstein. "In terms of the comedic rhythms of `Will & Grace` -- we`re hyperverbal -- it just seems like the kind of comedy that he would naturally fit with."