The iconic sitcom has long been hailed a timeless classic following its debut in 1975.
The comedy-drama is set in a fictional hotel along the English coast run by its rude and intolerant host, Basil Fawlty (), and his wife Sybil (Prunella Scales).
Although he works hard to improve the hotel’s reputation, trouble never seems to stray far, which provides big laughs for its viewers, who label the show comedy gold.
Despite the popularity of Fawlty Towers and its ability to keep fans hooked, Cleese, who also worked behind the scenes as a writer, opened up about his least funny episode.
He suggested that the season one episode, The Builders, was “the least good” due to a general lack of laughter in the studio on recording day.
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Fawlty Towers debuted in 1975 (Image: BBC)
Cleese opened up about this In the 2001 DVD release of The Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection.
He recalled: “The second show that we did, which was about the builders, was performed almost entirely to complete silence, and it was not a very comfortable experience.
“Afterwards, I was a bit disturbed, and people said ‘No no, it was a funny show,’ actually, I think it’s the least good of the 12 shows.
“But they said, ‘No, it was fine, it was funny,’ I said, ‘What about the audience?’, and they said, ‘We don’t know.’”
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John Cleese starred as Basil Towers (Image: Getty)
Cleese revealed: “We found out later that a large number of people from the Icelandic Broadcasting Corporation had visited the that day, and the were always helpful to shows like mine.
“And they thought wouldn’t it be nice if they put all 70 of them in the front row. And they sat there being very pleasant and charming and Icelandic, and not laughing at all.”
He joked: “Just this faint whiff of cod coming from the front row… which had we recognised, might have given us the explanation.
“And I’ve got to say it was a pretty tough recording, and it needed quite a lot of editing to tighten it up,” the actor concluded.