John Cleese’s fondness for the written word means that he tends to value diligently prepared scripts – as Eric Idle tells here. So it’s nice that John is starting to use video in this more intimate spontaneous way, with the able assistance of Garry Scott-Irvine whose numerous organisational tasks now extend to cameraman. Therein lies a tale of mastering the short form and being prepared to chase chickens in your pyjamas.

This kind of video is perfect for video blogs (or “vlogs”). Small Pictures maintains John’s blog at Cleeseblog.com. Using Vimeo as well as old-school podcasting (downloads delivered by RSS, available in iTunes and other podcast aggregators) also means that people can view the video in very good quality without necessarily being able embed in other sites, or download and re-post against the wishes of the client. Vimeo’s PLUS (pro) option gives great control over functionality and permissions of online video, and also allows HD to play on remote sites, for a price.