John Cleese — 81, Weston-super-Mare

We all know John Cleese from the ’60s hit “Monty Python,” his role as Basil Fawlty in “Fawlty Towers” in the ’70s, and his cameos in films from “Harry Potter” to “Shrek.”  John Cleese, in 2021, has taken something of an investigative stance to the politics of the day.

He wants to peer into how the idea of “let’s be kind to everyone” or “people shouldn’t be mean to anyone” has devolved into some genuinely absurd positions. He makes a valid point that words often depend on their context for their meaning, which is more demanding than knowing their dictionary definitions.