John Cleese says he teases Irish people because of our "ridiculous way" of spelling names - suggesting that other English-language speakers have "no idea" how to pronounce them.
The comedian and Monty Python faced an online backlash earlier this year after he suggested Irish name-spellings are the reason Ireland 'never had an empire'.
It was not the first time he's faced criticism over his comments over the Irish language - last year seeing a heated response after claiming that Irish names look like "deliberate attempts to mislead innocent people".
Speaking on The Hard Shoulder today, Mr Cleese said other English-language speakers are baffled by Irish spellings.
He said: "I tease you guys about the ridiculous way you spell names - I don't mind you spelling them like that, but don't expect us to pronounce them right.
"You should do the Irish spelling, and then the English spelling - we look at those names and we have no idea how to pronounce them."
However, he suggested that Irish people have a "much greater sense of their own identity" than the British.
He observed: "They know who they are, and they're very happy to be who they are - it's a little bit like being in Australia. But I think in England now nobody knows."
The comedian also said in his own experiences Irish people are very playful.
He told Kieran: "I came to do a speech for the Pendulum summit in Dublin, and I was met off the plane by somebody very nice... who introduced me to the driver who was going to take me to the hotel.
"I had never seen the man before, but as I shook as his hand I said 'I understand you have an alcohol problem'... he said 'oh no, Mr Cleese, I very seldom spill much when I'm driving'.
"There was a sheer relaxation that enabled him to give me a really funny, playful answer like that - you don't get that in cultures that are more uptight."
The comedian and Monty Python star @JohnCleese faced backlash earlier this year after he suggested Irish name-spellings are the reason Ireland 'never had an empire'. @KieranCuddihy asked him about the backlash today on @TheHardShoulder pic.twitter.com/s8xQkOGMgj
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) September 23, 2020
Political correctness
The Fawlty Towers star has in recent years often generated headlines with his remarks on political correctness.
His own work has been at the centre of recent debates over classic comedy, after a famous episode of Fawlty Towers called 'The Germans' was temporarily removed from a BBC-owned streaming service over racial slurs used by a character called the Major.
Mr Cleese said: "There's two ways of making fun of someone - you can either make a frontal attack, or you can put the views that you're trying to make fun of in the mouth of someone... but everyone knows the person is ridiculous.
"If you have the Major, he's stuck probably in 1930 - that's how he thinks. We were making a joke about that's how he thinks. There are so many examples of this kind of thing.
"I'm not teasing contemporary Germans. I'm teasing what Basil [Fawlty] thinks Germans are like... how out of date he is. Putting words in his mouth that are to be deliberately discredited."
Mr Cleese's today suggested that political correctness is "very harmful" as it can stop creativity.
He said: "It starts with a good idea, which is let's not be mean to people - I totally agree with that. But it gets to the point where you can't say anything or tease anyone because it's cruel and will lead them to have a nervous breakdown.
"My [own] audience is probably [aged] 40 up to 80... older people. They don't have any truck with political correctness, because they know perfectly well it's a load of baloney really."
