Mr Cleese mocked Weston-Super-Mare, the seaside resort which helped inspire Fawlty Towers, in his new stand-up show, but yesterday faced demands for an apology.
During a performance at the Liverpool Empire theatre on Tuesday night, he said: "I grew up in Weston Super Mare, a tedious little place.
"It's supposed to be a seaside resort - more like a seaside last resort if you ask me. "Weston seemed to be a place that people, and the French, went to wait for the rain to stop.
"I despised Weston so much in fact that I once wrote a little poem about it...'I do not care for Weston-super-Mare and so I'm glad that I'm not there.'
"Everyone was too embarrassed to talk about sex let alone have it. Every child was a virgin birth which is why I could never understand all the fuss about Mary and Jesus.