JOHN CLEESE was suave, casually reckless, and endlessly irritating to Dick Solomon as he guest-starred on NBC's "3rd Rock from the Sun." The spacey hitcom about four transplanted aliens had always seemed to owe more to "Fawlty Towers" than to "My Favorite Martian," and our man Cleese, appearing in two episodes, actually managed to outdo John Lithgow, both being tops at the over-the-top. It should come as no surprise that Cleese turned out to be an alien too. But not to worry. The guest-star departs, and earth survives another day.

Back to the Flying Circus

Thanks to Neil Arsenty for all the little pics.