John Cleese: So Anyway…

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John Cleese So AnywaySo, Anyway…
By John Cleese
(Crown Archetype)

Buy it at Amazon!

So Anyway… is the new, first-ever John Cleese memoir. It is a wonderful fast page-turning hard cover, covering Cleese’s childhood (and his odd relationship with his odd mom), his school years, teaching, writing for and acting in an early school comedy troop The Footlights and his entre’ into BBC ‘light entertainment,’ the stage and David Frost’s orbit…and the career it brought him.

Just about ¾ of the way into the book we meet the tendrils of what will become Cleese’s Monty Python connections (although we do hear of them all piece by piece early) and if I have any criticism about the book at all it would be that, as a huge Python fan, I want more Python. The book does end with the recent Python 02 arena gig, but I was craving story upon story of Python lore here that I just didn’t get.

But I’m not saying this isn’t a good book, in fact it is pretty much great. We get lots of insight into early 60’s performing in the UK, English schools, comedy from Cleese’s p.o.v., Broadway even and the talent that existed in British comedy that grew so many fantastically influential performers. And Cleese spins a funny yarn, you can hear him just ‘speaking’ to you through his words. And along the way we do learn, in some very confessional moments, why he is the way he is. So anyway…read So Anyway…

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