John Cleese Jr., John Stewart Jr., and Grandson John Cleese Jr. Jr.

Client: True to form!

France on Nov 16, 2023

Wayne A. Smith: Cleese is an excellent writer. Words flow well and with meaning from his pen. This book is honest in that he writes about his lack of confidence, fears and shortcomings during various stages of his youth and development as a comic writer and performer.

What it is not is a dive into his Python years. This book is the before and Python is mentioned only in passing (with the exception of Graham Chapman with whom Cleese collaborated extensively prior to the Monty Python years). Well written it is, it can be boring for long stretches as Cleese plumbs his childhood, school years and early development as a performer. It is a lot of information (though much of it wittily recounted) about a guys life prior to what he is known for.

I've read Eric Idle's book and on of the Michael Palin travelogues (North Korea). This is by far the best written, just not focused on what fans I suspect would be most interested in reading regarding the John Cleese whose brilliant comedy introduced a lot of Americans to British humor.

United States on Nov 09, 2023

Gina: I think like most I was looking for thoughts and feelings during the Monty Python years. What we get is John's life story however I do not regret the purchase. He's charming, witty and a great writer. There is so much more to the man behind the Ministry (of silly walks).

United States on Oct 17, 2023

Myola: From his school days he helps the author understand the whole abstract items found in his many productions

Australia on Sep 11, 2023

Nancy Bjorgo: This is a great big hardcover. With photos and parts of skits and I'm hoping to be entertained by Cleese's writing. It's from 2014---So Anyway. . .---how did I put off buying it until now? I feel sure to be entertained. If you are still suffering trauma from the covid outbreak, maybe this book can still break you out of the suffering! I laugh at whatever page I turn to. Each photo makes me laugh. If you are a Python fan, you must have this book.

Canada on Aug 11, 2023

Patti A. HerbertPatti A. Herbert: The pictures are really good!

Amazon sent me this book yesterday and is asking for a review today!! I’m not able to read that fast but I did look at the pictures, four sections of pictures. According to the pictures, the book probably discusses his youth, time at school, work history, and life as a aging comedy icon. Since John has demonstrated talent as a comedy writer, I expect the book is funny in parts, although the pictures aren’t. (See attached)

United States on Aug 08, 2023

The Passionate Writer: I've often wondered what makes John Cleese write such brilliant material, especially the outstanding Fawlty Towers, and am fascinated by his particular insights into the human intellect, so this was a must read for me.

I can almost understand the negative reviews by some readers as they must have picked up this book expecting to laugh themselves stupid at every turn of the page. Expect that and you'll be sadly disappointed; this is, after all, an authobiography written by a very clever author and there is a lot of serious thought about why people behave the way they do as they appear in the author's life history.

Cleese starts at the beginning and either his memory recall is tremendous or he's embellished his story just to make it more real (or is it just real to him). Either way learning about his childhood, education and the chance meetings with people that led to his career as a comedian and comic writer, was an eye-opener for me.

Of course you can expect that many of his anecdotes, together with the way he draws some of the more ludicrous characters, are simply amusing in themselves. What is the art of the comic if not to note the humorous side of people's...

United Kingdom on Jun 11, 2019

Christopher Twelvetrees: I bought and perused this book based on readings John Cleese did over the radio, misleading me to believe the book would be funny. By and large, it isn't. Though Cleese has a wonderful sense of humor I've enjoyed since becoming a first-generation Python fanatic at 13, he's too acerbic, too narrowly opinionated, to come off as funny most of the time.

Take heed, my fellow Americans. Since starting to read Wodehouse and watch Python at roughly the same age, I became a connoisseur of British humor (especially after finding BBC radio 4-extra on the Internet). Cleese makes no concessions to American readers. Don't know the acronym ISIRTA? Know who Tony Hancock is, or Spike Milligan, or Peter Cook? If you don't you have some tough ploughing ahead, if you want to keep up with the names Cleese tosses around (btw, they're all worth knowing; unlike Cleese himself, if you're a Python fan you'll love ISIRTA).

Fortunately, Americans will be familiar with other folks mentioned, like Peter Sellers and Mary Feldman.

The most interesting part for most readers will be his association with the legendary "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Cleese goes into the show's origins (going...

United States on Oct 10, 2017

FrKurt Messick: John Cleese has long been a favourite of mine. Recently, in an interview with NPR, Cleese said (about writing jokes), ‘I think if you start trying to write jokes that you don't think are funny in order to make a sort of theoretical audience somewhere else laugh, I think that's death. I think you've got to do what you find funny yourself and just hope that people find it funny.’

Cleese was about to graduate from Cambridge and go on to a career in law when he was approached by the BBC to begin writing for them, based on his experience with the Cambridge student comedy. He worked for some major names before becoming part of the uber-famous Monty Python troupe. As a senior member of that group, he had a lot of creative and organizational sway, but the overall success was that all of the members worked as a team. The Dead Parrot sketch, for example, came out of an older routine that involved a used-car salesman, and the writing went through many different potential dead animals (injured animals would not be funny, and you have to know what’s funny) before they settled on the ex-parrot who had ceased to be.

Cleese talks about his relationships private and...

United States on Nov 04, 2014

Red on Black: In the past weeks two comedians whose careers started in the Cambridge Footlights Revue have published their respective autobiographies. In September, Stephen Fry produced a hugely disappointing third instalment of his story entitled "More Fool Me" jam packed with tedious accounts of his interaction with various "luvvies" and "celebs" all sniffed down in a blizzard of cocaine. Now its the turn of a comedian from the same tradition who entered the bloodstream of British comedy through Monty Python and the awful small minded genius of Basil Fawlty to have his say. It is hugely pleasing therefore to report that "So Anyway" the autobiography of John Marwood Cleese is a much superior and funny book, worth devoting time reading in the autumn glow.

'So Anyway" is well written, hugely self deprecating, thoughtfully analytical and only occasionally punctuated by the odd pot shot against a contemporary which are so over the top they are almost affectionate. One warning if you buy this to get a blow by blow account of the Python years or Fawlty Towers, disappointment will follow as this is Cleese from "cradle to somewhere in the early 70s" with some of the best parts of the book on...

United Kingdom on Oct 12, 2014