A candid and brilliantly funny memoir...
...of how a tall, shy youth from Weston-super-Mare went on to become a self-confessed comedy legend.
En route, John Cleese describes his nerve-wracking first public appearance at St Peter’s Preparatory School at the age of eight and five-sixths;
Vivid, ridiculously entertaining, and, at times, explosively funny... Cleese is a master of crisp comic prose: his elegant syntax and sudden absurdities would have PG Wodehouse raising a martini glass.
So, Anyway... glows with fairness, kindness, gentleness and loyalty.
Told with considerable charm and a refreshing amount of candour, the story is one of a vulnerable soul gradually finding a degree of security from behind a carapace of cutting wit... Remarkably warm and generous.
John Cleese’s memoir is just about everything one would expect of its author – smart, thoughtful, provocative and above all funny… A picture, if you will, of the artist as a young man.
So, Anyway… breaks away from the shallow conventions of the famous person's autobiography... The result is a book that is
frequently hilarious, occasionally lyrical and always thoughtful. It is a fine and funny achievement.
Like having a long lunch with an amiable, slightly loony uncle. Who also happens to be John Cleese.
John Marwood Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare in 1939 and educated at Clifton College and at Cambridge. He achieved his first big success in the West End and as a scriptwriter and performer on
The Frost Report. He went on to co-found the legendary Monty Python comedy troupe, writing and performing in the TV series and in films that include
Monty Python and the Holy Grail and
Life of Brian. In the mid-1970s, John Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the now-classic sitcom
Fawlty Towers. Later, he wrote and co-starred in
A Fish Called Wanda and
Fierce Creatures. He has appeared in many other films, from James Bond to Harry Potter to Shrek, and has guest-starred in TV shows that have included
Cheers,
3rd Rock from the Sun,
Will & Grace and
Entourage. He lives in London.