So, Anyway...: A Memoir Paperback – January 1, 2014

Subtitled, "The Making of a Python," John Cleese's "So, Anyway" is the story of Cleese's life up to the formation of Monty Python's Flying Circus, with a final chapter about the Pythons after their recent reunion performances at London's O2 Centre. Those looking for a complete memoir of the Pythons will be disappointed, but those readers genuinely interested in Cleese himself will find "So, Anyway" essential reading. Cleese's imitable wit--half martini-dry, half totally outrageous--in much in evidence throughout, as well as many fascinating anecdotes about the people he knew."So, Anyway" is the story of the making of one of the greatest comedians ever. It tells of his childhood in the Somerset and Devon countryside with his gentle father and hyper-neurotic mother. ("Whereas Dad might prefer to sleep with the window open, Mother had to have it shut, because she just couldn't cope with the alternative.") There is also a great deal about Cleese's school days, including his adventures with the Cambridge Footlights Club, and his meeting the young performers who, like him, would soon become comedy legends. Naturally, there were a lot of hijinks. (The tale of a practical joke, played on Cleese by Marty Feldman on the island of Ibiza, appears on page 265 of this edition; it alone is worth the price of the book.) One of the most interesting tales is Cleese's complete and utter shock when Graham Chapman, his close friend and writing partner, came out as gay, at a time when it was still dangerous to do so. ("I had known Gra for over five years and he had always worn brogue shoes and cord trousers and a sports jacket with leather patches on the elbows, and he had been a beer-drinking, pipe-smoking, rugby-football playing medical student. In the '60s, if you were wondering if someone might be gay, these habits were not thought of as dead giveaways. Unless, of course, the person in question was female." "So, Anyway" is both hilarious and engrossing. as well as wise. Cleese is a man who has thought long and deeply about the wellsprings of comedy, and he shares that wisdom with us in this book. He also, not incidentally, comes across as a genuinely nice man. If you're looking for a stocking-stuffer this year, you can do far worse than giving your friends and family the gift of the life story of the man who created Fawlty Towers, A Fish Called Wanda, and the Ministry of Silly Walks.

Like others have commented, well enough written and the story of his early years is interesting to a degree on its own (and amusing in parts, as one would expect) and would have been particularly so as prelude to a tale about his most significant professional associations with the other Pythons, and on Fawlty Towers, but which, excepting Graham Chapman, whom was part of Cleese's pre-Python life, are only mentioned incidentally, and very conspicuously so, it felt to me.No mention whatsoever of working with Palin, with whom he had exceptional performing chemistry (Cheese Shop, Dead Parrot, most famously) or Idle or Jones, with his only comments about Jones, Palin & Gilliam ranging from neutral to subtly negative, with a couple of passing positive things to say about Idle (and Gilliam's animation), and almost no detail at all about working with them all those years, the show, the first two and great movies, the concerts, nothing.Odd to get 75% of the way through the book and see the pages running out and realize he was not going to recount that part of his life and career, which would obviously be why most people bought the book, and about the single most famous and best comedy troupe of all time, 'The Beatles of comedy' as many have thought of them (including some of the Pythons and one of The Beatles).Reminded me of George Harrison's, 'I, Me, Mine', The Beatles mostly avoided as a topic. Can't fathom it, really. Cleese talks about everybody else, often in some detail, but not Python.Michael Palin's, 'The Python Years' is the best of the Python AB's, it's really good, and comprehensive. Idle's is very different, but also good, more about the experience of his celebrity, with a ton of name dropping, but a good read, too, and amusing. I'm going to read the Chapman AB next, then maybe Gilliam's, too. Might as well run the table now.

As Headline says.... read this book. Great take on John Cleeses' life tale. worht the read

Insightful, generous and very funny

Buenísima biografía de John Cleese. Descubrieras todo lo que siempre has querido saber de este fantástico actor. A mí me ha flipado

Une vraie jolie plongée dans l'univers très modeste d'un homme au destin exceptionnel. L'anglais est de bonne facture sans être hautement littéraire, ce qui le rend accessible à un niveau C1...Je recommande vivement !

Excellent service.