So, Anyway - John Cleese

This is the story of how a tall, shy youth from Weston-super-Mare went on to become a self-confessed legend. En route, John Cleese describes his nerve-racking first public appearance, at St Peter’s Preparatory School at the age of eight and five-sixths; his endlessly peripatetic home life with parents who seemed incapable of staying in any house for longer than six months; his first experiences in the world of work as a teacher who knew nothing about the subjects he was expected to teach; his hamster-owning days at Cambridge; and his first encounter with the man who would be his writing partner for over two decades, Graham Chapman. 

Punctuated from time to time with John Cleese’s thoughts on topics as diverse as the nature of comedy, the relative merits of cricket and waterskiing, and the importance of knowing the dates of all the kings and queens of England, this is a masterly performance by a former schoolmaster. 

"This is an ex-parrot!"

National Treasure and comedian John Cleese goes into the depths of his past and tells you how it really is or how it was. We all know him, wether it be from The Life of Brian, The Holy Grail, Fawlty Towers or plain old Python sketches. He has become a staple in the comedy circuit and known for being one of the most influential comedic's of our time.  

From the shy young boy growing up in Weston-super-Mare and a public school, the 'At Last the 1948 Show to Python, even now the same old John Cleese is still shy and quick wittingly hilarious to this day. 

Written and narrated by the Python himself (which makes it all the more better) 

So, Anyway by John Cleese, was such a wonderful, hilarious and beautiful read. After listening to Idle's audiobook at the beginning of the year, I rushed to find other books by the Python's and was happy to come across this book. It's filled with live performance snippets, old conversations, scripts and sketches with made it all the more a lovely happy read. It made me smile so much. 

It has been an absolute joy to listen to whilst I've been working through this Pandemic, highly hilarious and full of laughs. There were quite a few sad moments though which made it all the more real and authentic. This simply couldn't have been narrated by anyone else other than the man himself. 

It was lovely to hear about his upbringing and his personal life outside of Python, how he has grown up and how he came to be one of the most respected comedic's of our time. Python have been a huge thing in my childhood and it was such a refreshing read. 

I would highly recommend for any Python enthusiasts.  

I will be giving this book 5 out of 5

Cawpile rating of 9.14