Kirjahaku

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 Peterâ??s Preparatory School at the age of eight and five-sixths;

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "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."--The Washington Post The legendary writer and performer of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame takes readers on a grand tour of his ascent in the entertainment world John Cleese's huge comedic influence has stretched across generations; his sharp irreverent eye and the unique brand of physical comedy he perfected now seem written into comedy's DNA. In this rollicking memoir, Cleese recalls his humble beginnings in a sleepy English town, his early comedic days at Cambridge University (with future Python partner Graham Chapman), and the founding of the landmark comedy troupe that would propel him to worldwide renown. Cleese was just days away from graduating Cambridge and setting off on a law career when he was visited by two BBC executives, who offered him a job writing comedy for radio. That fateful moment--and a near-simultaneous offer to take his university humor revue to London's famed West End--propelled him down a different path, cutting his teeth writing for stars like David Frost and Peter Sellers, and eventually joining the five other Pythons to pioneer a new kind of comedy that prized invention, silliness, and absurdity. Along the way, he found his first true love with the actress Connie Booth and transformed himself from a reluctant performer to a world class actor and back again. Twisting and turning through surprising stories and hilarious digressions--with some brief pauses along the way that comprise a fascinating primer on what's funny and why--this story of a young man's journey to the pinnacle of comedy is a masterly performance by a master performer.

The legendary comedian, actor, and writer of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and A Fish Called Wanda fame shares his key ideas about creativity: that it's a learnable, improvable skill. "Many people have written about creativity, but although they were very, very clever, they weren't actually creative. I like to think I'm writing about it from the inside."--John Cleese You might think that creativity is some mysterious, rare gift--one that only a few possess. But you'd be wrong. As John Cleese shows in this short, practical, and often amusing guide, creativity is a skill that anyone can acquire. Drawing on his lifelong experience as a writer, Cleese shares his insights into the nature of creativity and offers advice on how to get your own inventive juices flowing. What do you need to do to get yourself in the right frame of mind? When do you know that you've come up with an idea that might be worth pursuing? What should you do if you think you've hit a brick wall? We can all be more creative. John Cleese shows us how.

In October 1969, the BBC broadcast the first programme in a new series entitled 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', written and conceived by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Over the years the six of them followed this with another forty-four extremely silly programmes, a German TV special, five full-length feature films, seven books, nine long-playing records and live stage shows that toured the UK, Canada and America. In 'The Very Best of Monty Python', each of the surviving Pythons makes a personal choice of their favourite bits from the vast Python oeuvre. These include: Why accountancy is not boring, Spamalot, The Piranha Brothers, The Lumberjack Song, The Larch, Every Sperm is Sacred, The Ministry of Silly Walks, Always look on the Bright Side of Life, Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink, Rat Recipes, Albatross, Constitutional Peasants, Spam, Monsieur Creosote, The Meaning of Life, I'm so worried, Stan's right to have babies, Careers advice for Mr Anchovy, The Truth about Protestants, The News for Parrots, What have the Romans ever done for us?!, The Undertaker Sketch, Find the Fish, How to Talk to the Queen and many other classics of silliness.

Duck surprise. The car that wouldn't start. The psychiatrists. Those builders... Fifty years ago Fawlty Towers hit British TV screens for the first time, becoming an instant classic. Now for the first time John Cleese tells his stories from behind the scenes of his favourite moments. From writing scripts that were so carefully planned they were double the length of similar shows', to casting, lighting, how the show was almost cancelled before it started, and other production shenanigans, these are your favourite moments from Fawlty Towers as you've never seen them before. Exploring the how and why of creating classic comedy, there is a laugh on every page, and a dose of nostalgia for vintage TV fans. With gorgeous commissioned illustration and archival imagery, the book revisits such iconic scenes as Basil thrashing his car, a rat appearing in a box of cheese biscuits, and Basil goose-stepping across the dining room to an audience of horrified guests.Written by and starring Cleese and his then-wife Connie Booth, the first series of Fawlty Towers aired in 1975, with a second series broadcast in 1979. It featured Cleese as the irascible hotel manager Basil Fawlty, Prunella Scales as his sybaritic wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the hapless waiter Manuel, and Booth as Polly, an efficient waitress and art student. It won three BAFTAS and, despite having only 12 episodes in total, continues to be regularly voted the best sit-com in British history.

And now for something completely different. Professor at Large features beloved English comedian and actor John Cleese in the role of Ivy League professor at Cornell University. His almost twenty years as professor-at-large has led to many talks, essays, and lectures on campus. This collection of the very best moments from Cleese under his mortarboard provides a unique view of his endless pursuit of intellectual discovery across a range of topics. Since 1999, Cleese has provided Cornell students and local citizens with his ideas on everything from scriptwriting to psychology, religion to hotel management, and wine to medicine. His incredibly popular events and classes—including talks, workshops, and an analysis of A Fish Called Wanda and The Life of Brian—draw hundreds of people. He has given a sermon at Sage Chapel, narrated Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra, conducted a class on script writing, and lectured on psychology and human development. Each time Cleese has visited the campus in Ithaca, NY, he held a public presentation, attended and or lectured in classes, and met privately with researchers. From the archives of these visits, Professor at Large includes an interview with screenwriter William Goldman, a lecture about creativity entitled, "Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind," talks about Professor at Large and The Life of Brian, a discussion of facial recognition, and Cleese's musings on group dynamics with business students and faculty. Professor at Large provides a window into the workings of John Cleese's scholarly mind, showcasing the wit and intelligence that have driven his career as a comedian, while demonstrating his knack of pinpointing the essence of humans and human problems. His genius on the screen has long been lauded; now his academic chops get their moment in the spotlight, too.

Från vem ska vi lära oss om kreativitet om inte från dess mästare, den berömda skådespelaren, manusförfattaren, komikern och upphovsmannen till en mängd absurt kreativa idéer – John Cleese? Medgrundaren av gruppen Monty Python, Basil från “Fawlty Towers” (Pang i bygget) och Archie från “A Fish Called Wanda” har publicerat en bok med titeln Kreativitet. En kort och munter guide. Och det är en extraordinär bok.Först och främst – den är kort. Men det är högst medvetet, och en av dess stora fördelar. För att citera John Cleese själv:”Den här boken är en liten bok. Den kan läsas på mindre än en timme. Och anledningen till att den är kort är att jag hade tid, tid att tänka, för att göra den kort. Jag hänvisar till en av Mark Twains berömda citat “Jag är ledsen att detta brev är så långt, jag hade inte tid att skriva ett kort brev”. För jag har medvetet i den här boken skurit bort allt som jag tyckte var oviktigt. Många människor som skriver om kreativitet är till exempel mycket, mycket smarta, mycket smartare än jag, men de är faktiskt inte särskilt kreativa själva. Så de tar med information som – det är mycket troligare att du är kreativ om du flyttade runt mycket i din ungdom – vilket är intressant, men om du inte kan flytta tillbaka i tiden är det inte direkt användbart.”Kreativitet av John Cleese har alltså ingenting att göra med långa, tråkiga, självhjälpstitlar som kan vara mer nedslående än uppmuntrande. För det andra, som undertexten säger, är den munter, och optimistisk. Det beror på att Cleese hävdar – och efter att ha läst boken är det svårt att inte hålla med honom – att kreativitet är något som vi kan lära oss, som en metod, ett sätt att tänka (det är inte en medfödd talang hos några få!), och att vem som helst inom sitt yrkesliv kan vara kreativ.Kreativitet av Cleese är en bok där författaren tar med oss på en resa genom vårt omedvetnas förunderliga land, visar hur vi kan använda det här området som ett fantastiskt verktyg och hur många idéer, okonventionella lösningar och överraskande vägar ut ur olika livssituationer det kan ge oss.John Cleese hänvisar till sin egen kreativa process, och till två sätt att tänka: “harhjärnan” och “sköldpaddssinnet” (båda begreppen kommer från Guy Claxton), liksom beteendeexperiment som avslöjar det mänskliga omedvetnas mystiska arbete. Kreativitet är minnesvärd – det beror på att Cleese skriver om vad vi alla känner, men kanske inte helt förstår. Noggrannheten i hans observationer är nyckeln till att öppna våra sinnen för kreativitet, vilket för författaren betyder – som han skriver i bokens första mening – “att tänka på olika frågor på ett helt nytt sätt”.Du kommer att upptäcka att efter att ha läst denna – låt oss betona det igen – korta, muntra och optimistiska bok, att du också kan börja tänka på ett helt nytt, mycket mer kreativt sätt.Om John CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese föddes 1939 i Weston-Super-Mare. Han studerade juridik vid Cambridge University och har haft en framgångsrik karriär inom komedi, teater, film och tv.Han fick sina första framgångar på Edinburgh Festival Fringe och som manusförfattare och artist i The Frost Report. I slutet av 1960-talet var han med och grundade Monty Python, den komedigrupp som låg bakom sketchshowen Monty Python’s Flying Circus och de fyra Monty Python-filmerna: And Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian och The Meaning of Life.I mitten av 1970-talet gifte sig Cleese med sin första fru, Connie Booth, som också var med och gjorde den framgångsrika komediserien Fawlty Towers (Pang i bygget). Senare skrev han manus till och spelade en roll i filmen A Fish Called Wanda tillsammans med Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis och den tidigare Python-kollegan Michael Palin. Cleese har medverkat i många andra filmer, bland annat Fierce Creatures, James Bond-filmerna, Harry Potter och Shrek, och har gästspelat i många tv-program.