So, Anyway... by John Cleese

I've always been a fan of John Cleese's [Cheese] work, from early on. I remember the first time I saw the sketch for the Ministry of Silly Walks I was about 9 or so and I nearly wet myself from laughing so hard. I carried that sketch with me for what seemed like forever, even mimicking it well on into high school. Despite how amazing I thought it was, it didn't seem to fair too well with the ladies, but I digress. John Cleese has an incredible knack for delivering the right amount of pressure to my funny bone. Admittedly I even chuckled a few time during A Fish Called Wanda despite it's several lagging moments.

Reading this, I noticed the first 100 pages can be arguably considered pretentious or even gloating, but please do keep in mind that this is an autobiography, a memoir about the life of a person who has and continues to achieve far greater performances then the time he spent with The Flying Circus. I found the beginning half of this book to be most appealing because it offers a peek into how JC became the artist he is today.

An excerpt from the play bill during JC's time with Cambridge Circus , during his first trip, stateside to New York.

"JOHN CLEESE:

Bluff, slate-faced and gimlet-eyed, he prefers to be known as Otto and lives in a light-weight cupboard. He worked as a script-writer for the BBC until released by them for this tour, and is an amusing 24. He gives his hobbies as photography, foot-ball, food and slumber - but (he adds) 'I am utterly trendless'." [Chapter 9, Page 185]

What's really great about this book in particular is that he absolutely does not try to be funny. There's quite a few hilarious lines which I've chalked up to simply being JC's own personality. He even briefly mentions this as:

"I know this book is supposed to be an autobiography, but the fact that most of you don't give a tinker's cuss for me as a human being or feel for the many different forms of suffering that make me so special. No, you are just flipping through my heart-rending life story in the hope of getting a couple of cheap laughs, aren't you?" [Chapter 13, Page 283]

I thought that line spoke volumes about JC as a person, realistically speaking a person in his particular field of work solely aims all of their time and energy making people laugh. Here, JC simply gives you an account of his life, from the very beginning up until 2015. I really liked that aspect of this book. He managed to stir up quite a few emotions, outside of just making me laugh ridiculously hard. The book helped me realize that I have an even greater appreciation for John Cleese as a person and an entertainer, besides. Let's be honest with ourselves, here. Isn't evoking an emotional response what reading books is all about?

I am without a doubt going to rate this charming memoir a 5 out of 5.

For more information on So, Anyway... or John Cleese, please visit his follow the links here.

I've received a copy of this book from Blogging For Books for review purposes.