Condition: Excellent

First U.S. edition / First printing. White paper spine, white paper-covered boards. Fine dust jacket.

John Cleeses  huge comedic influence has stretched across generations; his sharp irreverent eye and the unique brand of physical comedy he perfected with Monty Python, on Fawlty Towers, and beyond now seem written into comedys DNA. In this rollicking memoir, So, Anyway, Cleese takes readers on a Grand Tour of his ascent in the entertainment world, from his humble beginnings in a sleepy English town and his early comedic days at Cambridge University (with future Python partner Graham Chapman), to 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 momentand a near-simultaneous offer to take his university humor revue to Londons famed West Endpropelled 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 digressionswith some brief pauses along the way that comprise a fascinating primer on whats funny and whythis story of a young mans journey to the pinnacle of comedy is a masterly performance by a master performer.