Author Guide · Comedy Memoir & Non-fiction
Books Written by
John Cleese’s father sold insurance and had changed the family name from Cheese to Cleese; his son grew up rather fond of the original. That detail is in So, Anyway... (2014), the memoir in which the man who played Basil Fawlty tells his life from his birth near Weston-super-Mare to the recording of the first Monty Python sketch in August 1969. Long before that, Cleese had co-written two books on families and life with Robin Skynner, and later he wrote about faces, about teaching at Cornell and about creativity. This guide covers his 8 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 8 key books · 1983–2020 · Updated October 2026
ClickTap a spine to jump to that book below.
Quick answer
John Cleese’s best-known book is his memoir So, Anyway... (2014). He also co-wrote Families and How to Survive Them (1983) and Life and How to Survive It (1993) with Robin Skynner, and wrote Professor at Large (2018) and Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide (2020). Start with So, Anyway...; it ends just as Monty Python begins.
Where to Start with John Cleese
If you want his own story
→ So, Anyway... (2014) — childhood, Cambridge and the road to Python.
If you want a short book you can finish in an evening
→ Creativity (2020) — his guide to having ideas.
If you want his thinking on families
→ Families and How to Survive Them (1983) — written with Robin Skynner.
If you want his years as a visiting professor
→ Professor at Large (2018).
8 John Cleese Books, in Order
Families and How to Survive Them
A book about how families work, co-written with Robin Skynner. It was the first of two books the pair wrote together, and Penguin still publishes it.
The Golden Skits of Wing-Commander Muriel Volestrangler, F.R.H.S. and Bar
A collection of comedy sketches published by Methuen in 1984, its title credited, in the Python manner, to a fictional Wing-Commander.
Life and How to Survive It
The second book with Robin Skynner, published ten years after Families and How to Survive Them.
The Human Face
A book about the human face, written with Brian Bates and published by DK in 2001.
The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons
The history of Monty Python told by its members, Cleese among them, together with Michael Palin and the other Pythons. Monty Python’s Flying Circus ran on BBC Television from October 1969 to December 1974; Cleese left after the third series.
So, Anyway...
Cleese’s memoir of his first thirty years: an only child of older, protective parents, prep school in Weston-super-Mare, Clifton College, law at Downing College, Cambridge, and the Footlights revue Cambridge Circus. It includes sketches from the pre-Python shows At Last the 1948 Show and How to Irritate People, and stops at the recording of Python’s first sketch in August 1969, with a final chapter on the 2014 reunion shows at the O2. The Spectator’s review was scathing.
Professor at Large
Published by Cornell University Press, it gathers material from his long association with Cornell University as a visiting professor-at-large, a role that ran for some twenty years.
Creativity
A short guide to creativity, published by Crown in September 2020. Cleese had given talks on creativity long before he put the subject into a book.
In What Order to Read John Cleese
Nothing here is a series, so read by interest. So, Anyway... is the natural first book for anyone who knows him from Python or Fawlty Towers, because it explains where the comedy came from. Note that it ends in 1969, so it says little about Fawlty Towers (1975 and 1979) or A Fish Called Wanda (1988).
The two books with Robin Skynner belong together: read Families and How to Survive Them before Life and How to Survive It. Creativity is the shortest and stands on its own.
A reading path
1. So, Anyway... (2014)
2. Creativity (2020)
3. Families and How to Survive Them (1983)
4. Life and How to Survive It (1993)
Everything Else John Cleese Published
Beyond the 8 key books: 2 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Shorter works and comics
2
2 books · 1971–2004
- 1971The Rectorial Address of John Cleesean eight-page booklet (Epam)
- 2004Superman: True Brita DC Comics graphic novel, co-credited; mostly written by Kim Howard Johnson
The years · 1939–2020
Quick facts about John Cleese
- Known for
- Co-founding Monty Python, writing and starring in Fawlty Towers as Basil Fawlty, and writing A Fish Called Wanda (1988).
- 1939
- Born in Weston-super-Mare
- 1969
- Monty Python’s Flying Circus begins
- 1975
- Fawlty Towers, with Connie Booth
- 1988
- A Fish Called Wanda; Oscar nomination
- 2014
- So, Anyway...
- 2020
- Creativity
- Born
- 27 October 1939, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
- Education
- Clifton College; law at Downing College, Cambridge (1963)
- Comedy
- Monty Python (1969–1974); Fawlty Towers (1975, 1979), co-written with Connie Booth
- Film
- A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Academy Award nomination for the screenplay
- Lives
- Nevis, in the Caribbean, since November 2018
- Married
- Four times; to Jennifer Wade since 2012
The red mark is 2014: So, Anyway..., his memoir of the years before Python.
How John Cleese Writes: Comedy, Then Explanation
Cleese is a writer who likes to explain how things work. Two of his books, written with Robin Skynner, are about how families and lives work, and his most recent is a short guide to where ideas come from. Even the memoir spends time on how sketches are built, and prints some of them in full.
So, Anyway... is deliberately narrow: it covers childhood, school, Cambridge and the Footlights, and the television work that led to Python, then stops in August 1969. That choice puts the weight on the apprenticeship, not the fame.
Much of his best writing is not in book form at all but in scripts: Fawlty Towers, written with Connie Booth, and A Fish Called Wanda, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay.
Watch
John Cleese on So, Anyway...
John Cleese talks about his memoir So, Anyway... at Talks at Google in 2015.
Frequently asked questions about John Cleese’s books
How many books has John Cleese written?
Ten are listed on this page: the 8 key books, from Families and How to Survive Them (1983) to Creativity (2020), plus a 1971 booklet and the 2004 comic Superman: True Brit. Several are co-written, with Robin Skynner, Brian Bates or the other Pythons.
What are John Cleese’s books in order?
Families and How to Survive Them (1983), The Golden Skits of Wing-Commander Muriel Volestrangler (1984), Life and How to Survive It (1993), The Human Face (2001), The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons (2003), So, Anyway... (2014), Professor at Large (2018) and Creativity (2020).
Where should I start with John Cleese?
With So, Anyway... (2014), his memoir. If you want something short, Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide (2020).
What is John Cleese’s most famous book?
His memoir So, Anyway... (2014). Before that, his best-known books were the two he wrote with Robin Skynner, starting with Families and How to Survive Them (1983).
What does So, Anyway... cover?
His first thirty years or so: his childhood as the only child of older parents near Weston-super-Mare, Clifton College, Cambridge and the Footlights, and the television that led to Monty Python. It ends with the recording of the first Python sketch in August 1969, plus a closing chapter on the 2014 reunion shows.
Does So, Anyway... cover Fawlty Towers?
Not in any depth, because the memoir stops in 1969. Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with Connie Booth, was first broadcast in 1975 and 1979.
Was John Cleese a professor?
He was a visiting professor-at-large at Cornell University for about twenty years, and wrote about it in Professor at Large: The Cornell Years (2018).
Is John Cleese still alive?
Yes. He was born on 27 October 1939 in Weston-super-Mare, and has lived on the Caribbean island of Nevis since November 2018.
Has John Cleese been involved in any controversy?
Not over his books, but over public remarks. He has criticised what he sees as political correctness and cancel culture; in 2019 he was criticised for saying London was no longer an English city; and from 2023 he presented The Dinosaur Hour on GB News. In 2025 he apologised for social-media posts reported as sharing antisemitic conspiracy theories, and cancelled his shows in Israel, citing safety advice.
Footnotes
- John Cleese — Wikipedia
- So, Anyway by John Cleese, review — The Spectator Australia, 2014
- Families and How to Survive Them — Wikipedia
- Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide — KERA, 2020
- Comedy is extraordinarily difficult — NPR, 2014
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I can take almost nothing seriously.”
— John Cleese, interview with WTTW (2015)
If this shelf interested you, the full bookshelf has more: reading lists by theme, author guides, and notes on what is actually worth your time.
Browse the full bookshelf Get book recommendations