Extra Credit

About twenty years ago John Cleese agreed to be a visiting professor at Cornell.  In fact, he was delighted.  The deal was he'd come over every now and then for a short period and give a talk or lead a discussion on whatever interested him.  Seven of these sessions are collected in Professor At Large: The Cornell Years.

Cleese is one of the greatest comic writers and performers of the past fifty years.  Unfortunately, only a small portion of this book has him discussing his career in comedy.  Instead, we get discourses on decision-making, religion, politics, group dynamics, face recognition and a bunch of other things he's picked up over the years.

What he says isn't without interest, and he makes some decent points (and some foolish ones).  But, while he's interested in sharing what he's learned, let's face it, the main reason he was invited to talk, and the main reason people attended these meetings, was his celebrity.

When he talks about comedy, it's worth listening to, since he has a deep understanding, not to mention a wellspring of personal stories.  When he talks about other things that may be fascinating, we're getting them, at best, second-hand; Cleese often refers to studies and writings of others, which makes us wonder if it wouldn't be better to hear from them directly. (There's also a lengthy interview Cleese has with screenwriter William Goldman, though Goldman mostly repeats old stories and ideas he's written about elsewhere.)

So I'd recommend this book only for Cleese or Python completists.  Like me.