John Cleese, comedic master from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, and movies like A Fish Called Wanda, is here with a few words on Creativity. This is a man who has been creative for decades, writing films, television shows, books, and sketches that have made us all laugh until we ached. Now he’s here to share his secrets with the rest of us.

This brief book is not just for artists. He actually writes about creativity for those who have never thought they could be creative. He breaks it down into its most basic facets, so that even the most serious human, someone who would never think to try to write a screenplay or to walk funny to make people laugh or to draw or paint or play the guitar, can use this advice to make space for creativity in their decisions, in their relationships, in their lives.

Cleese has worked for years as a speaker for businesses, teaching creativity to companies all over the world, and he has refined his ideas into a handful of concepts that can make anyone more creative. He talks about what he calls “Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind,” the idea of letting your unconscious mind help you make leaps in your decision making. He talks about inspiration, about setbacks, about when to panic, and about when to seek another’s opinion.

Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide is just over 100 pages, and it’s a great gift for students, for artists, for non-artists, for anyone who wants to stretch their creative muscles, and for anyone who understands the question, “How do you come up with a dead parrot sketch?” (Okay, he doesn’t answer that specifically, but he does talk some about his early days writing sketch comedy and working on the screenplay for A Fish Called Wanda).

In short, he’s John Cleese. He’s a comedic master. Any advice he wants to give about being creative, I’m all in for. And if you’re smart, you’d go all in too!

Egalleys for Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide were provided by Crown Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.