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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
It's probably one of the funniest and touching autobiography I have ever read.
Graham Chapman and his co-authors mixed with great efficiency the touching and moving parts(his coming out, his alcoholism, how he presented his companion to the other Monty Python) and furiously hilarious, like how lazy Chapman and cleese were once in Ibizza, and took holidays instead of writing scripts, the Monty Python shows outside the UK etc..
Everything is recalled in a light and funny way. I like a lot how he wrote about his relationship with his parents, with the Monty Python and with his adoptive son.
I'm thinking about this autobiography everytime I watch Life of Brian and Holly Grail.
Graham Chapman and his co-authors mixed with great efficiency the touching and moving parts(his coming out, his alcoholism, how he presented his companion to the other Monty Python) and furiously hilarious, like how lazy Chapman and cleese were once in Ibizza, and took holidays instead of writing scripts, the Monty Python shows outside the UK etc..
Everything is recalled in a light and funny way. I like a lot how he wrote about his relationship with his parents, with the Monty Python and with his adoptive son.
I'm thinking about this autobiography everytime I watch Life of Brian and Holly Grail.
Update: this incredibly trite and derivative attempt at book criticism no longer holds up, since having read the book in its entirety now, I can attest that it is even better than I had previously gone on and on about. It is absolutely marvellous. I hope Graham Chapman's spirit will forgive me such a sickening display of fangirling.
I read Graham Chapman’s autobiography and all I’ve got is this lousy review.
If you don’t know who Graham Chapman is, he’s the tall, blond fellow from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, who smokes a pipe, co-writes sketches about dead parrots and has wrestling matches with himself. He’s been described as “the salt of the Python”. He brings an element of chaos to the group that proved necessary for their creative process. I’m sorry – he was the salt of the group, and he provided the element of chaos. Graham Chapman died thirty years ago, having lost his battle with tonsil and spinal cancer. He was forty-eight.
Graham, aside from being the co-writer of Python, played some really iconic characters, like Colonel Silly, the Working Class-Playwright, Colin “Bomber” Harris, as well as King Arthur in The Holy Grail, and Brian in Life of Brian.
His career never took off after Python, which is a fucking shame, because he had talent to spare and was crazy enough to create something magnificent. Actually, he did create at least one great thing after Python, and that’s his autobiography. A Liar’s Autobiography.
It was published in 1980, and Graham also recorded it on tape. Thanks to one die-hard fan who found the copy of the original tapes and uploaded the whole thing on Youtube, we can now all listen to this most unusual book. Thank you, anonymous vidder!
I have now listened to this book three times. Partly, because my attention span is that of a malnourished goldfish. Partly because, despite its humor and Gray’s excellent narration, it’s not an easy book to get through. And partly because I love it.
This book is a salty, unconventional, tongue-in-cheek, fourth wall-breaking memoir. Just like Graham himself (I assume. I’ve never met the man, in life or death). Gray – as he was called by his friends, talks about his life with a nonchalant breeziness, and with real heart-warming irony.
He takes us through his childhood in Leicester, his first sexual encounters, the Cambridge years, the medical school, joining the Cambridge Footlights, meeting John Cleese, taking time off from medical studies to tour New Zealand with the Cambridge Circus because the Queen Mother told him to go, getting his medical license, writing fulltime with Cleese, his TV career, and – *drumroll* – Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Now, I don’t believe in fate, but it’s scary to think that the meeting that would eventually lead to the formation of one of the most important comedy groups was nothing more than dumb luck. Maybe Graham and Cleese were destined to be at Cambridge at the same time? No, that’s a silly thought.
Monty Python lasted four seasons (sorry – four series), but the group made four stage tours, wrote, directed and starred in three movies, and recorded several albums (I don’t know the exact number and I’m too lazy to look it up). Graham talks about some of those experiences in his book. One of my favorite parts is the filming of Life of Brian in 1979.
The Pythons were filming in Tunisia, where Graham was not only the star of the movie, playing the accidental Messiah, but was also acting as an on-set physician. His fellow Pythons recall that there would be long lines outside his hotel room of people seeking medical attention. In this book, Graham recalls a particularly bad case- well, no need for all the details, but – spoilers ahead – the patient lived. Maybe Graham was the Messiah after all?
But life of Python is just one part of A Liar’s Autobiography. Graham also talks about his alcoholism and the long struggle against it. He did kick the habit eventually, but he never quit smoking his iconic pipe, which – according to Graham himself – was what killed him.
Graham also talks about his sexuality. His first ventures into the naughty world of sex, meeting his long-time girlfriend, realizing that he was gay, or as Gray himself puts it, “on the homosexual side of the scale, as suggested by the Kinsey report”, and struggling with this realization. It took him two years to come out to his parents, and while his mother was in denial (at least in the beginning), his father – to Graham’s surprise and relief – was very understanding.
Okay, enough retelling lest I spoil the whole book for you! Now, to the review:
“Eccentric” is too cheap a word to describe this man. Too ordinary. From his own book and from anecdotes from other Pythons and his non-Python friends, I get a picture of a brilliant and intelligent man who was often unsure of himself. As with so many intelligent, multidimensional individuals, Gray’s mind refused to be categorized and to follow conventions.
There is a reason why intelligent and bright children often do poorly in school as their minds are too creative, too “out there” to conform to the suffocating rigidity of the curriculum. But Chapman, with all his nonconformity seemed to excel at everything he put his mind to. He excelled academically, athletically and creatively.
Here is a (once) living paradox – a Cambridge educated doctor who took his Hippocratic oath seriously when he did practice medicine, and a provocateur who liked to shock people and make proverbial monocles fall into champagne glasses. Did he do it for the sheer fun of it or because of some aversion to the establishment?
My favorite parts in this book are the “doctor parts”, and Gray’s medical training which is a sobering (pun intended) look at the life as a medical student. He recalls some very difficult patient cases which he treats with great detail. I imagine this can be off-putting for some people.
I have always been fascinated by doctors who leave medicine to be writers or pursue other artistic endeavors. People like Anton Chekhov, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Ken Jeong (another doctor turned comedian), and, of course, Graham Chapman. Is there a connection between medicine and art? Is there a reason why people who go into medicine have an affinity for all things creative? There must be studies dedicated to this subject.
In his own memoir, So, Anyway… John Cleese describes Gray as weird, unpredictable, but intelligent and kind. I don’t know if that’s how Gray saw himself. In this book, he doesn’t go off in deep, navel-gazing tangents. He writes about his behavior and his reactions kind of matter-of-factly, like it’s a given that his hyperactive libido would send him on wild sex adventures (with men and women), or that he would get angry when his fellow med student wasn’t allowed to deliver babies because he was black. Or that he and his long-time partner, would become legal guardians to a teenage boy from a broken home.
The worst thing I can say about this book is that it’s too short. Compared with Cleese’s thirteen hours long memoir, Gray’s three hours long collection of short stories is not enough to get a really good look at this most unconventional life. It’s a delicious sample.
It’s a very episodic book and reads (or sounds) like a fever dream, a flight of fancy. Gray is jumping from one time period to another and then back again in one chapter. Fiction and reality are intertwined in a dream-like narrative. Did Gray really have a five-way with a group of Chinese students in the back of a taxi? Who knows! Just as Gray gets to the juicy parts, Colonel Silly is there to interrupt the story, proclaiming it too silly. Damn!
Gray is an excellent narrator. His voice is an absolute dream to listen to, and he doesn’t just narrate – he acts out his story. I don’t know what Audible is doing, but they should just get the rights to these tapes and release the damn thing as a “legit” audio book.
I wanted this review to be silly, but it turned out cheesy instead. What can I do? I like cheese! Speaking of cheese, I’m feeling a little peckish. Time to go shopping.
P.S. There is also a 2012 animated movie based on this book, called A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman. It was co-directed by Bill Jones, the son Python Terry Jones. I haven’t seen it. #toosoon.
I read Graham Chapman’s autobiography and all I’ve got is this lousy review.
If you don’t know who Graham Chapman is, he’s the tall, blond fellow from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, who smokes a pipe, co-writes sketches about dead parrots and has wrestling matches with himself. He’s been described as “the salt of the Python”. He brings an element of chaos to the group that proved necessary for their creative process. I’m sorry – he was the salt of the group, and he provided the element of chaos. Graham Chapman died thirty years ago, having lost his battle with tonsil and spinal cancer. He was forty-eight.
Graham, aside from being the co-writer of Python, played some really iconic characters, like Colonel Silly, the Working Class-Playwright, Colin “Bomber” Harris, as well as King Arthur in The Holy Grail, and Brian in Life of Brian.
His career never took off after Python, which is a fucking shame, because he had talent to spare and was crazy enough to create something magnificent. Actually, he did create at least one great thing after Python, and that’s his autobiography. A Liar’s Autobiography.
It was published in 1980, and Graham also recorded it on tape. Thanks to one die-hard fan who found the copy of the original tapes and uploaded the whole thing on Youtube, we can now all listen to this most unusual book. Thank you, anonymous vidder!
I have now listened to this book three times. Partly, because my attention span is that of a malnourished goldfish. Partly because, despite its humor and Gray’s excellent narration, it’s not an easy book to get through. And partly because I love it.
This book is a salty, unconventional, tongue-in-cheek, fourth wall-breaking memoir. Just like Graham himself (I assume. I’ve never met the man, in life or death). Gray – as he was called by his friends, talks about his life with a nonchalant breeziness, and with real heart-warming irony.
He takes us through his childhood in Leicester, his first sexual encounters, the Cambridge years, the medical school, joining the Cambridge Footlights, meeting John Cleese, taking time off from medical studies to tour New Zealand with the Cambridge Circus because the Queen Mother told him to go, getting his medical license, writing fulltime with Cleese, his TV career, and – *drumroll* – Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Now, I don’t believe in fate, but it’s scary to think that the meeting that would eventually lead to the formation of one of the most important comedy groups was nothing more than dumb luck. Maybe Graham and Cleese were destined to be at Cambridge at the same time? No, that’s a silly thought.
Monty Python lasted four seasons (sorry – four series), but the group made four stage tours, wrote, directed and starred in three movies, and recorded several albums (I don’t know the exact number and I’m too lazy to look it up). Graham talks about some of those experiences in his book. One of my favorite parts is the filming of Life of Brian in 1979.
The Pythons were filming in Tunisia, where Graham was not only the star of the movie, playing the accidental Messiah, but was also acting as an on-set physician. His fellow Pythons recall that there would be long lines outside his hotel room of people seeking medical attention. In this book, Graham recalls a particularly bad case- well, no need for all the details, but – spoilers ahead – the patient lived. Maybe Graham was the Messiah after all?
But life of Python is just one part of A Liar’s Autobiography. Graham also talks about his alcoholism and the long struggle against it. He did kick the habit eventually, but he never quit smoking his iconic pipe, which – according to Graham himself – was what killed him.
Graham also talks about his sexuality. His first ventures into the naughty world of sex, meeting his long-time girlfriend, realizing that he was gay, or as Gray himself puts it, “on the homosexual side of the scale, as suggested by the Kinsey report”, and struggling with this realization. It took him two years to come out to his parents, and while his mother was in denial (at least in the beginning), his father – to Graham’s surprise and relief – was very understanding.
Okay, enough retelling lest I spoil the whole book for you! Now, to the review:
“Eccentric” is too cheap a word to describe this man. Too ordinary. From his own book and from anecdotes from other Pythons and his non-Python friends, I get a picture of a brilliant and intelligent man who was often unsure of himself. As with so many intelligent, multidimensional individuals, Gray’s mind refused to be categorized and to follow conventions.
There is a reason why intelligent and bright children often do poorly in school as their minds are too creative, too “out there” to conform to the suffocating rigidity of the curriculum. But Chapman, with all his nonconformity seemed to excel at everything he put his mind to. He excelled academically, athletically and creatively.
Here is a (once) living paradox – a Cambridge educated doctor who took his Hippocratic oath seriously when he did practice medicine, and a provocateur who liked to shock people and make proverbial monocles fall into champagne glasses. Did he do it for the sheer fun of it or because of some aversion to the establishment?
My favorite parts in this book are the “doctor parts”, and Gray’s medical training which is a sobering (pun intended) look at the life as a medical student. He recalls some very difficult patient cases which he treats with great detail. I imagine this can be off-putting for some people.
I have always been fascinated by doctors who leave medicine to be writers or pursue other artistic endeavors. People like Anton Chekhov, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Ken Jeong (another doctor turned comedian), and, of course, Graham Chapman. Is there a connection between medicine and art? Is there a reason why people who go into medicine have an affinity for all things creative? There must be studies dedicated to this subject.
In his own memoir, So, Anyway… John Cleese describes Gray as weird, unpredictable, but intelligent and kind. I don’t know if that’s how Gray saw himself. In this book, he doesn’t go off in deep, navel-gazing tangents. He writes about his behavior and his reactions kind of matter-of-factly, like it’s a given that his hyperactive libido would send him on wild sex adventures (with men and women), or that he would get angry when his fellow med student wasn’t allowed to deliver babies because he was black. Or that he and his long-time partner, would become legal guardians to a teenage boy from a broken home.
The worst thing I can say about this book is that it’s too short. Compared with Cleese’s thirteen hours long memoir, Gray’s three hours long collection of short stories is not enough to get a really good look at this most unconventional life. It’s a delicious sample.
It’s a very episodic book and reads (or sounds) like a fever dream, a flight of fancy. Gray is jumping from one time period to another and then back again in one chapter. Fiction and reality are intertwined in a dream-like narrative. Did Gray really have a five-way with a group of Chinese students in the back of a taxi? Who knows! Just as Gray gets to the juicy parts, Colonel Silly is there to interrupt the story, proclaiming it too silly. Damn!
Gray is an excellent narrator. His voice is an absolute dream to listen to, and he doesn’t just narrate – he acts out his story. I don’t know what Audible is doing, but they should just get the rights to these tapes and release the damn thing as a “legit” audio book.
I wanted this review to be silly, but it turned out cheesy instead. What can I do? I like cheese! Speaking of cheese, I’m feeling a little peckish. Time to go shopping.
P.S. There is also a 2012 animated movie based on this book, called A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman. It was co-directed by Bill Jones, the son Python Terry Jones. I haven’t seen it. #toosoon.
Of course, since this was written a while ago, some things come across as a bit dated. All in all though, I loved this and there's nothing quite like it. Here were my favorite points:
-Innovation and surrealism: flips the concept of an autobiography on its head. Plays with its medium in a clever way. It's what I'd imagine Ulysses to be if it was a humor work (and if I'd read Ulysses).
-LGBTQ+ perspective: before picking this up, I had come across some excellent quotes on the absurdity of gender roles from Chapman, so I was excited to see what other thoughts on gender and sexuality I'd find here. Chapman writes about his gay identity as one of many facets of his life. His writing on sexual identity is a reminder that such things are personal: there is freedom in sharing as much or as little as is pertinent to you. You don't have to confine yourself in any rigid role, and you don't owe anyone an explanation.
-Innovation and surrealism: flips the concept of an autobiography on its head. Plays with its medium in a clever way. It's what I'd imagine Ulysses to be if it was a humor work (and if I'd read Ulysses).
-LGBTQ+ perspective: before picking this up, I had come across some excellent quotes on the absurdity of gender roles from Chapman, so I was excited to see what other thoughts on gender and sexuality I'd find here. Chapman writes about his gay identity as one of many facets of his life. His writing on sexual identity is a reminder that such things are personal: there is freedom in sharing as much or as little as is pertinent to you. You don't have to confine yourself in any rigid role, and you don't owe anyone an explanation.
A truly outrageous book. Filled with stories I'm too afraid are lies to pass on as fact, but can't help but to share with everyone!
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced