Professor at Large

The Cornell Years

John Cleese

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781501716577
• eBook ISBN: 9781501716591
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Higher Education

And now for something completely different. Professor at Large features beloved English comedian and actor John Cleese in the role of Ivy League professor at Cornell University. His almost twenty years as professor-at-large has led to many talks, essays, and lectures on campus. This collection of the very best moments from Cleese under his mortarboard provides a unique view of his endless pursuit of intellectual discovery across a range of topics. Since 1999, Cleese has provided Cornell students and local citizens with his ideas on everything from scriptwriting to psychology, religion to hotel management, and wine to medicine.

His incredibly popular events and classes—including talks, workshops, and an analysis of A Fish Called Wanda and The Life of Brian—draw hundreds of people. He has given a sermon at Sage Chapel, narrated Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra, conducted a class on script writing, and lectured on psychology and human development. Each time Cleese has visited the campus in Ithaca, NY, he held a public presentation, attended and or lectured in classes, and met privately with researchers. From the archives of these visits, Professor at Large includes an interview with screenwriter William Goldman, a lecture about creativity entitled, "Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind," talks about Professor at Large and The Life of Brian, a discussion of facial recognition, and Cleese's musings on group dynamics with business students and faculty.

Professor at Large provides a window into the workings of John Cleese's scholarly mind, showcasing the wit and intelligence that have driven his career as a comedian, while demonstrating his knack of pinpointing the essence of humans and human problems. His genius on the screen has long been lauded; now his academic chops get their moment in the spotlight, too.

INDEX

Note: Italic page numbers refer to illustrations and tables. The abbreviation JC refers to John Cleese.

acting: and creative process, 43–44; and facial recognition, 102; William Goldman on, 40, 41, 55–56; and improvisation, 189; and movie stars, 68–71, 78; and professional wrestling, 207; and writer-performers, 50, 167, 169, 179, 191

Alexander VI, Pope, 146

All About Eve (film), 59

Allen, Woody, 50, 63

All the President’s Men (film), 67–68

Almost Famous (film), 20–21

American Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Association, 118

American literature, 33

And Now for Something Completely Different (film), 51

anger, 168, 173, 174

Annan, Kofi, 152

anxiety, and slow thinking, 15–16

Apatow, Judd, 199

Aquinas, Thomas, 145

architects, study of creativity in, 13

articulate incompetence, 9

Asch, Solomon, 183–84

Astaire, Fred, 28

astrology, 179

Attenborough, David, 92

Attenborough, Richard, 54, 61

attention span, 177–78, 206

attractiveness: and aging, 129; and averaging faces, 126; and deception, 120; and emotional attraction, 127; and familiarity, 127, 128; and golden ratio, 92, 121–23; and mere exposure effect, 108–9; and plastic surgery, 91–92, 120–21, 130; and symmetry, 124–25, 126, 127–28

audio books, speed of, 2–3

Australia, 193, 213

Avahi cleesei (Cleese’s woolly lemur), 192

Barry, Dave, 49

Bates, Kathy, 30, 31

Bateson, Gregory, 76

Battl...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind
• Screenwriting Seminar
• Sermon at Sage Chapel
• The Human Face
• What Is Religion? Musings on Life of Brian
• Creativity, Group Dynamics, and Celebrity
• A Conversation with John Cleese
• Index