Courtesy of Merlin Mann (and via Dan Forth) comes this fantastic lecture on creativity from John Cleese.

You may know Mr. Cleese as one of the fathers of modern comedy, a bona fide British institution in his own right, or even perhaps the most unpleasant hotelier the world has ever seen. In other words, no matter who you are, there are a couple of things John Cleese can tell you about creativity.

Even putting aside the lecture’s huge relevance to our little corner of the creative world, there are all sorts of things to ponder in this talk, not just for anyone working in an even remotely creative field, but for any curious, creatively-minded person.

I won’t keep you any longer and instead will quote Merlin and echo that “I really, really do encourage you to watch. Really. All the way through. It’s just terrific.” (Emphasis all his).