Telling people how to be creative is easy – being creative is difficult. The legendary writer and actor has also become a well-known student of and speaker on creativity and how to cultivate it. He recently enlightened a group of ad types about the best ways to put yourself in a creative state of mind.

There’s a certain generation (or two) that owes its twisted, awkward, scorchingly black sense humor to John Cleese. Famous for his work with the Monty Python films and television series, the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers, as well as feature films like A Fish Called Wanda, the writer, actor, comedian and film producer knows from funny.

Through a series of stories, Cleese spoke of the importance of succumbing to the unconscious mind, two key traits possessed by highly successful creative people, the necessity of allowing for contemplative thinking, and why all of these together result in creative breakthroughs.