Billy Connolly

Anyone else find him a bit odd these days? He was brilliantly funny but not anymore same with Cleese.

I think they both suffered by being surrounded by psycho babble.

A bit like Samson losing his strength when he had his hair cut, Connoly lost his comedic ability when he shaved his goatee off.

As people get older they change. He has a couple of challenging health issues now too.

Chunky +1

He has Parkinson’s and cancer.

Apparently he has been having trouble remembering his lines.

It’s sad. I remember having a tape of BC Live in Glasgow while driving home from Scotland once. I had to stop twice because I was crying with laughter so much.

I saw him on his last tour at Blackpool.

Someone wandered in off the street and shouted something hurtful at him. He shuffled off and didn’t come back. In his old days he’d have taken it in his stride and blasted them.

A childhood comedy hero. Now a disappointing wreck. Shame.

I didn’t know about him having Parkinsons, that makes me sound like a right twunt 😳

One of my favourite heckler put downs ever (from one of his live recordings)… “…don’t you come in here and tell me how to do my job. Do I come to your place of work and tell you how to sweep up?” 😆

Saw him live in Limerick many moons ago. Cried laughing. And some of his “Billy Connolly’s Tour Of…” programmes were excellent viewing.

He got less and less funny the more time he spent with Pamela Stephenson.

Now a disappointing wreck.

I find it disappointing that people could refer to him like this. He was a legend of comedy and folk music. He’s just getting old and is pretty unwell. It’s ahead of us all.

I find it disappointing that people could refer to him like this. He was a legend of comedy and folk music. He’s just getting old and is pretty unwell. It’s ahead of us all.

I agree

I’ve got his World Tour Of Australia on DVD, absolutely love watching it! Like everyone said he’s getting on now and isn’t well, same as Terry Pratchett with his Discworld novels.

I remember having a tape of BC Live in Glasgow while driving home from Scotland once. I had to stop twice because I was crying with laughter so much.

I recall being on a lads’ holiday in Laganas in Zante and sitting in a bar watching loads of his old stand-up (colostomy pants, jojoba shampoo etc). I was aching with laughter, tears streaming down my face. Then I looked around and saw that pretty much the rest of the bar were watching me, laughing equally hard at my antics.

Wonderful night.

Darcy one of my favourite put downs was deliverd by Jake Burns of SLF after they had appeared on Top of the Pops he was walking down a street in Belfast when someone shouted “Pop Star” at him he replied with “Plumber”

proper funny bloke…..lost his sparkle at bit, but we all do with illness and age.

love his programme touring about on the motorbike.

His newer stuff hasn’t been great, but the early stuff is brilliant. There’s about 6cds worth on the iPod, works brilliantly when it’s on shuffle, music track ends followed by “the casual vomit….”

He was good as the squirrel in Open Season

Billy Connolly is a comedy legend – his early Parkinson interviews were fantastic.

I think he lost his edge years ago as a comedian when he started hob-nobbing with Royals, celebrities and trying to make it in the US. He adopted an mid-atlantic accent and moved in different circles, and his working class stories didn’t really work as well.
I thought his travel programs suited him and he came across as warm, genuine and friendly guy who built a good rapport with the people he met. His humour and personality worked well in that format.

His series about death was very poignant.

He’s now an old man with serious health problems.

He got less and less funny the more time he spent with Pamela Stephenson.

Only 8 posts until the misogyny. Impressive.

Why is that misogyny? Surely it is just an observation about his career decline isn’t it?

I think the more relevant correlation is that his life, upon which many of his stories were built, is just not as funny to us now. His shipyard stories from the early days are magnificent. Jokes about being on set with Judi dench not so much. (Though I hear she’s a good laugh by all account

“dissapointing wreck” = dissappointing comment.

Being a standup comedian is constantly referred to as being a brutal exercise, requiring a huge amount of emotional energy and fortitude. I can imagine riding that rollercoaster is a lot less fun as a 70 year old in ill health.

There was a good interview with Marc Maron on his WTF podcast earlier this year. no. 476. Funny, interesting, relaxed hour long conversation.

If you like(d) him, it’s well worth a listen. You’ll still like him!

I’m from Glasgow. Billy Connolly is a living legend, just a huge presence.

Remember doing a road race a few years back up at Ballater, where he’s got that mad castle. Bunch is cruising along the main road from Aberdeen when the Big Yin goes by on his motorbike tricycle thing, fist pumping. Great big cheer from everyone as we all realised who it was.

I’m not from Glasgow. Connolly’s Ken Bigley joke was the polar opposite to funny.

Only 8 posts until the misogyny. Impressive.

😆

Well I suppose as he’s not so funny anymore, the thread needed some comedy.

I’m not from Glasgow. Connolly’s Ken Bigley joke was the polar opposite to funny.

Agreed. But for someone to have been doing the type of comedy he does for as long as he has, one such incident should not define him. Not saying that it was acceptable, but we all make mistakes in our work.

Only 8 posts until the misogyny. Impressive.

This is brilliant though. Are you just looking for any vague mention of a man and a woman in the same sentence so that you can practice using that word?

Disappointing wreck is a really unkind thing to say of an old man in decline.
I used to really like his stuff but recently it’s gone downhill so I don’t bother watching it. Rather remember his earlier genius than what he does now. I wish him all the best but he’s not my cup of tea anymore.

His early stuff about Ivan the terrible and the Crucifiction were awesome. A huge meandering build up with huge detail, then Bam! punchline and the place dies laughing 🙂

He seems a well-loved guy, people like and respond to him – but you’re going back decades to when he was really funny.

The Bigley joke was a bit objectionable (IMO) because it seemed like a cynical attempt by Connolly to act relevant. It doesn’t work when you’re an establishment comedian with an otherwise cosy, anodyne routine.

The Big Yin’s need for comedy came from a pretty dark place, his childhood was not ideal by anymeans, life in the shipyards for such a creative man must also have been quite difficult. His ability to lampoon the absurd yet inconsequential parts of our lives was genius. Pamela Stephenson undoubtably calmed the man’s demons, if he’s happier with her but less funny to us then I am pleased for him. ~I’ve seen him live and met him more than once he’s a geniuine warm human being.

johndoh – Member
Why is that misogyny? Surely it is just an observation about his career decline isn’t it?

POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

Blame Yoko for John being crap, blame Linda for Macca being crap, blame Stephenson for Connolly being crap…

Who can we blame for you?

Who mentioned Lennon or McCartney?

It isn’t even a tree that you are barking up, never mind the wrong one.

It was an observation about him spending time with a person that made him less funny (which I disagree with anyway, I maintain it was his goatee – unless she made him shave it off of course). It was nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman, she just happens to be a female of the opposite sex.

connolly has been getting progressively less funny since the 90s, still an absolute legend mind you, but as soon as he found fame and fortune, well it took the edge off him and slowing whittled away his genius.

He got less and less funny the more time he spent with Pamela Stephenson.

He’d had a difficult childhood, maybe she helped him straighten out some of the tangles that resulted. Which may have made him less frenetic, less troubled, less funny. ISTR something similar happened to Spike Milligan.

And we all slow down as we get older.

He stopped being funny, and he was once very funny indeed imo, when he started swanning around with royalty and other establishment VIPs and yet was still attempting to get laughs from the 6 months, or whatever it was, that he worked in a shipyard. So a very long time ago.

The best he’s done in recent decades was Mrs Brown imo, he was absolutely excellent in that.

The best he’s done in recent decades was Mrs Brown imo, he was absolutely excellent in that.

i have it on good authority that the staff and cast were in stitches during the whole shoot.

Very funny guy and his ‘travel shows’ showed a warmth and generosity of spirit which was obvious by the genuine affection shown by his friends and acquaintances around the world.

Damn fine banjo player too!

As a kid in the 80’s I laughed so much it hurt watching ” An Audience with Billy Connolly”

He was a genius and one of the funniest people ever.

A national treasure.

That is all.

He’s not dead!

If you want devistating re watch that program with terry pratchet and his fight against parkinsons, the final reading to the jurnos he did and kept loosing his place on the page.
“Have you had enough or would you like some more tears”

Thought connolly was very good carrying on with that recent series given the news he’d just had.