What this country needs is more Billy Connolly... [View All]

[ForrestGump]

As a public service, I'm herein making it my mission to open the eyes of the uninitiated to the splendor and glory of that mad Scotsman, Billy Connolly. And if you do know Billy's act(s), some of the clips below might crack you up. So far my Christmas day has consisted of flicking through clips of Billy posted on that infernal youtube thing. Not a bad way to spend some time.

Billy Connolly's been a huge name around the world since the early '70s, with the main exception being the United States. He's become better known in the US in recent years, not least because of some high-profile roles in Hollywood films, but he's still an unknown to many Americans. if you're one of these poor, benighted philistines, the following clips might begin to give you some idea of the man's abilities as a comedian. Or, really, more of a storyteller...he ad-libs a lot, wanders off on tangents -- sometimes never returning to the original thread -- and even when he is working off a piece that's part of a more set repertoire for that time in his career he never tells it twice the same way.

I think he's a genius, and if I had to pick one comic-type-person as the best he'd be my choice, possibly with Robin Williams (his friend...if you've seen Robin Williams' Broadway turn of a few years ago, the golf story's obviously inspired by Billy) somewhere not too far behind. The first time I ever saw him was when he was being interviewed by Michael Parkinson, on British TV, back in 1975...it remains one of the funniest things I've ever seen (Parkinson not only played a big part in boosting Billy's profile but is himself a legend, being to my mind perhaps the perfect TV interviewer and therefore someone that his cloying, sensation-seeking American counterparts, including such sacred cows as Barbara Walters, could do well to emulate).

Billy ended up marrying Pamela Stephenson, a beautiful New Zealander who was in the excellent early-'80s British TV show Not The Nine O'Clock News (that also got Rowan Atkinson and others started off)...she was in one of the Superman movies and one or two other US movies, but she quit it all a while back, got a PhD in psychology, and now practices as a psychologist in Los Angeles, where she and Billy live much of the year.



Here're some clips of the Big Yin in action over the years -- I always liked the 'classic' '70s/early-'80s look with the big hair and the devilish beard, but no matter what the year sometimes just looking at his face can crack me up:

Flying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_-dJEQju2I
This one's part of what might be my favorite of any performance I've seen, from an HBO special made in 1989 that intended for Whoopi Goldberg to basically introduce Billy to a broader American audience...this flying part's maybe my favorite bit, though I especially love the part about Nigel Carruthers, King of the Skies, that follows and is not included in this clip. if you happen to catch this show, watch it -- Whoopi's part is something I always fast-forward through (my VHS tape of it's in storage, darn it, these past few years), because it's plain unfunny, but Billy's brilliant.

Reasons for swearing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF8lqxi_Nek

Wildebeests and lions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeWoonxzRFM

The Zombie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXdj40ufHHQ

Prostate examination
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv3oY5tpSb4

Airplane and train toilets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmpRQLaxF60

Women's demands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXit0FTxa1U

Australia: sharks, funnelweb spider, sea wasps, blue-ringed octopus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gucd0IbRn5c

Graveyards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRPjWA6X8sY

F***off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P9i_YHjd8c

National Anthem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odNNgEn5l6s

Don't drink the water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJvuHGtZU0w

Belfast/Flying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XawTBalqD_8

Roll of linoleum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o33Yoka9iHM

Scrotum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c84onEG44eQ

Swearing, flatulence, itchy bum, etc (clips from the mid-'70s Big Banana Boots tour and more)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Qm4D6X3Mc

Female weightlifter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i_gYDiPGAk

The art of self-pleasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqnUceOIEHE

Incontinence knickers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-t6_n6BR2U

Yes, Your Eminence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRuI7TvkNI

The world is changing (big beard for his role in the film Mrs Brown)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6Mijk1dxx8

Musical interlude (Billy started out as a musician -- including partnering with Gerry Rafferty, later of "Baker Street" fame -- and began working in jokes between his songs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHaLItu2Hf0

BAFTA Tribute to Billy Connolly (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EPtgzi3ASw
I happened to be in the UK when this was broadcast (2002) and it's got some great stuff within...if you want to watch the whole thing, search youtube for the other parts of the show...I think it's all there.