Billy Connolly

[Savage Henry]

Down Among The Big Boys is on the BBC Scotland channel tomorrow night at 9.45pm

 

 

Saw a trailer for some doc which i guess is on before or after. Janey Godley features prominently.

[Silverton End]

Just now, Savage Henry said:

 

Saw a trailer for that. Janey Godley features prominently.

 

Don't recall her in it, a minor role surely (hopefully)

[Savage Henry]

Don't recall her in it, a minor role surely (hopefully)

 

 

I hope to god she isn’t. Miss-typed.

[Silverton End]

2 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

 

 

I hope to god she isn’t. Miss-typed.

F*** sake Henry

Ashley Jensen is in it, I remember her.

[peasy23]

He was very funny for a remarkably long period of time. By the time he got to the 'I know you' period mentioned earlier, the circles he moved in were obviously smaller and his material suffered as a result, but he still made it worth a listen. I was still happy enough to sit through his High Horse DVD, despite it being easily his weakest. We maybe put too much emphasis on what people become, rather than what they were - it's the same for musicians, everyone like a laugh at how bands like the Rolling Stones haven't written a decent tune in decades, but the guys who wrote all the songs you love are now receiving the rewards for what they did back then. That's the way we should probably think about it, rather than castigating them for being shit now.
Something that came up earlier: comedians are all liars. Barely any of the stories they tell happened to them, or even happened at all. It's fiction. You wouldn't criticize, say, Irvine Welsh because Trainspotting wasn't an accurate memoir, or Tom Hanks because he didn't actually contract HIV. We have a really odd mentality when it comes to comics - it's a performance like any other. Just relax and enjoy the show. So long as they aren't plagiarising other people, it doesn't matter where the stories come from.
Oh, his travel shows were good too. The later ones were naturally weaker as his familiarity with the places wasn't as strong, but World Tour of Scotland is a terrific love letter to his old home. A lot of younger folk might not be familiar with his albums either, which is a shame as they're very good. Well, except A Change Is As Good As Arrest, but you can't win them all.

I would say it's harder for a comedian to have a long career than a band or musician. E.g. if you have a back catalogue like The Rolling Stones, your audience would riot if you didn't play the greatest hits, a comedian has to constantly keep changing their act. As funny as stuff like The Crucifixion is, Connolly could't have just kept trotting it out year after year.

The full unabridged version of An Audience with Billy Connolly was his peak for me, prescription windscreens, incontinence pants, and the Archers theme for national anthem all among the material.

[19QOS19]

F*** sake Henry [emoji3]
Ashley Jensen is in it, I remember her.

I've met her in real life and can confirm that tv doesn't do her justice. She is absolutely gorgeous.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

22 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

I would say it's harder for a comedian to have a long career than a band or musician. E.g. if you have a back catalogue like The Rolling Stones, your audience would riot if you didn't play the greatest hits, a comedian has to constantly keep changing their act. As funny as stuff like The Crucifixion is, Connolly could't have just kept trotting it out year after year.
 

A lot of stand ups, especially older ones, still use the same material from years previous. Jerry Seinfeld still uses material from the 80s when he does a stand up show and believes a lot of the audience are there to see his "classics". I guess there was a time when folk would buy albums of comedians and going to see the comic live was the same as seeing the band live. If something they've done previously is still getting laughs they keep it in and just add new stuff bit by bit.

The whole stand up thing of writing a new set every year to debut at Edinburgh or Montreal or Melbourne is a relatively new phenomenon. I'd hazard a guess it's more to do with stand ups getting more time on TV and one hour specials being aired and the like.

Connolly might be the bit inbetween as he claims to have never written an act but just goes out and keeps the parts that work each show and tweak them each night. The show at the end of the tour will be different from the show at the start of the tour. Whereas the show at the start of his next tour would be similar to the show than ended his most recent one.

Edited May 15, 2020 by AsimButtHitsASix

[welshbairn]

Thing that pisses me off is when comedians do a tour to develop their act for Edinburgh, and you still have to pay full price to watch an early rehearsal. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by welshbairn

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Used to work in a pub in Walthamstow and stand up comic Susan Murray used to host a comedy night there a lot and a lot of the London based stand ups would use it as a place to test their Edinburgh material in the Spring. Got free tickets in exchange for handing out flyers and saw some great shows. Shappi Korasandi turning up already half cut and dingying her set to have a rant about her ex instead was a highlight.

[19QOS19]

Thing that pisses me off is when comedians do a tour to develop their act for Edinburgh, and you still have to pay full price to watch an early rehearsal. 

Went to one of these and paid £7.50 for 2 comedians. f**k paying full price!

[welshbairn]

6 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

15 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Thing that pisses me off is when comedians do a tour to develop their act for Edinburgh, and you still have to pay full price to watch an early rehearsal. 

Went to one of these and paid £7.50 for 2 comedians. f**k paying full price!

I'm thinking of the big boy chisellers who've already been on the telly. You usually get a few local talent as warm ups, the money should go to them.

Edited May 15, 2020 by welshbairn

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

59 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

As funny as stuff like The Crucifixion is, Connolly could't have just kept trotting it out year after year.

The church manages this all the time, never gets old.

[vikingTON]

5 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

Imagine a multi millionaire choosing to spend his time in London and LA and not the Laurieston. One of history's greatest monsters IMO.

You won't get a choice of three delicious Fyne Ales on tap in either London or LA though, so GIRUH. 

[BFTD]

The idea of variety in comedy appears to be a relatively modern thing. I remember hearing (probably on a documentary about Connolly) that stand-ups used to have the same act they'd play out over a whole career, as audiences wanted the comfort of knowing what was coming. The Fast Show had the Arthur Atkinson character, who was meant to be a parody of old music hall acts who just repeated stock catchphrases, with the comedy supposedly coming from the fact that the audience knew that this person constantly said the same things. Very meta, considering that's a good description of The Fast Show. John Cleese says Monty Python started because they were all sick of sitcoms that consisted of nothing but characters walking in and delivering their line that they'd always repeat every week. Sounds like it used to be a much easier gig TBH.

I know he's done with the stand-up for health reasons, but it would be interesting to see Billy Connolly performing his classic routines now. I'm not sure they'd work as well delivered by the elder Connolly.

[BFTD]

1 hour ago, Tutankhamen said:

If only he didn't swear so much..........

I remember my mum saying this back when I first discovered his stuff.

She loves a bit of Frankie Boyle these days. Go figure.

[DA Baracus]

I have different views on life now than when I was a kid growing up in Fife.

 

I am an appalling sell out.

[Hillonearth]

The shock of seeing someone turn up on TV in the early-mid seventies and being successful using pretty much your own accent can't be underestimated - he was a trailblazer, and essentially paved the way for the alternative comedians that came a good few years later. Sure, he hit that point of diminishing returns by maybe the 90s and wasn't quite as funny.

It's similar to a band's first few albums often being their best and them then losing their way a bit...they have their whole life up until then to write them and are young, angry and full of ambition but eventually hit the point where their current life experience isn't as relatable to their fans as the early stuff was. I reckon that was Connolly's problem; the difficulty of not being able to get decent servants in Braemar or a black pudding supper in Beverly Hills probably wouldn't have them rolling in the aisles at the Armadillo.

It's a shame that more of his earlier, funnier stuff wasn't preserved on film, but that said, his most recent - and probably final - live DVD was excellent.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Hillonearth

[Shandon Par]

44 minutes ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

I know he's done with the stand-up for health reasons, but it would be interesting to see Billy Connolly performing his classic routines now. I'm not sure they'd work as well delivered by the elder Connolly.

That’s pretty much what his new book is. None the worse for it. If you can’t be arsed with a book sign up for a free trial on Audible. 

[BFTD]

7 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

That’s pretty much what his new book is. None the worse for it. If you can’t be arsed with a book sign up for a free trial on Audible. 

Which one's that? I didn't know he had another book out.

I've still got a copy of Gullible's Travels kicking about somewhere. Whatever happened to Jibrovia?

[Shandon Par]

3 minutes ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

Which one's that? I didn't know he had another book out.

I've still got a copy of Gullible's Travels kicking about somewhere. Whatever happened to Jibrovia?

Tall Tales and Wee Stories. Think it came out late last year. Got it for Christmas but just started reading it the other day. It’s a sort of autobiography with the anecdotes being all his best routines.