Billy Connolly
Discussion
Has anyone been watching his series on Saturday nights? I think he's the best comedian in this country by a long way. Stuff the people that complained about the Ken Bigley affair. If you're easily offended, stay away! I'll now be measuring everything in denominations of the standard scone.
mcecm said:
Has anyone been watching his series on Saturday nights? I think he's the best comedian in this country by a long way. Stuff the people that complained about the Ken Bigley affair. If you're easily offended, stay away! I'll now be measuring everything in denominations of the standard scone.
Is that the plain or sultana scone though???
I love his material, not that i like the foul language, but if you can't survive in this day and age without being offended by f
k you aint going to get far. The piece about the protests in the various languages last week had me in stitches for ages.
Regards
Iain
los angeles said:
I heard that much of his stuff is unscripted, he just ad-libs his way through it (it shows in places too). If you look really hard, he's not THAT funny... but I still laugh at him anyway 
He's a naturally funny person, Wedg1e, but most of his material is borrowed, or observed, and well rehearsed. It's his ability to spin it out a yarn, based on repeated telling, that keeps us laughing. But you're right, he's not as funny as he once was mainly because he has long since left behind the inspirational source of his comedy ... Scottish folk and their ways.
His wife was interviewed a few years back, it was she who said he makes it up as he goes along.
True though, there is a lot of comedy that is based on the simple representation of character traits, from the Two Ronnies country bumpkins to the Royle family, Victor Meldrew etc etc.
He always explains that he has a rough idea of what he is going to talk about, but he winds is way through it in a random order and adds bits in and takes bits out as he feels like it.
He started off as a folk singer in a group known as the Humblebums (with Gerry Rafferty who wrote "Baker Street" and "Stuck in the Middle with You") and started telling wee ad-lib stories between songs - eventually the stories started taking over the act and they went their separate ways.
He's funny because he points out how ridiculous most of life really is...
He started off as a folk singer in a group known as the Humblebums (with Gerry Rafferty who wrote "Baker Street" and "Stuck in the Middle with You") and started telling wee ad-lib stories between songs - eventually the stories started taking over the act and they went their separate ways.
He's funny because he points out how ridiculous most of life really is...
los angeles said:
I heard that much of his stuff is unscripted, he just ad-libs his way through it (it shows in places too). If you look really hard, he's not THAT funny... but I still laugh at him anyway
He's a naturally funny person, Wedg1e, but most of his material is borrowed, or observed, and well rehearsed. It's his ability to spin it out a yarn, based on repeated telling, that keeps us laughing. But you're right, he's not as funny as he once was mainly because he has long since left behind the inspirational source of his comedy ... Scottish folk and their ways.
I've read a fair bit about him, he does indeed adlib, senses how things are going and takes it from there. LA made a good point about his source of material being a bit more cosmopolitan but his Oz sketches were sublime
I agree that he's not as funny as he once was - I used to rate him and Mike Harding as the joint funniest on tv. He is wearingly frantic, perhaps it's the mixture of the sublime lanscape with his manic stage show. His wife is, of course, the delectable Pamela Stephenson, a beauty with a brain the size of a planet. Still delectable if a bit "mature" now.
Billy Connolly is a naturally funny bloke, which people seem to either love or hate. I think he's got a very quick brain, which performs best when he has a plan/material in mind but wanders off the subject, like a rambler leaving the path when the mood grabs him.
He is similar in some way to Tommy Cooper. Obviously the style and content are totally different, but with both of them the audience just seems to laugh when they walk on stage.
With regard to his swearing, for some reason it doesn't come across as terribly offensive - don't know how he does it though.
He is similar in some way to Tommy Cooper. Obviously the style and content are totally different, but with both of them the audience just seems to laugh when they walk on stage.
With regard to his swearing, for some reason it doesn't come across as terribly offensive - don't know how he does it though.
chassis 33 said:
Is that the plain or sultana scone though???
I love his material, not that i like the foul language, but if you can't survive in this day and age without being offended by f
Yet another example of how far this once great country of ours has sunk into the gutter....
Just walk down any high street passing a group of young kids, male or female, every other sentence has the "F" word in it..........
Billy is a naturally funny man, and a clever one at that, he does not need the "industrial" language to get his laughs, unlike a lot of other comedians.....
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