Billy Connolly retiring from standup?

for me probs the unfunniest bag of wind to ever grace a stage

are you attempting to start an argument with yourself here?

do you think he's funny?

He was very good as a villain in Columbo, but that is as far as it goes.

The performances of Fort William in the Highland League are much more amusing!

He was very funny in his day and far funnier than the majority of current "comedians".

He retired from standup many years ago anyway didn't he? Or as good as.

get him to promise

is that different from retiring from been funny 25 yrs ago

Wan of the Greats.

Just ckecking, mainstream humour has to appeal to 'right on' types these days. The more right on the comedians become the more they alienate the other half of the population. It can't be a good business model but they have no choice.

Funny ?  Used Scottish shipyards as a joke ,played on it , he ,his father never worked in em ...... the guys a crook

Sir William Connolly, CBE (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish stand-up comedian, musician, presenter, actor and artist. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname "The Big Yin" ("The Big One").[1] His first trade, in the early 1960s, was as a welder (specifically a boilermaker) in the Glasgow shipyards, but he gave it up towards the end of the decade to pursue a career as a folk singer, firstly in the Humblebums alongside friend Gerry Rafferty and Tam Harvey until 1971, and subsequently as a solo artist. In the early 1970s, Connolly made the transition from folk-singer with a comedic persona to fully fledged comedian, for which he has received numerous awards.


conditor - you are wrong .

late 70's -just the funniest guy i ever saw live - and i wasn't expecting anything special when i turned up. But once he'd finished with his made up stories ( the jobbie weecher ; ivan the terrible etc) he was on the wane.

probable spelling errors :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=qu9GteQWh38

do your research bud before you call, ... then have your fish supper

A huge talent, can act too, I saw him in a film called 'The Debt Collector' the other day and he was very good in it. Problem was in the nineties he stopped being funny when he appeared to disappear up his own backside. Nevertheless, a great storyteller and talent with a remarkable career.

an audience with billy connolly was hilarious.a very funny guy.

Nothing was forced he could just be himself no plans,routine etc. never seen a comedian get away with laughing at himself so much a natural unlike the robotic tripe today planned stories to an inevitable finish.

You can't compare any comics from the past to today's mob because today's mob ought to give up their day and night jobs!

It might have looked like it Denzil. Every laugh, gap, chortle and ad lib, was rehearsed and practised to perfection.
Funniest comic I ever saw live, and the groundbreaker that more or less all comedians model themselves on.

Didn't realise that STUDY I've heard somewhere/off someone that he had no scripts he got it right anyhow.

He was very good at making it seem so. He never did the same act (tour) twice though - Every year or so would write/learn a whole new routine.

Billy is a very funny man in person.

He was arguably the only famous Scots actor who didn`t get a part in Braveheart. That was a bit of a puzzle why he wasn`t offered a part because he was a fine actor and he was hurt at being left out.

The Peter McDougall Collection on Amazon is well worth a watch.

The Big Yin was in 4 of the plays featured and he had the lead role in two but the best of the five, imo, was Just A Boy`s Game about Glasgow hard men and the razor gangs of the 60s starring Frankie Miller and Ken Hutchison.

Fantastic live. Best of the best imo.
Pastor Jack Glass of the 'thou shalt not' brigade used to follow him about and protested outside the venues he was appearing in.
Was water of a ducks back to Billy who made light of him although he couldn't hide his disdain for Ruth Wishart who constantly attacked him in her newspaper column.

painful,watched about 4 mins of this,ok youve got hair beard shirt accent but he's got to fcknnnnnnnnnn say something......................................................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f8K_EpVtaI

A very decent storyteller but can't hold a candle to Scotland's most hilarious moment: giving it large before the referendum then bottling it at the polling stations. Now that's comedy.

^  clown probably voted remain

That's it. Introduce some politics into the thread (with added conjecture and no real information for a change).

I thought one might have escaped, sadly no.

I remember he did a Streak for charidee Years ago....The Big Yin?....Most definitely not.

Comedy is a very subjective thing, e.g.  i have never found Mcintyre remotely funny
but thousands do and will  pay £50 or more to see him.In his heyday Billy
was funny and his style is the template they all use today.

saw him live 1980 ish??  made me laugh

The Great Man on the one show bbc1 7.00 should be worth a wee look.