William "Billy" Connolly, (born November 24, 1942) is a comedian, musician and actor.
Background
Billy Connolly was born in Glasgow, Scotland to Mary and William Connolly, the son of an Irish immigrant.
Connolly was brought up in the Anderston and later, Partick districts of Glasgow and attended Saint Gerards Secondary School.
He started his working life as a welder in a Glasgow shipyard but left that trade to become a folk singer. Together with Tam Harvey he started a group called the Humblebums , which later included Gerry Rafferty. Connolly sang, played banjo and guitar and entertained the audience with his humorous introductions to the songs. Eventually the duo broke up and Billy went solo. His first solo album in 1972, Billy Connolly Live! on Transatlantic Records, features Billy as a singer, songwriter and musician.
His early albums were a mixture of comedy performances with musical interludes. Among his best known musical performances were "The Welly Boot Song", a comical ode to the working class which became his theme song for several years; "In the Brownies", a parody of the Village People classics "Y.M.C.A." and "In the Navy" (for which Connolly filmed a music video); "Two Little Boys in Blue", a tongue-in-cheek indictment of police brutality done to the tune of Rolf Harris' "Two Little Boys"; and the ballad "I Wish I Was in Glasgow" which Connolly would later perform on a guest appearance on the 1990s American sitcom, Pearl . By the late 1980s, Connolly had all but dropped the music from his act, though he still records the occasional musical performance.
It is as a stand-up comedian that Connolly is best known. His observational humour is idiosyncratic. He talks about himself, who he is, where he's been, what he thinks and how he reacts to the world around him. He has outraged audiences, critics and, of course the media, with his free use of the word fuck.
He has used masturbation, blasphemy, defecation, flatulence, sex, his father's illness and his aunts' cruelty to entertain. By exploring these subjects with humour, Connolly has done much to strip away the taboos surrounding them. Yet he does not tell jokes in the conventional way.
At the end of a concert the audience can be convulsed with laughter but few can remember a specific "funny" line.
One of Connolly's most famous comedy skits is "The Crucifixion", an early 1970s recording in which he likens Christ's Last Supper to a drunken night out in Glasgow. The recording was banned by many radio stations at the time.
Connolly launched a second career as a film actor in the 1970s, and after a string of obscure and unsuccessful films, he was officially introduced to mainstream American audiences when he took over the lead role in the sitcom Head of the Class in 1990. Since then, he has gone on to become a character actor of some repute, appearing in a number of major films such as Indecent Proposal, The Last Samurai and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events . He received his best notices, including BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for his co-starring role in 1997's Mrs. Brown opposite Judi Dench.
In recent years Connolly has appeared in various Billy Connolly's World Tour of... series, in which he combines touring with travelogues, giving his views about the history and culture of the places he visits between excerpts from stage shows performed in those regions. He also visited the frozen north in A Scot in the Arctic.
A notable feature of these shows is that he strips naked in one scene in each of them, usually in some remote wilderness area where no one is likely to complain, although for Comic Relief he once danced naked around Piccadilly Circus.
Billy's second wife Pamela Stephenson, has written a biography Billy which outlines his career and life including the sexual abuse by his father that lasted from his tenth to his fourteenth year. Much of the book is about Billy Connolly the celebrity but the account of his early years provides a context for his humour and point of view. A follow-up, Bravemouth, was published in 2003.
Connolly himself is credited as writing several books, including Billy Connolly (late 1970s) and Gullible's Travels (early 1980s), both based upon his stage act, as well as books based upon some of his "World Tour" television series.
In October 2004, the comedian was criticised for making jokes about the hostage Kenneth Bigley and his wife. [1] Shortly after Connolly joked about the future beheading of the hostage, Bigley was beheaded in Iraq.
However, despite the bad press, in January 2005 he came 8th in The Comedian's Comedian, a poll voted for by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Awards
Billy Connolly was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the University of Glasgow on July 11 2002. This particularly bemused his wife, who noted that she had studied for six years to obtain her Ph.D., whereas Billy merely had to turn up and collect his.
He has also received a BAFTA award for lifetime achievement in 2003.
Further reading
- Billy, Pamela Stephenson, Harper Collins, 2001. ISBN 0-000-711045-6
- Bravemouth, Pamela Stephenson, Headline, 2003.
Filmography
- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, 2004
- The Last Samurai, 2003
- Timeline, 2003
- The Man Who Sued God , 2001
- The Boondock Saints, 1999
- Still Crazy , 1998
- Beverly Hills Ninja , 1997
- Mrs. Brown, 1997
- Muppet Treasure Island, 1996
- Down Amongst the Big Boys , 1995
- Pocahontas, 1995
- Indecent Proposal, 1993
- The Big Man , 1991
- Crossing the Line , 1991
- The Return of the Musketeers , 1989
- Water , 1985
- Blue Money , 1984
- Bullshot , 1983
- The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, 1982
- Billy Connolly Bites Yer Bum! 1981
- Absolution , 1981
- The Elephant's Graveyard , 1976
- Big Banana Feet , 1976
- Just Another Saturday , 1975
Television
- The Kenny Everett Television Show (guest star)
- Not The Nine O'Clock News (guest appearance)
- Parkinson (repeated appearances as chat show guest)
- An Audience with Billy Connolly
- Deacon Brodie (drama) (1997)
- Gentlemen's Relish (comedy-drama)
- A Scot in the Arctic
- Billy Connolly's World Tour of Scotland
- Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia
- Billy Connolly's World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales
- Billy Connolly's World Tour of New Zealand
External links
