Billy Connolly CBE, (born November 24, 1942 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a comedian, musician and actor.

Billy Connolly

Background

Billy Connolly was born 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. 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. All subsequent albums have been comedy performances with the occasional musical interlude.

It is as a comedian that Billy 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, crtics 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.

In recent years he 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.

Awards

Billy Connolly was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the University of Glasgow on July 11 2002. 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.

Movies

• 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
• Deacon Brodie, 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
• Absolution, 1981
• The Elephant's Graveyard, 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
• 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

External links

• Billy Connolly's web page (http://www.billyconnolly.com/home.htm)
• Billy Connolly Discography (http://www.btinternet.com/~sarsen/billy/records.html)