Info: Billy Connolly

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 04:36 PM

i don't think its a case of them being miserable sods - just a fundamental disagreement about the nature of what we were witnessing in the folk revival.

Bernard Wrigley and Tony Capstick were fine interpreters of traditional song.

Both could have fitted into The Old Crown in Digbeth. Fred Wedlock though, or Jasper would never have been booked there.

The atmosphere at The Boggery in Solihull was very showbiz though, with Jasper holding court at his place after the gig. people like Noel Murphy, Derek Brimstone, Shep Wooley, Brownsville Banned played there. Malc Stent was the resident.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Senoufou
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 03:25 PM

I enjoyed his World Tours series. He was always humble, courteous and didn't push himself forward when meeting people from various places.

In addition to being a comedian, I'd say he was a man utterly fascinated and interested in his fellow human beings. I think that's what I like most about him.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,Spot
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 03:14 PM

There was a TV show that traced some of his ancestry: he was delighted to find out he had Indian ancestry.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 02:00 PM

Comedian = someone who makes people laugh.

Connolly fits the description to a tee.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 12:43 PM

I wouldn't call him a "Folk Comedian"
I remember him as a story teller and a supreme observer of the quirks of the human species, particularly the Scottish urban variety.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Senoufou
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 10:08 AM

I laughed at his account of the trendy Dublin restaurant which offered 'potatoes of the night'.
And his suggestion of The Archers theme tune for our national anthem.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 07:19 AM

The folk comedians were hugely resented by the traddy element at the time.

I'm not so sure about that, Al. I only have experience of my own folk club and a few others in the Manchester area but wherever Mike Harding or The Oldham Tinkerd or Bernard Wrigley or many other such were on in the 70's the venues were packed with other folkies including many traditionalists. Maybe it was different where you were but I don't think you can tar all traddies as miserable sods!

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 06:49 AM

I always really admired him.

Derek (Brimstone) was a great admirer of how he'd obviously got himself a really good banjo teacher in the States and really honed his talent into something really sharp.

I thought he must be running out of steam when I saw him doing Stan Boardman's nit nurse routine somewhere in the Orkneys. Seeing someone who had always been so original working threadbare material like that, was a clear warning things were not as they should be.

The folk comedians were hugely resented by the traddy element at the time. However they filled folk clubs, and they were an assertion of the intelligence of working class people when showbiz thought comedy was only gags and one liners. THe folk comedians were discursive, like the American comedians, but being grounded in working class culture - it was too strong for the Beeb.

Parkinson was a breakthrough programme. But the best of that lot never really got a break
itThree or four years later - when Cambridge footlights had middlassified - it was presented as 'alternative comedy'.

The folk comedians were really just one of the reasons that 'folk' was a great artistic movement - rather than just the revival of traditional music. The other strands of the folk movement were the start of acoustic guitar in England, drama, and songwriting.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,Grahame Hood
Date: 19 Aug 18 - 05:48 AM

About ten years ago I was writing my Clive Palmer biography "Empty Pocket Blues" and it was arranged for Billy to ring me for a phone interview. He rang me from Malta and was on the phone for over an hour (he paid) He never swore once thugh he does say "you knooow" a lot. His recall was amazing and he seemed to greatly enjoy talking about seeing the Incredible String band in Glasgow in 65/66. He never repeated himself once, and when I transcribed the interview there were large parts I did nor even have to edit, he is such a great storyteller.

Grahame

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 03:36 PM

That was hilarious DTM!

My favourite routine has to be the incontinence trousers. When he fills them up with "seven gallons down each leg" at the disco, then says to a young lady, "I'll take you home in minute. I'll just go and empty my underwear."

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 02:29 PM

The Wildebeest story (with Agnes & Betty Lion)is my second favourite of Connolly's routines however, this one is the creme de la creme.
"The old woman on the bus going to Clydebank".

"Old woman on bus to Clydebank"

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 10:38 AM

What does the Pope drink?

Creme de Menthe

Give us two pints of that then

Classic :-)

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 09:53 AM

And Pamela's weekly sex column in the Guardian is a peach!

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 09:52 AM

The diced carrots come from his Two Scotsmen in Rome yarn. Thank God for YouTube. I've just nearly died laughing watching it!

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 06:15 AM

"If you want to confuse a policeman ask him a question" does iit for me
Jim

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 04:39 AM

There are two books by Pamela that are about Billy, "Billy" and "Bravemouth" that are biographical. I don't know if they are currently available but I have seen them in charity shops recently!

Pete McNab used to know him in his early years, but says that Billy could not remember him when he met him years later, the result of execess of alcohol and other substances at the time.

Truly a great comedian, his logical exploration of a subject leads him into the most amazing fantasies.

Robin

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 03:11 AM

Oh crumbs, I think it's time for the dementia care home. Pamela Stephenson of course.
I'm a bit preoccupied these days as one of my cats (Murphy) is very ill and probably not going to last out. I find Mudcat very calming and distracting, so I hope you'll pardon my 'old lady errors'.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 02:55 AM

He said "it doesn't matter what you ate before being sick, it always comes back as diced carrots"!!

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 17 Aug 18 - 02:52 AM

Hi Tim, thanks for the information on Tam Kearney, that must have been before I knew Billy.
Tam Harvey was guitar player and sometimes sang in the duo simply known as "Billy and Tam". They later became the "Humblebums", before being joined by Gerry Rafferty.
What a great time that was for folk music, enthusiastic audiences comprising of people of all ages and a huge array of "characters", poets singers and a few solo musicians, but song fuelled the movement. I remember folks like Hamish Imlach, Alex Campbell, Matt, Danny Kyle, Josh McRae even American and Canadian performers ...Mark Ellington?......and not to forget a wee poet called Freddy Anderson from County Monaghan, of whom it was said, "Freddy didn't make it out of the gutter, never even achieving the dizzy heights of abject poverty"
It was of course intended as a compliment....Ake.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 11:28 PM

I had never heard of Billy Connolly until about ten minutes ago. He played a part in the 1999 film "Boondock Saints" which I just finished watching on DVD and I recognized his name from the ending credits. A coincidence of the first order.

Subject: RE: Info: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 10:00 PM

Senoufou, I think you'll find Connolly's wife is Pamela Stephenson. Pamela Anderson is someone else altogether.

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: RTim
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 07:53 PM

To "akenaton" - I think you will find that Billy sang in Glasgow with - Tam Kearney, who later moved to Canada and became a leading light in the "Friends of Fiddlers Green"

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,Ebor Fiddler
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 07:43 PM

Can I have a "P" Bob?

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 06:49 PM

In the light of my spelling mistake, do you need a poo or a pee Steve?

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 06:34 PM

I'm suffering from a surfeit of p.

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 06:32 PM

Not so p. Whiskey would become whiskoy.

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,Sol
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 06:25 PM

Oops, the 'wink' somehow vanished from my post above

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,Sol
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 06:23 PM

Spelling Algebra

If, Connelly = Connolly
Then, Whiskey = Whisky

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 02:34 PM

I guessed so akenaton.
And a gold star for excellent grammar. (sorry, once a teacher, always a teacher :) )

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 02:31 PM

Sorry Senoufou....that was I

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 02:20 PM

PS Thank you to the Mudelf who has kindly moved this to the Music section and changed my awful spelling!

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connolly
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 02:19 PM

His mother abandoned him when he was three, and he had to share a sofa with his father, a drunkard who repeatedly sexually abused him. His two aunts were also in the house, and one of them would beat him regularly around the head with the heel of her shoe. His early life must have been hellish.

(If you Google, there's a brief Guardian article about it.)
His wife, comedienne Pamela Anderson, helped him to come to terms with it all. I believe she became a therapist.

Reading about the life of Aretha Franklin, who has just passed away, it would seem that her early life was appalling too.

I so admire singers/comedians etc who have surmounted the most awful beginnings to become great entertainers.

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 12:56 PM

Never heard him say anything about his father, he seemed a nice well adjusted young man who had seen a life in the entertainment business as something a lot better than the shipyards.
He did tell me that his mother left the family and came to stay with a guy in a small town a few miles from where I live.
She came to one of the folk nights that we used to run there and Billy wouldn't speak to her.
It was all a bit sad, but I can't say I blame him

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 12:24 PM

Dave the Gnome, thank you SO much for that link. I certainly did enjoy it! They both talk exactly like our next-door neighbour, in fact it could be him on there. Trunch is near Mundesley on the east coast, and we're not far from Dereham, more to the north/west. But the Norfolk accent is much the same everywhere. Don't they harmonise well?

akenaton, I'm fascinated that you actually knew him when young. I understand he had a very difficult childhood with sexual abuse. I'm sure that must have deeply affected him. I've always felt that he was 'searching for his soul' as you put it.
I liked him as John Brown in the film Mrs Brown, with Judi Dench as Queen Victoria.

Listening to him on Youtube I'm transported back to my Glasgow days teaching primary school in the early seventies. Such a warm, characterful city. Being half-Irish, I somehow felt at home there.

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 12:00 PM

Knew Billy pretty well when we were both i9n our teens, first met him when he was singing with Tam Harvey...before the humblebums.
They did a lot of bluegrass stuff interspersed with Billy's patter...it wis rerr!
Off stage Billy was quiet and interested in everybody, loved talking about politics, I always thought he was searching for his soul.
No foul language in these days, just wistful observation delivered with kind humour. Matt McGinn was a sort of father figure to Billy I thought, he loved Matt like a son a tried to keep him on the straight and narrow regarding the hard stuff(whiskey). Billy was never a big drinker as far as I remember.
As his career took off, Billy started to play the fool.....gave the TV punters what they wanted, but that wasn't the real Billy.
In my opinion he wasn't much of an actor saw him in a few TV plays, but he seemed self conscious...couldn't hold a candle to Frankie Millar Autentic 60's clydeside, watch it right to the end!
All in all Billy was a nice guy who grew a wee bit too big for his big banana boots. Still proud to have known him.

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 10:40 AM

I liked Parkie because he let the interviewee do the talking
Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 10:09 AM

I love him. I think all the 'folk comedians' are great with Mike Harding still being my favourite. Jasper Carrot, Richard Digence and Phil Cool used to appear regularly on TV. Lesser known but still big names in their day were Fred Wedlock (Oldest swinger in town made him enough money to buy a mine!) Bernard Wrigley with regular appearances in all sorts of comedy shows, the cameos in 'Dinner Ladies' being by favourites. Bob Williamson who made the silver screen in 'Pheonix Nights' and used to appear often on North West TV comedy show.

There are dozens who never got into mainstream of course but were very funny all the same - Stanley Accrington, Jeremy Taylor and Vin Garbutt to name but three. All have had me wetting my pants :-)

Just for Eliza though this link to stuff by The Kipper Family is a must. From the village of Trunch in Norfolk, I never saw this pair come out of character. Henry and his son, Sid, are master of parody folk songs.

Enjoy :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 10:02 AM

I'm afraid I put Parky in the same box as Graham Norton and Jonathan Woss. Can't bear any of 'em.

In the last gig I saw him do, Billy was talking about the clandestine smoking of cigarettes as teenage lads. He said that they all had to smoke untipped cigs so as not be thought homosexual. I nearly died laughing. So true!

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 09:44 AM

He appeared in couple of excellent television plays before the Beeb dumbed down (sorry Steve)
For me, has classic performances on the media were 'an audience with Billy Connolly and the 'Parkinson' interview
I was somewhat disappointed at his American stuff
For me, his strength was his ability to take people, warts and all and laugh at them without denigrating them
There'es now many people who can build a brilliantly sympathetic sketch around a poor airline passenger being sucked down a lavatory (The Jobbie Wheecher)
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 09:09 AM

Oh gawd, however did I make that mistake? I knew it's Connolly. (red face)
Anyone
who has lived in Glasgow gets used to the swearing. It's part of the rhythm of the accent I think.

I like his chat about being a young apprentice welder in the shipyards and the shed for the 'cripples'.
Also his account of the terrorism at Glasgow Airport.
I watched him on Youtube playing the autoharp.

My sister has seen him many times and like you Steve she nearly had to be stretchered out of the place.

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 08:50 AM

I think he uses swear words quite well myself. Not quite as well as Tractor Harold on Radcliffe Parks Dept in the early seventies, but getting there...

One of my favourite snippets, without video unfortunately, is his tale of Mario Lanza singing at the Glasgow Empire. Just google Billy Connolly Mario Lanza. It is "Connolly" by the way. I've laughed at that sketch so many times with one of my mates that my nickname is now Mario!

HEY MARIO! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 08:46 AM

"His version of the crucifixion being in Glasgow was one of the funniest sketches I ever heard"
Amen brother !!
I enjoyed Connolly's musical satires - the 'Music Lesson' was brilliant, as was 'Nine-and-a-half Guitars' and 'Leo Maguire's Song' - the serious stuff I could take or leave
I treasure his remark as a classic piece of humour when he said "You can't spend your life singin' aboot died sailors", but that's what it was - humour
Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Raggytash
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 07:18 AM

His version of the crucifixion being in Glasgow was one of the funniest sketches I ever heard, sadly his foul language lets him down so often.

Subject: RE: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 06:40 AM

We love him and have seen him twice live, once in the seventies and once a couple years ago. Both times I nearly had to be carried out on a stretcher, completely helpless, and had to go to the corset shop the next day. One of my favourite Billy songs is Jesus Christ I'm Nearly Forty, to the tune of What a Friend We Have In Jesus.

Subject: BS: Billy Connelly
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 06:17 AM

I've just been listening to several Billy Connelly's songs on Youtube.
My word he is so talented isn't he?

The Wellies song
'My Granny was a cripple in Nashville' - both hilarious.

Then 'I wish I was in Glasgow'
and 'Won't you stay, stay a while with your own ones' (Van Morrison song) always make me sob.

Then there's the Incontinence Trousers and Flying to Maputo accounts.
He must be quite old now, and I believe he has Parkinson's.

Anyone else like him a lot?