Billy Conolly - Not Funny Anymore

[Deano!]

Sorry if this has been discussed before but I used to love Billy Conolly. Back in the 80's when I first heard his stuff I used to laugh and laugh and marvel at how naturally clever he was at telling funny stories.

But over the past few years all he seems to do is talk about fucking and his dick without being amusing at all to me. I thought that style of 'comedy' was the domain of those awful American stand ups who insert "Mother Fucker" in every 2 or 3 words and always get a laugh on cue.

If I want to hear filthy language I can catch a bus full of tarty schoolgirls and enjoy it more than one of Billys' shows ! Do others mourn the loss of Billys' talent or am I all alone here in my room full of pink Koala bears ?

[Pervert]

Given my Caledonian blood, I am almost treasonous in my antipathy towards Mr Connolly. Some of his stuff is still hilarious but, as I've said before, it's his utterly false laughing before he tells the ending to his own story that I find irritating. That and his "poor wee Glaswegian" act while ramming his tongue up any passing royal rectum. And as for that brilliant purple beard . . . .

There was a dreadful wee woman from Glasgow called Molly Weir, who had her own ten-minute filler programme on STV for some years (as well as being a proper actress, you understand) where she told tales of her life in the tenements of Glasgae with all your stereo-typical working class, heart of gold people. Very Sunday Post. Last time I consciously noticed her it was when she was doing some showbiz support gig to re-elect Thatcher.

At the risk of sounding like an inverted snob, why do all those people who hark back to the good old days when they had nothing but lice, TB and a piece and jam (professional Scousers like Tarbuck, Dodd and Black are particularly guilty) tend to be dyed in the wool fascists?

Maybe they long for the day when the poor folk knew their place, and when to doff their caps; or maybe they have got on in life by pretending a childhood of poverty that someone else suffered; or maybe they're just utter hypocrites.

[Deuce Bigolo]

The thing for me and its not just Billy Connolly is over exposure

I haven't watched anything on the TV or video of his for quite a while

The saying that familiarity leads to contempt is very true

Everybody has a used-by date

Thats not to say that people who have never seen him live won't find him funny

What ever the truth of his life he is an interesting person compared to many celebrities IMHO

cheers
B....OZ

[mart]

I don't want to doubt his word but...I get a bit suspicious when celebs start on the "I was abused" line.
Some people have got it right. Know when you, and the public, have had enough.
Dave Allen.
Ronnie Barker.

I wish the list was longer.

Mart

[Deuce Bigolo]

Dave Allen left gracefully

I've heard at least 3 Popes tried to kidnap him before he left
luckily for him the Pope Mobile was easily spotted

cheers
B....OZ Soon to be retired from trying Comedy

[IdolDroog]

i love dave allen, his videos are hilarious....moved to australia didnt he?....

[NOBBY]

You're dead right Deano,

I wish he would fuck off to somewhere like Austrailia or somewhere even more remote.

Yes, he was once funny, but as you say the language and subject matter he uses is tierd and really aint funny any more.

Also i started taking a dislike to him when he did those lottery adverts with the silly grin, even sillier purple? goatee.

See ya.

NOBBY

[The Last Word]

True, but it's always tricky for comedians once they taste success as it tends to seperate them from their source material - Conolly being a prize example, of course. His Glasgow material in particular probably worked better in the past because it hadn't yet drifted from view. In all fairness it must be difficult drawing decent material from the life he leads now, though that's obviously no excuse for those Lotto ads or that ridiculous motortrike malarkey of recent.

[steve56]

yeah dave was slicker than billy wasnt he,billy tends to shout a lot too.

[The Last Word]

Though I can't be certain, I understand Tarbuck, Dodd and Black all come from deeply conservative areas of Liverpool. Then again, Dodd's now famous approach to handling money was perhaps a pointer to something troubling (Love the Manning gag: Doddy went in for surgery. They cut him open and found ten grand.)