British Comedy Classics

Billy Connolly famously came from a working class background in Glasgow where he worked  as a welder and boilermaker, with thoughts of becoming first a folk singer and then as his comedic routines gradually became an integral part of his performance he would set his sights on becoming a stand up comedian.

In the late sixties Connolly teamed up with Gerry Rafferty as a folk duo called The Humblebums, they released a couple of albums that enjoyed cult status but not commercial success. When Rafferty left the duo to record a solo album, head of Transatlantic Records Nat Joseph who had signed the Humblebums, suggested that Connolly give up the singing and concentrate on the comedy.

In 1972 the album Billy Connolly Live! was recorded, the album was a mixture of funny songs and short monologues, but it was two years later in 1974 when the ‘live’ double album  Solo Concert was released that Connolly was propelled from local cult status to UK stardom.

Connolly’s unique observational humour would stretch the boundaries of stand up comedy in the seventies and onwards, nothing was too sacred or controversial to be included in his routine. Along with Jasper Carrott whose career had also started on the folk circuit, Connolly would re-shape stand up comedy by telling ‘true’ stories about real people and events that the public could easily identify with in their own lives.

Following his successful tour of Ireland, spread over three month’s in 2008, Billy Connolly will be returning to his native Scotland for the next round of his comedy tour. The ‘Big Yin’ will perform fifteen nights in Scotland running through September and into October, including six nights in Edinburgh to start the tour and finishing with seven nights in Glasgow.

This is a classic clip of  Billy Connolly on Comic Relief in 1986.

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