THE BIG YIN ON Parkinson’s has got me and will end me.. but I’m OK with that
Says BILLY CONNOLLY
THE big banana boots he wore when he found fame in the 70s have long been a museum piece in his native Glasgow – and Sir Billy Connolly performed his last stand-up comedy gig in 2017.
He was forced to stop touring by ill health. As he put it after being diagnosed in 2013: “I’ve got Parkinson’s disease. I wish he’d f***ing kept it.”
Nowadays, The Big Yin is happy to spend his time out of the spotlight, fishing from the dock of his home in the Florida Keys, writing his autobiography and enjoying a new-found love of art.
And in a new documentary 78-year-old Billy speaks about this “new lease of life” and reflects on his last stage performances in the 2017 High Horse tour.
He says: “It was obvious from my movement, that I wasn’t who I used to be. And so I had to explain it.. just to say that I am not defined by it.
“It’s got me and it will get me and it will end me, but that’s OK with me.
“I started low and I ended high. Just staying up there, until it is time to stop, seems a natural and good thing to do. It is a good thing to be proud of, I wanted to be a funnyman and I got it.”
Looking straight into the camera as if talking to his audience one last time, he says: “It’s been a pleasure talking to you all those years.
“From the beginning when I was a folkie, right through, I couldn’t have done anything without you. You have been magnificent.”
Billy began his stand-up career in 1971, after a spell working as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards and then singing and playing banjo with the Humblebums folk group, which he founded with singersongwriter Gerry Rafferty.
He credits a 1975 appearance on Michael Parkinson’s BBC chat show with “changing his life”, catapulting him to global fame and a career in comedy that earned him a knighthood in 2017.
Sir Billy’s career on the road was cut short when Parkinson’s meant he could no longer remember his stories in the way he used to.
Confirming he will never do another show, he says: “I’ve done my stand-up. I did it for 50 years. I did it quite well. And it is time to stop.
“My illness, my Parkinson’s disease, has rendered me dif ferent. It would either mean renewing what I do and doing something else, or give up what I did and that’s what I’ve done.
“Why do I like to make people laugh? Because it is a jolly thing. It is good for you and it is good for them. It is a dynamite thing to be able to do, to get a laugh out of someone.”
And making people laugh with routines such as The Crucifixion
He wants to fish and to sit on his dock in Florida PAMELA STEPHENSON ON HUSBAND BILLY’S LIFE
and the Jobbie Wheecha, and songs such as If It Wisnae’ Fur Yer Wellies and his version of the Tammy Wynette hit D.I.V.O.R.C.E., earned him millions of fans, who rightly consider him the greatest-ever stand-up comedian.
His wife, Pamela Stephenson, admits that t can be stressful.
In the ITV programme, Billy Connolly: It’s Been A Pleasure, she says: “It is a bit of a responsibility to be b married to someone who is so universally u loved.”
Pamela, 71, takes that responsibility seriously and the couple, who w wed in 1989 and have three daughters, moved to Florida from New N York so he could slow down.
She says: “His health is actually great. The move to Florida has been b fantastic for him,
“There is far less stress than when w we were living in New York.
He is writing his autobiography, so that is very exciting. He loves to draw. He goes into his studio space and comes out with something incredible.
“What he wants to do now is take it easy. He wants to fish. He wants to sit on his dock in Florida and enjoy the sunshine and watch television and drink tea and eat biscuits. “That’s what he wants to do.” Billy, who says the autobiography is coming along “slowly”, says: “Drawing has given me a new lease of life, I managed to get pictures together and people like them which surprises me and amazes and delights me. It is a lovely thing to do with yourself.”
The programme also features tributes from stars such as Sir Paul McCartney, 78, and Sir Elton John, 73.
Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman, 83, cries as he says: “Billy is the one and he is the only. I want him to be around for a long, long time.”
And comic Lennyenny Henry, 62, says:
“He was fearless, utterly fearless. There is so much material out there that he will be ever present I think. There aren’t many that leave a mark.”
Elton, who once had Billy on the bill as a support act during a US tour, says: “He was definitely the first rock star of comedy. He stands there for three hours and you don’t stop laughing.
“There is no one like him, he is a raconteur. He has had an incredible life and when he looks back he will be incredibly proud of what he has done.”
After listeninglistenin to their tributes, Billy ttells them: “I am very toutouched, but remember I aam happy where I am and it’s because of you and what you made of mmy life. I’ve got no complaintscompla at all.”
FANS Elton and Paul
The programme features clips of his best stage routines and appears much more upbeat than another sombre show he made for the BBC, called Made In Scotland, in January 2019.
In that programme, he said on screen: “My life, it’s slipping away and I can feel it and I should. I’m 75, I’m near the end. I’m a damn sight nearer the end than I am the beginning.
“But it doesn’t frighten me, it’s an adventure and it is quite interesting to see myself slipping away.”
His words were misinterpreted, fans thinking he was telling them he was dying, and he had to post a video online to make it clear he was not as close to death as it may have sounded.
Playing his banjo, he responded by singing: “Not dying, not dead, not slipping away.
“Sorry if I depressed you. Maybe I should have phrased it better.”
Billy Connolly: It’s Been A Pleasure, ITV, Monday, December 28 at 9.30pm.
He was the first rock star of comedy. There is no one like him, he is a raconteur SIR ELTON JOHN ON COMEDY LEGEND BILLY CONNOLLY