Parky, a Glaswegian cabbie and a fare that made the Big Yin
IT was a pivotal television moment that helped propel a former Clyde shipyard welder to a glittering show business career.
But chat show host Michael Parkinson has revealed Billy Connolly actually owes his first major UK television appearance to a persuasive Glasgow taxi driver.
Parkinson had never heard of the comic when he visited Glasgow in 1975.
On his way back to the airport, the driver badgered him to have Connolly on his show.
And when he heard the comic he was so impressed it sparked the first of 15 appearances by Connolly on his programme, helping propel him to national and then worldwide fame.
Speaking at an event in Sussex, Parkinson said: ‘In 1975 I’d just done a book about George Best and we were in Glasgow flogging it. We were picked up by a taxi driver to take us back to the airport.
‘So we get in and the driver says to me, “Have you heard of The Big Yin?”
‘I said “No, what’s The Big Yin?” He said “The Big Yin is Billy Connolly, he’s your man. You should put him on your show, he’s hilarious”. ‘I said: “Fine...airport please!”.’ However, the driver was not content to leave the matter there.
Parkinson added: ‘He then stopped at a parade of shops and came out with an LP with Billy on the front with banana boots on, the hair and all that stuff.
‘He said, “Play that and I feel sure I’ll see him on your show”.’
The broadcaster forgot about the record until his son played it to him – but he was impressed enough to invite Connolly onto his show.
Connolly, whose unique brand of humour was forged amid the poverty and hardship of his early life in the slums of Glasgow, was little known outside his home city at the time. But the comedian’s appearance on Parkinson – which included his infamous joke about a man’s macabre yet practical reason for burying his wife facedown – made him a household name across Britain.
Parkinson added: ‘He’s still working. He is without doubt the funniest man I’ve ever come across.
‘He made me laugh more than anybody else I’ve ever seen.
‘It’s sad that all that energy, that vibrant side of him...it’s all gone now because of the illness that he has.’
Connolly, who is battling Parkinson’s disease and has also suffered prostate cancer, recently admitted he was not sure if he would ever perform on stage again.
The comedian, who will be 75 next month, was knighted for his services to entertainment and charity in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, 14 years after he was made a CBE.