Cover story
As BILLY CONNOLLY marks 25 years of World Tours with a trip around Florida, he talks to Tv & satellite Week exclusively about fame, marriage and dancing naked…
The comedian looks back on his adventures in Billy Connolly’s Ultimate World Tour
NEW TRAVELOGUE
Billy Connolly’s Ultimate World Tour
Thursday, ITV HD, 9pm
IT’S NEARLY 25 years since Billy Connolly invited viewers to join him on the first of his World Tour travelogues, when he took us on a trip around his native Scotland.
To mark this milestone, Billy’s latest TV excursion is a guided tour of Florida – his new home – interspersed with clips from earlier globetrotting exploits, from dancing naked in the Orkneys to gazing in wonder at the Grand Canyon.
Tv&satellite Week caught up with the Big Yin for an exclusive interview to take a nostalgic look back on his life, career and travels…
YOU SHOW US AROUND FLORIDA, WHERE YOU LIVE, IN YOUR NEW SHOW. WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT LIFE THERE?
I like the weather, and the fact that nobody knows me. I get a degree of anonymity that really appeals to me and makes my life simpler.
HOW HAS TRAVEL CHANGED YOU?
Travel makes me miss my shoes. When you’re packing, the shoes suffer because they’re big and heavy. So I find myself missing shoes.
And my travel essential is cotton underwear – never take anything else or it’s torture!
WOULD YOU CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR CAREER?
No, it’s been a splendid career. It never came down or levelled off – it just kept climbing. Michael Parkinson’s chat show in the 1970s was enormous. And then working in America catapulted me into big-ness. But they had trouble understanding my accent…
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF YOUR WIFE, PAMELA STEPHENSON?
I first met her when I was taken down to meet the Not the Nine
O’clock News gang when they were rehearsing in London. They opened the door and she came flying past on a food trolley in a Superman position. I thought: ‘I like you…’
HAS SHE HAD A BIG IMPACT ON YOUR OUTLOOK ON LIFE?
Absolutely enormous. The first thing she said was: ‘Don’t talk so much at dinner – give the rest of the people a chance!’ She also taught me how to come down quicker after a concert – because I always used to go up. And then there was the booze…
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR STRANGEST ACTIVITY ON YOUR TRAVELS?
Dancing naked in the Orkneys – it was a bit chilly and nerve-racking. It’s not so much being naked as being the only one naked! You need to strip the crew down if you’re going to do it properly.
WHAT’S THE ODDEST THING YOU’VE EATEN ABROAD?
A witchetty grub. It was alive, so I had to bite its head off. I thought: ‘It’s not Blue Peter
– don’t just turn your nose up and say, “Ooh, it’s horrible!” Behave like an adult and just get on with it.’
HAVE YOU HAD ANY TRAVEL MISHAPS?
Once in St Andrews, when I was performing. I stepped onto the stage, slipped and fell on my mandolin, and broke the neck.
DO YOU HAVE LOTS OF SOUVENIRS?
I have thousands. I go to place them in the living room and my wife says: ‘That’s beautiful – it would look good in your room.’ So I’ve got a room full of tat. I need to hold a yard sale once a week.
HOW DID YOU FIND THE TRANSITION FROM STAND-UP COMEDY TO TV PRESENTING?
It came fairly naturally – the trick is to have a good crew who you can make laugh. In the early days I just stuck my neck out and talked about whatever I wanted to.
DO YOU THINK THE PEOPLE ARE AS IMPORTANT AS THE PLACES IN YOUR TRAVELOGUES?
The people can be the life and soul of your act. The trick is to listen. I’m not really in the business of doing interviews – I just want to talk to them and share a minute or two of their day. You get a lot more out of them that way.
ARE DIFFERENT THINGS EXPECTED OF YOU AS YOU GET OLDER?
I’ve never bothered with what’s expected of me. I just behave the way I think I should. Otherwise you become one of those beige showbiz people. All this: ‘It’s such a joy to be among you all…’ – what a load of b ****** s!
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE GLASGOW ACCENT AND SENSE OF HUMOUR?
The humour is a mixture of Jewish, Italian, Irish and Scottish, and the accent sounds very violent. I remember one guy telling me: ‘People making love in Scotland sound like dogs fighting.’ And I said: ‘Yes, and we’re very proud of it!’
HOW MUCH OF YOUR STAND-UP IS AD-LIBBED?
It varies from night to night. About 10 per cent of it would be brand new. The rest I would be hanging on to by the skin of my teeth, trying to remember it.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PEOPLE SHOUTING THINGS OUT DURING GIGS?
It always bothers me because if you’re doing it right, you speak to the audience and, say, two thousand people become one person. But when a person shouts they become two thousand again. I’ve always found hecklers to be cowards,
sitting in the dark shouting.