The Big Sin

‘WHEN he’s not appearing on Michael Parkinson’s chat show and telling the world about his childhood, Billy Connolly performs as a comedian on stage.

Bearded extremist calls for hostage to be killed

His show – a mixture of talking about his experiences in conversation with Michael Parkinson and his childhood in Glasgow – is a sensation.

But at one recent performance he departed from the tried and tested routine and tried out a new gag.

Speaking at the Carling Apollo in Hammersmith, the Sun hears the star turn address the case of Ken Bigley.

“Aren’t you the same as me, don’t you wish they’d just get on with it?” he asked the audience.

“What is it with him and that young Asian wife?”

Certainly this is hilarious stuff and will form a major part of Connolly’s set the next time he’s interviewed by his good pal Michael Parkinson.

But to some of the more touchy-feely elements with sense-of-humour bypasses it smacked of being obnoxious, cheap and prattish.

“You’re talking about a man’s life, Billy,” says one voice from the crowd.

But Connolly is too experienced and long in the beard to let a heckler shoot him down, and quick as a flash and employing the full range of his comic genius he improvised the brilliant retort: “F**k off.”

Something he will be talking about in conversation with Michael Parkinson sometime soon…’

Posted: 6th, October 2004 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink