Billy Connolly launches man bag range He's one of Britain's best-loved comedians and now Billy Connolly is branching into fashion. But as fans would expect of the wacky stand-up, he doesn't take take himself too seriously with his range of clothing and households goods. Items on sale from the 70 year old comedian's website, www.billyconnolly.com, include man bags, T-shirts and hats.
Funny man: Billy Connolly's range includes the
£4.50 man bag, featuring himself in the Leonardo Da Vinci
'Vitruvian Man' drawing
The merchandise includes images of
the bearded actor or lines from some of his most popular jokes, such as
'too old to die young' and 'never trust a man who, when left a lone with
a tea cosy doesn't try it on'. Source (including photos): Daily Mail
Also reported (with different images and more information) by Scotsman
Billy Connolly's art work at the Castle Fine Art on The Promenade in Cheltenham
Comedian Billy Connolly's art work is coming to a Cheltenham gallery.
Ink drawings from the BAFTA nominated actor, comedian, musician
and presenter will be hanging his work at the Castle Fine Art on The
Promenade.
His collection of six prints is his second foray into the world
of contemporary art and is influenced by his filming of The Hobbit.
Billy Connolly's trike goes on display at North-east museum
A trike used by comedy legend Billy Connolly is the star attraction at
a Grampian Transport Museum as it gets set to celebrate its 30th
anniversary.
Fri 3 May & Sun 5 May, 8pm
Tickets on sale Fri 15 Feb at 10am Billy Connolly, the greatest stand-up comedian of his generation,
brings his “The Man Live Tour” to Ireland this April & May!
Billy Connolly is a stand-up comedian, actor, musician, TV presenter and artist.
After an apprenticeship as a welder in his hometown of Glasgow, he
became a professional performer in 1962, forming “The Humblebums” band
with Gerry Rafferty, before pursuing a solo career as a comedian.
Aside from starring in numerous films and TV series, Billy has toured
worldwide continuously for the last 50 years, performing to an audience
of over 10,000,000. Billy was awarded a CBE in 2003, was given the
Freedom of the City of Glasgow in 2010 and received the BAFTA in
Scotland Outstanding Contribution to Television and Film Award in 2012.
Perhaps best known for his moving performance as the loyal servant John
Brown in the highly acclaimed MRS. BROWN, Connolly’s other film credits
include GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE, FIDO,
GARFIELD 2, LEMONY SNICKET: A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, THE LAST
SAMURAI and TIMELINE. His previous film credits include Peter
Kosminsky’s WHITE OLEANDER, Troy Duffy’s THE BOONDOCK SAINTS and the
sequel ALL SAINT’S DAY, Stephen Metcalfe’s BEAUTIFUL JOE and Barry
Levinson’s AN EVERLASTING PIECE, Stanley Tucci’s THE IMPOSTORS, CROSSING
THE LINE with Liam Neeson, the Muppet movie version of TREASURE ISLAND,
GABRIEL AND ME, GENTLEMAN’S RELISH and THE MAN WHO SUED GOD, as well as
the acclaimed BBC productions DOWN AMONG THE BIG BAD BOYS and THE LIFE
AND CRIMES OF DEACON BRODIE. His voice is also featured on the animated
films POCAHONTAS, OPEN SEASON and the Disney Pixar animation BRAVE. He
has recently appeared in QUARTET, directed by Dustin Hoffman, as well as
the three-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE HOBBIT, directed by
Peter Jackson.
On television, Billy featured in HEAD OF THE CLASS, which was later spun
off into his own series, BILLY. He hosted BILLY CONNOLLY’S WORLD TOUR
OF SCOTLAND, a six-part series documenting a tour of his homeland, a
theme continued later in his World Tours of New Zealand, Australia and
England, Ireland and Wales. More recently, Billy has hosted television
series JOURNEY TO THE EDGE OF THE WORLD and ROUTE 66. Other specials
include PALE BLUE SCOTTISH PERSON, A SCOT IN THE ARCTIC, THE BIGGER
PICTURE and AN AUDIENCE WITH BILLY CONNOLLY. Connolly has also made
various television guest appearances, most notably in the U.S. series
HOUSE M.D. as well as COLUMBO, THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN and VERONICA’S
CLOSET.
Please note there will be no support at this gig.
Tickets €50/€55* limited to 4 per person.
On sale Fri 15th Feb at 10am.
*Booking fees may apply
10 Things You'll See In The Hobbit 2 And 3
What to expect when you're on an unexpected journey
9. Billy Connolly Riding A PigYes,
you read that right. It appears that Dain Ironfoot, the
tougher-than-tungsten lord of the dwarves of the Iron Hills, will rock
up to the Battle of the Five Armies astride a combat-hog.
“I ride into
war on a wild pig!” Billy Connolly told Vulture last year.
Richard Taylor seemed to confirm this while speaking to Empire shortly
before Christmas, when he said, “It’s been great fun designing a
dwarfish army - what they might wear, what they might ride into battle,
all that stuff.”
The fact he’s sat on the back of a war-ready oinker
won’t be the only eye-opening thing about Connelly’s Dain. “They’re
broadening me, making me wider,” added the actor. “I have a mohawk and
tattoos on my head. Let me say, this guy will terrify the life out of
you.”
Billy Connolly talks Quartet: 'Dying is easy, but staying alive is quite difficult'
Billy Connolly
In his latest film role, Billy Connolly plays a womanising former opera star.
Quartet, set in a nursing home for retired opera singers,
features a host of British stars including Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Tom
Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Sir Michael Gambon and Sheridan Smith.
The film marks the directorial debut of Hollywood actor
Dustin Hoffman, who describes the story as being about people in their
"third act".
Comedian Connolly, 70, talks about Hoffman's skills behind
the camera, and how he was made to look older to play the role of Wilf.
Didn't Dustin Hoffman think you looked a bit youthful?
I'm
the right age, but I don't look wrinkly and I don't have a comb-over
and I'm not bald. Being hairy and bearded, I didn't fit - but, at the
end of the day, they put me through the wrinkle machine.
Wilf is a horny old guy, trying to stay alive. He's single
and he's randy and he would like a cuddle from time to time, and there's
nothing wrong with that, I think.
How did Dustin Hoffman get you involved in the film?
I actually thought we were going to do [Samuel Beckett play] Waiting
for Godot. I'd read it and found it impenetrable and then I went to see
it in London and loved it, so I couldn't wait. When I met Dustin in LA
after Route 66 [TV documentary] he said: 'Are you on the same number?
I've got a thing for you' - and I thought 'This is it - this is Godot.'
He was waiting for Albert Finney [to play Wilf] but Albert
wasn't very well, so he came to me, which was a great compliment. He
wrinkled me up and off we went!
What is it like being directed by an actor?
It's
much better than being directed by writers. Most of them rightly think
their words are carved in marble, and they obviously think it's
important you get all the commas in the right place. An actor doesn't
normally think that - he can see shortcuts to making the point. When you
get an actor as director you get the best of both worlds.
What is the overall message of the film?
Stay
young. Me? I'm 37! I haven't changed my attitude to things since I was
37. I like asking people what age they think they are - some of them
are 28, and 34, and some are 40. Stay there! That's when you were happy
and healthy. Stay there and it'll do you good. It'll feed you and keep
you alive.
Dying is easy. You just lie down, but staying alive is quite
difficult - you have to stay interested and stay in touch with
everything.
Who do you think will be the audience for this film?
Now
that I have no idea. When people hear "old" and "old folks' home" they
might stay away from it. That part of the movie company is going to have
to work very, very hard to get the audience because the people who come
and see it all love it - and they are all ages.
Do you detect a change in the film industry about the portrayal of older characters?
I
think it's all about carrying Maggie Smith shoulder high! I think she's
going to single-handedly save the old actors of the world.
I think people are getting back to the old way of making
movies. If you look at the movies of the 1930s and 40s there's no young
people in them. And then in the 50s they invented this thing called the
teenager and stuck him in everything.
It became the norm to have that kind of person as the lead -
and the more mature actor in the background. But I think they are
getting back to making movies that resemble life pretty generally. Quartet is out in the UK on 1 January 2013.
Source (including photo): BBC (includes video interview)
The Review Show with Billy Connolly
The comedian discusses his role in Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut Quartet, his relationship with his father and his feelings about independence for Scotland.
Listen to the interview here (The Guardian)
Mo 1/7: Billy Gardell, Krysten Ritter
Tu 1/8: Billy Connolly, Meghan Rath
We 1/9: Steven Wright, Genesis Rodriguez
Th 1/10: Tim Allen, Margaret Cho
Fr 1/11: Julie Chen, Angela Kinsey
Mo 1/14: Jenna Elfman, Guillermo Del Toro
Tu 1/15: Lena Dunham, Bill Pullman
Digital Spy Exclusive: 'Quartet': Billy Connolly hits on Sheridan Smith in new clip
Dustin Hoffman's Quartet has debuted a new clip exclusively on Digital Spy.
The footage has Billy Connolly's former opera singer Wilfred Bond hitting on Sheridan Smith's character without success.
Quartet stars Dame Maggie Smith as famed opera singer Jean
Horton, whose appearance at the Beecham House home for retired musicians
is not entirely welcomed by her former singing partners and ex-husband
Reginald Paget (Tom Courtenay).
She insists on claiming all the
attention by playing the diva, all the while refusing to perform in the
annual concert in celebration of Verdi's birthday.
Hoffman, who
makes his directorial debut with the film, was honoured with the
'Hollywood Breakthrough Director Achievement Award' at the 16th annual
Hollywood Film Awards in October for his work on the movie.
Quartet received a standing ovation when it debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
The film will release on January 1, 2013 in the UK and January 4, 2013 in the US.
Billy Connolly: My family values The actor and comedian talks about coming to terms with his children growing up and the joy of being a grandparent Elaine Lipworth, The Guardian, Saturday 22 December 2012
Billy Connolly: 'All my kids are quite funny.' Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
I am a kind of Victorian father. I haven't caught up with the mood of the age yet, although I look and speak as though I have. I still care about all my children
[he has four girls and a boy], and worry about my girls and always make
sure they are on the right lines. When we're crossing the road, I go,
"Righto, here we go!" as if they're six years of age. Amy, who is 24,
has her own apartment. But the other night she was going out from our
house and she said, "See you later," and I said, "Oh, when will you be
back?" She said: "I'm going to my apartment." I said: "Yes, but when'll
you be back?" She said: "I won't be back, I've got an apartment." I
went: "Oh, yeah." Pamela [Stephenson] is a much better parent than me
because she knows what's right and wrong, being a psychologist. She
knows a great deal more about behaviour than I do. I panic and get
worried about the girls and think: "Ahhh, something is wrong, she's out
too late!" Pamela just says: "Oh, at this stage she should be doing
that." But I think I'm also a product of my generation. As a family,
we are all very loving. We still kiss each other. Jamie's 42 and he
still kisses me good night. We've just got back from fishing in Mexico.
We were staying in two rooms, in a fishing lodge and at night we would
have a cigar and at the end of the evening, we'd say: "OK, you going to
bed? Good night, give us a kiss." It's very difficult bringing up the girls without
spoiling them because you sound like an old bore when you start saying:
"Oh, I had to finish every brussels sprout on the plate when I was a
boy." It's true though, I used to go to the movies and put my sprouts in
my pocket and pretend I had eaten them. I've stayed away from that kind
of behaviour towards them, but obviously we have lived well on my
earnings and I try my best to show them the value of things. But you
can't be too strict with them, because you just sound like a whinge-bag.
Anyway, spoiling them is buying them things in place of love, and
they've never been in that position. I'm a great family guy,
I'm all for keeping them all together and it's getting sad now because
the girls have got boyfriends and they don't want to come home for
Christmas. All that kind of stuff is sad, but you just have to get used
to it and grow up a wee bit. My children and I are pals and
allies, they're lovely. We all get on great. But I never carry
photographs of my wife and kids because they make me sad. I'm not one of
those guys who gets to the hotel room and puts the framed pictures up. I
really can't do it. Photos make you miss them more. Always tell the kids the truth.
When they ask where they come from, don't give them that gooseberry
bush nonsense, just tell them – they'll appreciate it much more. If they
say, "Did you take drugs?", if you did, say yes because they'll find
you out. And if you say, "I tried marijuana and I hated it, it was
horrible," and then they try it and it isn't horrible, they'll think you
were lying about marijuana and wonder whether you were lying about
heroin and could try that as well. I am totally open with my children. All my kids are quite funny.
They all really enjoy making me laugh. Scarlett works in an art gallery
in Soho here in New York, Cara is making documentary films and Amy is
studying to be an undertaker. She was working as a dress designer in Los
Angeles and she got fed up with it. She saw an advert for an intern in a
cemetery and she loved it the second she did it. It's the truth! She loves it. Pamela saved me without
being ruthless with me when I was drinking and smoking, by saying:
"Look, if you don't give up the way you're living, you're gonna die. And
I don't want to be there watching it when it happens." I haven't had a
drink for 28 years. With Pam, I discovered that you could not get away
with anything. When I married her I had to own up to everything, which
no one had ever asked me to do before. I learned to be honest with
myself, which was great. The character I play in Brave
– the dad – does a lot of shouting and thumping around and the mother
does the heavy work. And I've found that in my own life, I do a lot of
"this must be done and that must be done" but most of "it" is done by
Pamela. My marriage to her has lasted because she knows how to do
things. She knows much more than I do about technical stuff and how to
do practical things, who to phone when you need to get something done in
the house. I know bugger all. I swim along dreaming through life and
she allows me to do that. She has taken on the male role and I have
taken on what people used to think was the female role. It's brilliant being a grandfather.
My grandchildren – Walter is 12 and Barbara is 10 – are the best. When
you have children in the first place and you can see the genetics, you
see who they look like and it changes all the time. One day your son
looks like your wife, one day he looks like you. It's the same with
grandchildren. Cara burst out laughing the other day. I said, "What's
wrong?" She said, "Look at your feet." I was standing next to Walter and
I looked down and realised that our feet are identical. You'd think
they'd just been moulded in a shop. With grandchildren you understand
that the generations go on and on and on.
Lucy Kellaway talks to Billy Connolly
He has had Britain howling with laughter for decades. Now 70 and showing no signs of slowing down, the comedian opens up about getting old, forgiving his father – and the beauty of swear words
Billy
Connolly is standing with his back to the door, singing raucously to
himself. From behind, he looks slightly frightening – a mane of wild
white hair, a black T-shirt, black jeans and a big tattoo on his left
biceps – but then he turns and eyes me benignly through round
tortoiseshell glasses. I’m not sure who he reminds me of most: King
Lear, David Hockney or Ozzy Osbourne.
He invites me to sit, while he paces restlessly, checking the thermostat of the Soho hotel room.
Tell me about your hair, I say.
It is not the most obvious place to start with Scotland’s most famous
comic, film star, abused child, artist, former alcoholic and all-round
icon, but I’ve been taking lessons in how to interview him from a world
authority – Connolly’s wife, Pamela Stephenson.
I started by watching a clip of the couple’s first meeting on the set of Not the Nine O’Clock News
in 1979. Stephenson is wearing false teeth and pretending to be Janet
Street-Porter. She talks broad cockney; he talks broad Glaswegian. The
gag is that they can’t understand each other.
I
then watch a clip from just two years ago; this time Stephenson doesn’t
have false teeth, though she has false everything else: boobs, face
etc. No longer a comedian, she is a sex therapist and has installed her
husband on the couch to analyse him for her viewers’ entertainment.
She starts like this: “It seems to me that hirsuteness is quite important to you. Help me to understand why.”
This elicits a long answer about his need to hide, about being
himself, about being attractive, about the classlessness of hippies. But
when I ask him the same thing, he says: “It comes from an inability to
decide what to do with it between films, so I leave it alone.”
I point out that he didn’t say that to his wife.
“Didn’t I?” he says. “Ach, it depends what day of the week it is.”
The previous night Connolly was at the London premier of Quartet, a light comedy directed by Dustin Hoffman
set in a home for retired opera singers. He plays Wilf, an amiably
lecherous old geezer with short hair and clad in a tweed jacket. I say
the look suits him.
As retired singer Wilf in 'Quartet'
“Ach,” he says. “A lot of women said that last night, that I looked handsome. But I felt like a big Tory.”
The film is all about the indignities of ageing. But Connolly, who
turned 70 in November, tells me that he’s spent his life looking forward
to growing old (which sets him apart from Stephenson, who has paid
frequent visits to the cosmetic surgeon “because I want to be a babe”).
“I always wanted to be old as a wee boy,” he says, swinging his
cowboy-booted feet on to the coffee table. “We used to go to a swing
park and there were always loads of old men in the shed playing
dominoes. They always had knives – that’s what I liked about them. I
like old men very much.”
I protest that old men are surely no nicer than anyone else.
“Aye,” he says, changing tack. “I think young arseholes tend to become old arseholes.”
One of the difficulties with interviewing Billy Connolly is that he
says one thing one moment and another the next, his thoughts following a
curious pattern of their own.
So his mention of knives leads him to cigarette cards and from there
to self-defence and the body language of giving directions.
This ability to free-associate is part of his comic genius. Since he
started amusing his fellow welders in Clyde shipyards nearly 50 years
ago – he has never planned his performances, or written down a single
word. Instead, he meanders all over the place, laughing at his own jokes
as he does so, giving marathon performances that last up to four hours.
I wonder if he fears for his ability to go on doing it as he gets
older. In the film, his co-star Maggie Smith (“Oh God I love her, she
makes me scream with laughter”) plays a retired diva who is so upset at
no longer being able to reach the high notes she has renounced singing
altogether. Connolly says that when it comes to making people laugh, age
doesn’t matter.
“It’s nothing to do with ageing,” he says. “I remember in my
twenties, saying: f*** I hope it turns up tonight. If you look at Doddy –
Ken Dodd – he’s busier than most people I’ve ever known. Some people
accept that styles have changed and move along. Others say, f*** it I’m
out there, this is my trade and I’m going to practise it.”
But then he tells me that despite recent accolades – he’s been voted
the most influential British comedian of all time and has just been
given a Bafta lifetime achievement award – he finds the idea of
performing more alarming as he gets older. “Maybe I see the pitfalls and
threats more than I used to.” But when I ask what they are, he says
there aren’t any.
“I get great adoration, sometimes guys shake when they’re talking to
me. A man cried last night. I just put my hand on him and stroked him a
bit. He’d seen me in newspapers and films and on the stage and all that
and there he is talking to me and I’m talking back to him and he got
overwhelmed and his lip started to go. It’s weird, it’s lovely.” . . .
Not everyone, however, was so awed. Later on he says: “Last night a
guy got a bit iffy with me, you know, smart-arse about my performance.
He said I was less than good. You know how the British do that British
put-down thing that they think is funny?”
The Scottish comedian was not amused.
“I just turned and walked away in the middle of his sentence.”
This, it seems, is a trick he is getting into the habit of. Twice
during his last tour of Britain he stormed off stage in response to
heckling from the audience. When I mention this, Connolly waves his
hands dismissively.
“Generally it’s made into something it isn’t, it’s no big deal. I
wish journalists would just f***ing ask what it is and I would tell
them. Once I’ve done my two hours it’s my time. After [that] I don’t
want to be shouted at because I’m in a funny mental place.”
What is shocking – and almost sweet – about this is not that Connolly
is so sensitive to both his detractors and his fans – it’s that he’s so
unashamedly open about it. Suddenly I think of Wilf, who also lacks any
sense of propriety – though in his case it’s as a result of a stroke.
Connolly, it seems, never had one to lose, or if he did he quickly
figured out that a great living could be made by dispensing with it.
“I speak the way I think. I give it a voice. And other people will think one way and speak another.”
And what he thinks about, often, is the body.
“I blame myself for that,” he says. “About bums and willies and going
to the bathroom and venereal disease and all those things. That was the
level I came in ... I broke a lot of ground there.”
Since he went on Parkinson
in 1975 and told the joke about the man who killed his wife and buried
her with her bum sticking out of the ground so that he had somewhere to
park his bike – Britain has been howling with mirth at Connolly’s body
parts.
While he’s been delighting audiences with tales of his prostate exam,
Stephenson has been making a living telling tales of his emotions – and
has written two bestselling books chronicling them.
Doesn’t he mind, I ask, when she starts describing to everyone just
how he felt when his first wife – a recluse and an alcoholic – died? He
shakes his head. “Who better to tell it? Some f***ing journalist?”
Stephenson’s interpretation of Connolly is not always flattering: I
read something recently in which she said he was slightly autistic as
well as suffering from an attention deficit disorder.
“Did she?” He laughs fondly. “She’ll accuse me of anything. I don’t
think I’m autistic, but I do have attention deficit disorder.”
And then his mind is off on another excursion: he tells me that
Stephenson has just emailed him a list of all the different words for
depression, as he is planning to write a song in which the word “blues”
is replaced by synonyms. He laughs for a long time, delighted by the
idea. When he has stopped I ask if he suffers from the blues himself.
“Sometimes I plunge into it, headlong, but the clown with a tear is a
myth – that comedians are really dark and tortured and troubled.”
It’s odd that he says this, as he seems to fit the mould of damaged
comedian so perfectly. His mother walked out when he was four, he was
brought up by two wicked aunts, who used to hit him and rub his nose in
his soiled underpants, and he was later abused by his father.
“Well I come from a dark place but it doesn’t make me dark”, he says.
“My ambition was always to be as funny as ordinary people are; as the
regular working guys are.”
Yet for all of his admiration for the common man, Connolly has left
them long behind. He is a friend of Prince Edward and countless
celebrities, and owns three huge properties as well as a yacht. People
are always complaining that his swanking around is a betrayal of his
working-class roots.
“They’re just wankers,” he says. “That’s the press talking; they’re
talking shite as they usually do. I have deep, deep distrust of them. I
see them as my enemy. I’ve had years of experience of the vile f***ing
vitriol.”
It strikes me as strange that Connolly is so full of rage at
journalists (who as far as I can see have been more nice than nasty over
the years), but when you get him on to the subject of people who he has
real reason to hate – his father and mother for a start – he is all
mildness.
“Well I loved my father. I didn’t know my mother very well. I didn’t
meet her from when I was four until I was in my twenties,” he says
evenly, as if it was of no matter.
The reason he forgives them is partly thanks to a “wee book”.
“I think maybe Pam gave it to me. It said there’s no such thing as
hate, there’s only love and fear. I forgave my father for all that had
gone on and it took a huge load off me. It was like having a rucksack
taken off your back.”
This sounds like psychobabble to me. History shows that there is such a thing as hate.
“Well it manifests itself as hate but I think it’s based on fear and sometimes it’s encouraged by the f***ing Daily Mail.” . . .
Thus far in the interview he has said the f-word 27 times, but
instead of finding it repetitive or limiting, I like it. On his lips the
word is both funny and melodic.
“It’s also rather beautiful,” he says. “In sport, you say he whacked
it into the top right, it was f***ing beautiful. There’s no English word
to replace that.”
So why do people go on being shocked by the f-word?
“Because they’re middle-class wankers.”
And then he says: “In America they seem to have just discovered Kant.”
This strikes me as a strange turn for the conversation to have taken.
But then I realise he didn’t say that: we are still on obscenities.
“I went to see a movie the other night, Seven Psychopaths, which you must see, it’s f***ing great, and they use it brilliantly, you c***. They’ve got it right at last.”
He then starts on an inspired rant about
how the c-word never appears on its own. “Usually it’s a something c***. Like, she’s a nasty c*** that one.”
My time is nearly up, but before it is I want to ask him about his
newest accomplishment – drawing. Earlier this year there was an
exhibition of his work, including a rather nice picture of a mummified
woman in a belted dress with two heads.
I ask what I’d have to pay to own it.
“I’m not talking about that. I don’t talk about money. It’s vulgar.”
But isn’t that rather middle class?
“Money’s a boundary because it makes people feel inadequate when they shouldn’t.”
Yet for all that Connolly isn’t scared of flaunting it. As well as
the yacht and the houses in New York and in Malta, he owns a castle in
Scotland called Candacraig. This is now available for hire to corporate
groups, who for nearly £4,000 a night can enjoy an orgy of tartan and
try to imagine the presence of the many Hollywood celebrities that the
website promises are regular visitors.
I can just about see the attraction from the guests’ point of view.
But I struggle to see why the owner would want corporate fat cats
sleeping in his bed and going through his bathroom cupboard.
“I don’t care about that,” he says. “I’ve told everybody all my secrets.” ‘Quartet’ is released in cinemas on January 4
Source (including photos): Financial Times
Scots comedy legend Billy Connolly in tears as he accepts BAFTA award
Kevin Bridges presented the Big Yin with the Outstanding Contribution in Television and Film award, and thanked him for being an inspiration to Scottish comedians.
Kevin Bridges and Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly sobbed as he received a Scottish Bafta award last night (10 Dec)
He was presented with a gong for an Outstanding Contribution in Television and Film by stand-up comedian Kevin Bridges.
Kevin
thanked Billy for being a inspiration to generations of Scots comics
and Billy replied: “This is a delightful thing, especially coming from
Scotland.
“I’ve been nominated for loads of things and got b*****
all. I occasionally get these good attendance things, like the guy in
remedial class getting a prize for being kind.
“Genuinely, to get this from Scotland, I almost say it breaks my heart. It just hits me somewhere where I live.”
As Billy burst into tears, the crowd in Glasgow’s Fruitmarket applauded wildly.
He
continued: “I don’t know what to do now. It’s been a real pleasure to
talk to you. I guess you only get these things once … but could we meet
every second week?”
The presentation came at the end of a
90-minute discussion about Billy’s Life In Pictures alongside a few
dodgy jokes about thalidomide and the Gorbals.
The Big Yin talked about his roles in films such as 1978’s Absolution with Richard Burton and Mrs Brown with Judi Dench.
Of Burton, he said: “The funny thing was, I was drunk and he was sober.
“They shot the graveyard scene from the back and what you couldn’t see was him singing I Belong to Glasgow.
“He was a priest and I showed him where the pocket was in the cassock for his fags.”
Mrs
Brown also left a big impression. Billy said: “At one point, I thought
that Judi Dench fancied me. She kept giving me the eye in one scene and I
thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ I danced about more and she started
doing it again.
“It was getting worse and then it dawned on me that she was being Queen Victoria, so I fancied her back.”
Billy admitted he was disappointed to miss out on a Bafta for Mrs Brown – instead it went to Ewan McGregor for Trainspotting.
He said: “Ewan beat me with that filth about drugs in Edinburgh – and that language, too.
“I hate Ewan for beating me. When you get beaten by somebody you like, it’s worse. “
However, Billy said he never likes to watch himself and branded method acting as “pretentious c**p”.
And he admitted he sometimes calls his wife Pamela Stephenson for acting tips when he is on the film or TV set.
He also confessed he wasn’t a fan of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit before he starred in the film.
Billy said: “I hadn’t read The Hobbit and don’t like people who have. They’re not my cup of tea.”
He said two of his favourite current comedians are Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey.
But he added: “Most of the others are Americans and Robin Williams beats everybody when it comes to sheer invention.”
Billy Connolly Interview - The British Independent Film Awards 2012
Published on Dec 9, 2012
Stefan Pape from HeyUGuys interviews acting royalty and comedy legend Billy Connolly at the 2012 British Independent Film Awards
Source: YouTube
The Big Yin expounds on Chaucer’s fart jokes, speaking Dwarvish and the irreplaceable f-word
By Matthew Love
Wed Dec 5, 2012
Billy Connolly
Photograph: Tony Lyon
Few can match Billy Connolly’s reach and longevity in the
entertainment industry. After a short-lived folk music career, the Scot
turned his attention to comedy full-time; he’s remained a wildly popular
international presence for 40 years, while compiling a massive catalog
of stand-up specials that showcase his rowdy storytelling skills. He’s
also become a documentary producer and a reliable character performer in
films such as Brave and the upcoming The Hobbit. TONY spoke to the NYC resident the day after he received an award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Congratualations on your BAFTA award. What does it mean?
I think I should die now. Or retire. I think these lifetime achievement ones are gentle hints that you should bugger off.
You play a dwarf in the new Peter Jackson movie, The Hobbit. Did you approach this differently than you would playing a man?
Well, you have to speak Dwarvish. So you can’t help but approach it differently.
So you’ve picked up a new language?
No,
I’ve already forgotten my line. Well, I had about four lines, but
they’re all along the lines of “Come on, lads, let’s show them what
for!” I have the best line in the movie, but I’m not allowed to tell
you. James Nesbitt [the Irish actor who plays fellow dwarf Bofur] was
seething with envy.
Your energy during your stand-up sets doesn’t seem to have diminished with age. How do you explain that?
I
haven’t a clue. I’ve gone on sick and come off well. I’ve gone on sick
and remained sick after the show was over. I had a virus in Australia
and I couldn’t cancel—it was the Sydney Opera House—and I had to stop
and go for a pee. I told them, “I have this virus and it makes me pee a
lot. Oh ho, pee time.” I went offstage and peed in a bucket—so we miked
the bucket.
Paradoxically, you address crowds in an intimate way. How do you envision them?
I
try very hard to unite them all as one big animal, as though I’m
speaking to them in a bar. I’ve never had difficulty communicating with
strangers. In fact, I rather like them—some of them turn out to be the
most interesting of people. If you stick to cigar smokers, fly fishers
and banjo players, you can’t go wrong—a bit dodgy on the banjo player
front, but most of them are nice.
How do American audiences compare with others around the world?
I
find them rather nice and badly spoken of by people who know nothing
about them. I think Americans generally are. Look at what you’ve given
the world, for crissakes: rock & roll and Hank Williams, jazz and
Chuck Berry. Holy fuck, you can retire on that!
When you perform here, do you find people listen differently?
No,
but I thought they would have trouble with my accent. If I use obscure
language, they’ll have a problem with it. I’ll be raging and I’ll say,
“A sleekit old bastard”—sleekit means, eh, untrustworthy—and then I’ll explain it to them. Skunner
is another one: a repulsive person who makes you physically ill, like
someone who chews with their mouth open. There’s a lot of lovely ones.
The best Americans have to offer these days is douche bag.
But you know, I love douche bag. [Laughs] The one I love also is doofus. I think it’s a beautiful word with a friendly ring to it. A doofus to me is an overweight, clueless guy, but likable.
This
reminds me of your list of childish things you say men never get over:
knickers, bums, farts and so on. Why do you think that’s so?
In
Britain, we’ve taken great joy and pride in vulgarity since the days of
Milton and Chaucer talking of farting and belching. There’s a thing
that really irritates me when some pretentious prick posing as a
comedian says, “Fart jokes,” then looks down his nose as if they were
easy to do and then goes on to tell you about Kierkegaard. Go fuck
yourself.
Ten years ago, you prided yourself on your computer illiteracy. How has that changed in the intervening decade?
Not
at all. I Amazoned two things today and it was the first time I’ve ever
bought something—if indeed I have. Maybe if they had invented brand-new
words to go along with [computer technology], but a lot of the words
they use have old meanings and they don’t relate to the new meanings.
Well, what’s nice about English is that you can simply turn a noun into a verb, like you did with Amazon.
Yes. [Pause] I hadn’t even realized I’d done that! [Laughs]
You’ve had a long relationship with the word fuck—
Oh, yes!
As it becomes more mainstream over time, do you feel protective or are you proud of it?
Where
I was born, it was part of the mainstream. Scottish author James Kelman
has lots of swearing in all of his books, and when he was interviewed
in one of those British Sunday supplements he said, “If you can give me
the English equivalent of fuckin’ beautiful, I’ll write it down.” I was
watching Barcelona play football last night and they did some things
that were fuckin’ beautiful, you know? There’s no equivalent.
I
often think of what Tommy Tiernan said: “The English language is a
brick wall between me and the audience, and fuck is my chisel.”
That’s nice. A little pretentious, but nice. He’s Irish, you know; they try so hard.
Billy Connolly Celebrates His 70th Birthday with Conan
Comedy legend Billy Connolly paid a visit to Conan last night (26 Nov). The
Scotsman turned 70 over the weekend, and he got to celebrate the
milestone on the show. And by celebrate, I mean complain about his age
and talk about all of the weird things that are happening to his body,
which is how one celebrates every birthday from 70 on.
Billy Connolly is still going strong at 70Fellow comedians and friends pay tribute to Billy Connolly as he turns 70
He is the Scots legend who made his name with a banjo, a pair of banana boots and a place to park a bike.
But as Billy Connolly celebrates his 70th birthday today (24 Nov), he shows no signs of slowing up.
Named
earlier this year by modern stand-ups as the most influential comic of
all time, he is as loved by young stars as by veterans.
Billy went
from shipyards to folk music to comedy and his career took off after an
appearance on the Michael Parkinson show in 1975 – when he told a gag
about a man who buries his wife and uses a part of her anatomy as a bike
stand.
Pals and fans tell Brian McIver of their admiration for the Big Yin.
Read more at Daily Record
Billy Connolly wins Outstanding Contribution award at Scottish BAFTAs
Scots comedian Billy Connolly was honoured at the Scottish
BAFTAs for his Outstanding Contribution to Television and
Film.
'The Big Yin' couldn't attend the ceremony at Glasgow's Radisson Blu
hotel, but actor Brian Cox was still delighted to be making the
announcement – if a little surprised.
"I'm shocked actually," Cox said on the red carpet. "I thought Billy
had probably already got something here. So I was a wee bit taken aback
that they hadn't honoured him before.
"Once you've seen Billy on stage and you've seen him perform he's
unbeatable. And he started it all. Every comedian today owes something
to Billy. I'm sorry he's not here, but I'm glad he's working."
Connolly couldn't accept the award in person because he was working
in San Francisco, but said before the event: “I’m really pleased and
proud to receive this trophy from BAFTA in Scotland, because I know you
probably think we luvvies get shiny prizes all the time. But actually,
sometimes we don’t."
Among Connolly's many film and TV credits are The Man Who Sued God, Mrs Brown and Brave.
He also regularly presents travel programmes and is due to appear in The Hobbit: There and Back Again. Brian Cox added: "It's a great honour for me, and it's a great honour
for Billy Connolly to have something presented by me… I'm only joking."
On December 10, an event will be held in Glasgow exploring Connolly's life in pictures*, with tickets available from the BAFTA website nearer the time *
Source (with video): STV
Billy Connolly's acceptance speech can be seen here
A dram fine Baftas night for Angels’ Share as Scots film scoops awards
Paul Brannigan with his Best Actor award. Picture: PA
Whisky caper The Angels’
Share, its young star, Paul Brannigan, and rising film-maker Zam Salim
grabbed a share of the glory from Billy Connolly at tonight’s Scottish
Bafta ceremony in Glasgow.
The screenplay for director Ken Loach’s Cannes
prize-winning heist movie won the best writer gong for his regular
collaborator, Paul Laverty.
The best actor award went to
Brannigan, who was plucked from obscurity, while working on a
violence-reduction programme, by the veteran English director for the
lead role of a troubled young Glaswegian persuaded to stage a dramatic
raid on a distillery.
Brannigan had been competing with one of his co-stars, Siobhan Reilly, for the coveted prize.
BBC
Scotland won a huge boost after capturing the current affairs award for
its controversial documentary, Rangers, The Men Who Sold The Jerseys.
Among
the stars to attend the event – hosted by Edith Bowman – were Brian
Cox, Ewen Bremner, Siobhan Redmond, Rory Bremner and Neil Oliver.
Connolly,
who was awarded an outstanding contribution to film and television
Bafta, was unable to attend the event due to a previous commitment in
the United States.
But he recorded a video message, in which he
spoke of his pride at getting the award, telling the 500-strong
audience: “I left school with nothing, you know.”
Connolly, who is
due to make an in-person appearance at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow
next month, added: “Thank you very, very much, television viewers and
people of Bafta Scotland, for this wonderful, wonderful award. I really
appreciate it.
“I know you people think that we luvvies get prizes
every day, shiny things handed to us, but the last time I was up for a
Bafta prize in Scotland, I lost both of them, one to Ewan McGregor and
the other to Kaye Adams.
“I’m really sorry I can’t be there,
because I am in San Francisco doing some engagements, but I will be in
Glasgow in December and my heart is there all the time.”
Hollywood
star Cox, who made a tribute speech about Connolly in the
star’s absence, said: “An honour like this for Billy has been a long
time coming, he really should have been honoured well before now. As an
actor, he’s simply been getting better and better.”
Zam Salim
collected both the best director Bafta and best feature film prize with
his black comedy Up There, his first film, which was premièred at the
Glasgow Film Festival this year.
Stuart Cosgrove, the
broadcaster, writer, media pundit and TV executive, was honoured for a
career which saw him become head of programmes for the nations and
regions on Channel Four.
Rab C Nesbitt star Gregor Fisher beat off
competition from co-star Elaine C Smith to win the best TV actor award,
while Antiques Road Trip, which STV made for the BBC, scooped the best
factual entertainment programme award.
Brannigan said: “It’s a real honour to be here. It’s the proudest moment of my life, after the birth of my son.!
“I could never have imagined I’d be here in Glasgow on the red carpet.
“It’s bigger than Cannes, to be honest.”
Jude
MacLaverty, director of Bafta in Scotland, said: “The awards reflect
the sheer breadth of talent being generated in Scotland, and it’s great
to see so much of it celebrated tonight.”
Knit your own Billy Connolly Billy Connolly is one of several Caledonian legends features in a new book, Knit Your Own Scotland, by costume designers Jackie Holt and Ruth Bailey
Billy Connolly honoured for life's work Billy Connolly will receive the award at a public event in December.
Comedian Billy Connolly is being honoured with a lifetime achievement award by Bafta Scotland.
The 69-year-old, who is also an actor and musician, has been
hailed by the arts organisation as one of Scotland's most successful
talents.
He will be given the award for his outstanding contribution to television and film.
Connolly will not be at the ceremony on 18 November but a recorded message will be played on the night.
Instead, he will receive the award at a public event in December.
Connolly said: "I'm really pleased and proud to receive this
trophy from Bafta in Scotland because I know you probably think we
luvvies get shiny prizes all the time. But actually, sometimes we don't.
"I'm really sorry I can't be there because I'm in San Francisco doing some prior engagements.
"But in December I will be in Glasgow, where my heart is all
the time, doing a Bafta Life in Pictures event highlighting my film and
television work from over the years, which might be quite groovy."
The event in December will see Connolly discuss his life and
career which has spanned 30 films, numerous sell-out stand-up tours and
television series.
He is set to appear in Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut
Quartet and the much-anticipated The Hobbit, both to be released next
year.
Past recipients of the outstanding contribution award include Sir Sean Connery, Brian Cox and Robbie Coltrane.
Read more at BBC
Trailer for Dustin Hoffman's Quartet
The trailer for Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut, Quartet, is now online and you can check it out in the player below, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies.
Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay and Sheridan Smith star in the December 28 release.
Quartet tells the story of Reggie (Courtenay), Wilf (Connolly) and Cissy (Collins) who reside in Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers. Each year they stage a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday, which also raises funds for the home.
Reggie's ex-wife Jean (Smith) arrives at the home and creates tension,
playing the diva part but refusing to sing in the concert.
Source: Coming Soon
Dustin Hoffman's 'Quartet' cast draws laughs at London appearance
Comedian Billy Connolly and Downton Abbey star Maggie Smith entertained the crowd with jokes and banter here Monday as they answered questions about their roles in Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut Quartet ahead of the film's red carpet gala screening Monday evening. The screening was part of the BFI London Film Festival.
Hoffman's film, based on a stage play by Ronald Harwood that
the playwright himself adapted for the screen, details the story of a
group of retired opera singers in a retirement home whose annual concert
to celebrate composer Giuseppe Verdi's birthday is disrupted by the arrival of an eternal diva played by Smith and the former wife of one of the residents.
Smith, whose turn as the sharp-tongued countess Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey has
been a TV ratings hit in the U.K. and the U.S. alike, was at one point
asked if she knew that a sandwich seller with an outlet outside the
Venice Film Festival's main theater had named a sandwich after her. "Is
it ham?" she asked in response - a reference to an unskilled actor who
overacts.
Connolly, whose stand-up comedy routines led Hoffman to cast him in
his directorial debut, was up and running with humor from his first
question.
Asked how Hoffman was as a director, fellow ensemble cast member Pauline Collins described
him as a "dynamo and a darling," mostly because "it was clear he
understood actors." Connolly's immediate response was that he'd
forgotten the question in a playful reference to the themes of old age
in the film. "A nightmare – tantrums, long silences, inappropriate
touching," Connolly then said, before adding that Hoffman actually "was
excellent."
Hoffman jumped in to ensure that Connolly meant the director had provided "excellent touching."
When asked if she felt she started being asked to play "ageing women"
a little early on in her career and whether she minded or not, Smith
said she was "glad to get any work" and the fact "they're all 90 is
neither here nor there."
Hoffman added that he knew Smith was getting offers of other kinds of
film work all the time, noting she'd only last year turned down My Week With Marilyn.
Fellow ensemble cast members Tom Courtenay and relative youngster Sheridan Smith at 32 also joined in the fun.
Courtenay chimed in with an impression of Hoffman as a director and
the points during the shoot when he knew the debutant helmer was happy.
"Gorgeous, gorgeous take, that's in the movie," Courtenay said Hoffman
would bellow.
But one question drew incredulity from Connolly when he was asked if he felt more likely to be inappropriate as he got older.
"Are you kidding me on"?, Connolly said in his Scottish drawl. "I've
been accused of being inappropriate from day one. I have pretty much
said exactly as I please all my life. I wasn't just pretending to be
old."
On a more serious note, the cast members were asked if they thought
that a fresh genre of movie had been invented on the back of the
critical and boxoffice success of movies featuring older casts, such as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The King's Speech as well as TV shows, such as Downton.
"I think it is because a lot of grown-ups would like films [made] for
grown-ups about grown-ups. I can only hope that's correct," Smith said.
Hoffman and company also revealed that much of the dialogue in the
film came from the Oscar-winning actor making his cast feel free to
improvise. "It was openly encouraged and a very good idea," Connolly
said before adding a complaint that his best ad lib was left on the
cutting room floor.
Hoffman explained that when they were shooting, Connolly and
Courtenay's characters were meant to be watching a deer on the edge of
the forest in a highly-charged emotional scene.
Being "low-budget filmmaking," Hoffman said it ended up that the
separate CGI deer scene just didn't sit right with the other film
footage. Connolly's improv quip for the scene was: "Do you think he
knows how delicious he is."
The film will be released in the U.S. by the Weinstein Co., which is giving it an Academy-qualifying run on Dec. 28.
Source: Hollywood Reporter 'Quartet' review - BFI London Film Festival 2012
Director: Dustin Hoffman; Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood; Starring: Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Sheridan Smith, Michael Gambon; Running time: 90 mins; Certificate: TBC
Dustin Hoffman had a trial run behind the camera way back in 1978 for pet project Straight Time, but ended up as an uncredited director for the hard-hitting crime drama. Quartet, his first proper stab as a filmmaker, is an altogether more sedate and cosy affair.
It
takes place at Beecham house, a retirement home for musicians that
counts the likes of Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins
among its residents. Each year the house holds a concert to celebrate
composer Giuseppe Verdi's birthday, but their latest money-spinning
event is thrown into jeopardy when Reg's (Courtenay) ex-wife Jean Horton
(Maggie Smith) comes to live at Beecham.
Still nursing a broken
heart, Reg can't bear to face Jean, and it takes some cajoling from Wilf
and Cissy - all part of a classic Rigoletto recording back in
the day - to mend old wounds in the group. They're also not helped by
Jean's resistance to performing - she was a superstar in her youth and
believes she'll tarnish that memory by singing now.
Quartet has a warmth and charm that'll likely make it a firm hit with the same crowd that turned out for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
Both films were marked by flinty, terse performances by Maggie Smith,
with her characters (both needing hip replacements!) gradually warming
over time. Like Marigold, Quartet tackles ideas of ageing without pushing the story into too dark a direction.
The
film's greatest strength lies in the excellent performances from the
cast. Connolly provides much-needed light relief as ladies' man Wilf,
who describes himself to the in-house doctor (Sheridan Smith) as like
"vintage wine and seasoned wood". The likes of Michael Gambon and Andrew
Sachs also leave an impression in their fleeting roles.
Ronald
Harwood's script, based on his own stage play, occasionally betrays its
theatrical roots with some dense dialogue and reliance on the same
locations, but his story of the elderly finding a way to relive their
glory days is sure to cement this as a blue rinse favourite.
Source (with photos): Digital Spy
New banner artwork and White Council poster for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
There's just over two months to go until Peter Jackson takes us back to
Middle-earth for the first of his three-part adaptation of J.R.R.
Tolkien's classic Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit, and now the official Facebook page has released four new banners for the hotly-anticipated first installment, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which you can check out right here
Meanwhile, earlier this week a new promo poster also arrived online via Filmcells,
which gives us a look at White Council members Gandalf (Ian McKellen),
Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Saruman
(Christopher Lee) meeting in Rivendell.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
stars Martin Freeman in the
lead role as Bilbo Baggins, along with a huge ensemble cast that
includes Richard Armitage, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John
Callen, Billy Connolly, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow,
Peter Hambleton, Barry Humphries, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher,
Evangeline Lilly, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike
Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt,
Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner. Also
reprising their roles from The Lord of the Rings trilogy are Orlando
Bloom as Legolas, Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo Baggins, Elijah Wood as
Frodo Baggins and Andy Serkis as Gollum.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is released on December 14th,
while The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens on December 13th,
2013 and The Hobbit: There and Back Again concludes the saga on July
18th, 2014.
Scottish quote of the week: Billy Boyd on Hobbits and Scots
Scottish actor Billy Boyd was born in 1968 in Glasgow and is best
known for playing hobbit Peregrin “Pippin” Tookin in the film
adaptations of J.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings series.
Boyd worked
as a bookbinder for several years before embarking on his acting career,
and one of the books he bound was The Lord of the Rings.
The films were shot in director Peter Jackson’s
native New Zealand, a country whose landscape is often compared to that
of Scotland, and many of whose people are descended from Scots, lending
an extra dimension to Boyd’s comparison of Scottish people and hobbits:
“Hobbits are a lot like Scots. It’s all about nature and enjoying their land, which is a very Scottish thing” – Billy Boyd
Billy Connolly adds second night to Beacon Theatre engagement
Comedian Billy Connolly is so popular that he's been forced to add a second night to his previously announced one-night engagement at The Beacon Theatre. He will now be appearing at 8pm on December 6 in addition to his performance on December 7.
The show is Billy Connolly: The Man Live, an evening of the British star's uncensored, uncut, and unpredictable stand-up. Connolly, who has appeared Off-Broadway, is perhaps best known for his work on the TV series Head of the Class and as loyal servant John Brown opposite Judi Dench in the film Mrs. Brown. Upcoming films include Quartet and the two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
For more information and tickets to Billy Connolly: The Man Live, click here
Billy Connolly is Glasgow Commonwealth Games ambassador
Billy Connolly has been confirmed as the latest star name to become an ambassador for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The comedian and actor narrates a special animated film telling the story behind the games official mascot, which will be unveiled on Thursday.
He is the third ambassador to be named and joins cycling great Sir Chris Hoy and swimming legend Rebecca Adlington.
Connolly, a Freeman of Glasgow, said the games would be "a huge success".
Speaking ahead of the mascot launch at BBC Scotland's Glasgow headquarters, Connolly said: "I know that the people of Glasgow will enjoy the Games immensely, the whole of Scotland will.
"We are a nation that welcomes all visitors with a smiling face, the goodwill of Scots will stand forever, we will always have that."
The comedian said he believes that involving young people is key to the success of the games.
'Buzz created' "There is nothing more important than getting young people involved, without the youth of today creating a momentum behind an event, nothing is taken forward," he said.
"By engaging with children in the design of the mascot, a buzz has been created - you can feel the excitement for the games already."
Connolly also believes that Glasgow 2014 will have no problem recruiting up to 15,000 volunteers required to help stage the games and that the events will be well attended.
He said: "Glasgow is a great city of partakers. We love taking part in everything and for something as big as the Commonwealth Games, people will be coming out in their droves to spectate and volunteer, without question Glasgow 2014 will be a huge success.
"Glaswegians and Scots are great people for turning out and offering support to all individuals and teams - it will be no different in 2014."
Glasgow Commonwealth Games mascot unveiled A cheeky cartoon mascot called Clyde is to help spread the word about Glasgow's Commonwealth Games in 2014. The zip-sliding, street-dancing thistle, designed by a 12-year-old
schoolgirl, was yesterday unveiled as the official mascot for the games. Upstaging
Olympic heroes Michael Jamieson and Rebecca Adlington at the official
unveiling, Clyde has been described as "curious, confident and cheeky"
and comes with a backstory narrated by the world's best-known
Glaswegian, Billy Connolly. Read more at Herald Scotland
Billy Connolly: The Man Live to Play San Francisco
British
actor and comedian Billy Connolly will bring his show Billy Connolly:
The Man Live to San Francisco's Marines' Memorial Theatre for five
performances from November 27 to December 1.
Connolly is best known* for his work on the TV series Head of the Class.
He has appeared opposite Judi Dench in the film Mrs. Brown, and will
soon appear in the films Quartet and the two-part adaptation of J.R.R.
Tolkien's The Hobbit.
Click here for more information and tickets to Billy Connolly: The Man
Live.
Paul Brannigan with his Best Actor award. Picture: PA
