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Scottish comedian Billy Connolly says his life is "slipping away"

Mr Allen

Mr Allen

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Link.

He's Internationally famous having done stand up comedy all over the world including Australia and the USA.

This is very sad news, we saw him live at Sheffield City Hall in 2001, just after 9/11 and he was cracking jokes about it, hilarious! Literally pant wettingly funny.

Thoughts?
 
Rich, you asked for thoughts on this so here are mine. I think that it is incredibly insensitive to make jokes about a event that killed hundreds of innocent people.
 
Thousands in fact. I love the Big Yin - he's a major talent and a very funny man, but even the best of us get it wrong sometimes so it probably wasn't the best example.
Nonetheless, it's sad to hear. He comes from the same place as my mother in law and they both have Parkinson's so it's quite close to home for me.
 
A friend of mine, Captain Dan Brethal, NYFD, was killed on 911. Perplexed how you and your comedian found anything funny in it. Never heard of him however.
 
To be fair - I don't know if Rich might be getting a little confused as to where he heard it because it really doesn't sound like Billy's style. He's known for being irreverent, but never disrespectful in that manner, so I'm really quite surprised if indeed he did make jokes about that event. It was a huge shock to the whole world and I haven't seen any UK comedian (and I watch a lot) make light of it.
To be clear - there is no humour whatsoever to be gleaned from 9/11. It was one of the most horrific and tragic events the world has seen and I hope we never see it's like again.
 
To be fair he didn't joke about the events of 9/11 itself, just Osama bin laden etc, called him Bin Liner, and passed comment on all the Middle East Countries with Stan, like Afghanistan, Uzbekistan etc, could bin laden have been called Stan bin Liner.

He might be a bit controversial Billy, but even he knows not to go there with certain topics.
 
Never heard any of his stand-up monologues, though I rather liked Billy's portrayal as Tom Cruise's grizzled non-commissioned officer in "The Last Samurai".
 
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Mr Allen said:
To be fair he didn't joke about the events of 9/11 itself, just Osama bin laden etc, called him Bin Liner, and passed comment on all the Middle East Countries with Stan, like Afghanistan, Uzbekistan etc, could bin laden have been called Stan bin Liner.

He might be a bit controversial Billy, but even he knows not to go there with certain topics.
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Thanks for clearing that up. With so many Americans on this American owned forum, that was bound to ruffle feathers and it quite upset me too. Glad to know Billy didn't let me down.
 
Thinking about it, the only time I have ever heard a UK comedian even vaguely reference 9/11 was Michael Macintyre who did a routine about being in New York on 9/11 a few years after it happened and being being surprised everyone was going about their business and saw no signs of memorial services, until he asked someone who said "it was two months ago!"
The joke being about the difference in US & UK date conventions, 9/11 being 9th November on our calendar.. It's the only time I've heard it directly referenced in comedy in the UK and it didn't go near any form of disrespect for the tragedy itself.
 
I'll look that up. I've seen him doing stuff about bin Laden and the circumstances of his death and funeral, about the Saudis who committed the atrocity itself, and about GWB/TBs knee jerk response to it, but nothing I would consider disrespectful to the people who died or were affected by it. If you find a clip of it before me, PM me. I'm curious but I don't want anyone offended
 
Autistamatic said:
I'll look that up. I've seen him doing stuff about bin Laden and the circumstances of his death and funeral, about the Saudis who committed the atrocity itself, and about GWB/TBs knee jerk response to it, but nothing I would consider disrespectful to the people who died or were affected by it. If you find a clip of it before me, PM me. I'm curious but I don't want anyone offended
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Done
 
I did find reference to the two American, and one British, hostages held while GWB/TB were in power in 2004. Billy was raked over the coals for saying, after the two Americans were beheaded, and the US and England were trying to save Kenneth Bigley's life: "I wish they'd just get on with it, then."
I could find no reference to 9/11.
 
He’s 76 yrs old and in his 5th year experiencing Parkinson’s Disease.

I could well imagine he feels like his life is ‘slipping away’

I like his stuff, his observations and view of people.
He tells his stories in an appealing way (for me)
 
Mr Allen said:
To be fair he didn't joke about the events of 9/11 itself, just Osama bin laden etc, called him Bin Liner, and passed comment on all the Middle East Countries with Stan, like Afghanistan, Uzbekistan etc, could bin laden have been called Stan bin Liner.

He might be a bit controversial Billy, but even he knows not to go there with certain topics.
Click to expand...

What you said about Stan reminds me of Lee Evans in his 2005 "XL Tour" show where he's talking about the Olympics coming up in 2012 and how, when you watch the Olympics, you hear the names of all those countries that you never/barely hear of at any other time.


 
Mr Allen said:
Frankie Boyle just ain't funny though, and neither is Michael McIntyre, he just thinks he is.
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Humour is entirely subjective. I think Frankie Boyle is hilarious and have paid money to see him twice, however I'm quite disappointed in what I found out via this thread. McIntyre I can take or leave, but his DVDs are pretty good, when he drops the "family friendly" persona.
Everybody finds different things funny.
 
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