STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits
The well-known and highly successful Scottish comedian performing at one of his most prestigious venues, the Royal Albert Hall, in July 1987. Connolly discusses everything, from the difficulty of pronouncing linoleum, spiders and their wily ways to the joys of masturbation and something involving Bacardi he will do 'never again.'
There is an 18 certificate on the front cover of this, one of Billy Connolly's most renowned shows, along with a warning about containing material that could offend some viewers. But personally I'd have just done away with this and given it a 15 certificate, because there's really nothing overly rude or offensive in the whole thing, especially in the light of other, more adult comedians.
But that aside, I've been trying to get into stand-up comedy a bit more lately and this first BC outing I've witnessed, I'm sorry to say, didn't impress me that much. I've been trying to get into Jim Davidson a bit more (not literally, of course) lately as well, and I've just found his stand-up shows generally more hilarious than Billy's. None of the jokes really struck me and I failed to find it funny in any way, apart from one or two gags which raised a mild chuckle. Plus Billy appears through-out in a white coat and trousers with black stripes running down them, along with his long, frizzy goatee beard (facially, he reminds me a little of my old martial arts teacher.)
To be fair, it has to be said that Connolly does have a natural rapport with his audience and he is a fairly engaging guy to see stand and listen to talking. Maybe I don't understand Scottish humour that well, heck, maybe I'm a bit too young to grasp it, but at the moment anyway, this one just didn't strike a chord with me. **
