Artist, singer and comedy superstar, Billy Connolly, turned 80 this week. In Scotland they call him the ‘Big Yin’, which translates ‘big one, person of note or consequence.’ And he’s definitely all that. Connolly started his showbusiness career in the 1960s as a singer, banjo player and guitartist in popular Scottish folk outfit, The Humlebums. Then, in 1974, he went solo, scoring a massive hit with the satirical song D.I.V.O.R.C.E, before transitioning to world-conquering comedian and award-winning actor.
In 2013, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s (by a Tasmanian doctor in a hotel lobby in Los Angeles). In 2017, he was knighted for services to entertainment and charity. And right now, he’s trending on Twitter every other day.
Here are 20 of The Kicker’s favourite Billy Connolly one liners.
My favourite Billy Connolly skit is from 1985-86, about a jolly sewage worker who loves his job, and impresses a new work mate with his knowledge of whose jobbie is whose floating by. "And that's my wife's," the jolly worker announces. "And how do you know that?" asks the new worker. "Och, she's tied my lunch to it!" 🤣