Billy

I love Billy Connolly, and this takes us from his childhood, life as a welder, music/comedy/film career and two marriages. Lots of comic exerpts. Maybe not great writing, but good enough for an entertaining read.

Written by his wife, this reads like an autobiography. I have always admired Connolly's infectious joie de vivre and this life story shows Billy had a lot of reasons to emit something disagreeable: sexual abuses from his father, poverty, abandonment, etc. Still, Billy found a path from banjo entertainer to a comedian of much greater solo success than I had realized. This book is basically chronological vignettes of interactions with famous to moments of excess with excursions to the remote past to connect a triggering thought or motivation. One of the many things I learned is how much more extensive his filmography has been than I realized. I want to track down and see more of these bit parts and starring roles. For the films, there is show more much on filming locations, working with other cast members etc. This does not include the 2008 movie The X Files: I Want to Believe where he memorably plays Father Joseph Crissman since the book ends around 2001 or so, let alone The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Dain: "...kindly sod off!", 2014) or Quartet (Wilf Bond: “It tastes like Christmas!", 2012), so I need to use IMDB and track down the earlier ones mentioned, such as these that jumped out at me

Who Is Cletis Tout? (Dr. Mike Savian)
An Everlasting Piece (Scalper)
Beautiful Joe (Joe)
Mrs. Brown (John Brown)
Muppet Treasure Island (Billy Bones)

(I already have appreciated with what relish he throws himself into The Boondock Saints.) show less

Skimmed this one. Three stars because Billy Connolly is an interesting man, an important figure, and I'm glad that his biography has been written.

Were I basing my review on the writing and style, this would be a hard one star. Stephenson begins with a totally inaccessible and academic introduction, and proceeds to write formulaic chapters that are dry at best. She's a psychologist, you know. If you forget, she will remind you. Repeatedly. As a narrator, she is plain irritating.

I think I picked this up hoping to hear about Connolly's life more in his words, but through the filter of his wife's writing this book was a miss for me. Still, he might never have written an autobiography, and I'm glad that his biography has been recorded and show more has been shared with the world. show less

A charming and easy-to-read telling of Billy Connolly's life. Learn with awe of his meteoric rise from poverty and child abuse to fame and success. I love his acting and having learned more about his life, I feel like I can honestly say I love the man and what he stands for.

Insightful biography of a well-loved comedian who overcame huge challenges. Stephenson's affection and sympathy for her husband as a subject are warming. The book would be a more rewarding read were the writing style more fluid but this is a price worth paying for a perspective that no other biographer is likely to discover.

I was expecting this book to be really funny as I am a big fan of Billy Connolly, however as it is written by his second wife, Pamela Stephenson there is less of the comical Billy and more history and facts. As his second wife I felt that there were also attempts to not 'step on anyone's toes' up until the timeframe of their relationship and I much more enjoyed the story from that point on as it was more personal.

....a surprisingly candid look at one of the funniest men alive today (ah, next to Eddie Izzard, of course) I didn't think I'd like it because his wife, a "psychologist", wrote it. But she was fair, almost "diagnosis-free" in her writing, and jumped to no conclusions about what exactly affected billy in his youth. If you like the man, read the book. it won't make him more or less funny to you, but it reminds you of how much humor can be based on the cruelties of life....