80TH BIRTHDAY EDITION – NOW WITH 10 NEW TALL TALES!
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘Connolly’s raucous run through his life is as furious, funny and foul-mouthed as you’d expect’ Sunday Times
In December 2018, after fifty years of belly-laughs, energy and outrage, Billy Connolly announced his retirement from live stand-up comedy. It had been an extraordinary career.
When he first started out in the late sixties, Billy played the banjo in the folk clubs of Scotland. Between songs, he would improvise a bit, telling anecdotes from the Clyde shipyard where he’d worked. In the process, he made all kinds of discoveries about what audiences found funny, from his own brilliant mimes to the power of speaking irreverently about politics or explicitly about sex. He began to understand the craft of great storytelling. Soon the songs became shorter and the monologues longer, and Billy quickly became recognised as one of the most exciting comedians of his generation.
Tall Tales and Wee Stories brings together the very best of Billy’s storytelling for the first time and includes his most famous routines including, The Last Supper, Jojoba Shampoo, Incontinence Pants and Shouting at Wildebeest. With an introduction and original illustrations by Billy throughout, it is an inspirational, energetic and riotously funny read, and a fitting celebration of our greatest ever comedian.
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Reviews
A glorious memoir full of insights into the funnyman's life and career. Hilarious.
A very humorous read
One of stand-up's great naturals. No one told a story better.
The Big Yin Bible
Wild and whirling . . . it reads like a talking book
A read that entirely fits the personality of the extreme personality who wrote it, Connolly's raucous run through his life is as furious, funny and foul-mouthed as you'd expect. His stand-up knack for easy storytelling shines through
Connolly's writing is so much like his speech you can hear him as you read.
Raucous and side-splitting
Gloriously, unashamedly peppered with swearing, bodily functions and drunken behaviour . . . you will laugh, guffaw and snort your way through this remarkable book
Bracingly sweary, robustly rude and brilliantly original, this is essential reading for fans of the Big Yin.
This book brings together the best of his stories...and offers something of a potted history of a life of spontaneous performance on stage.
Wry, sometimes sacrilegious, often absurd and outrageously funny