Billy
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4.7 • 9 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The inside story of the one of the most successful British stand-up comedians, as told by the person best qualified to reveal all about the man behind the comic, his wife of over 20 years – Pamela Stephenson.
Once in a lifetime, there strides upon the stage someone who can truly be called a legend. Such a person is the inimitable, timeless genius who is Billy Connolly. His effortlessly wicked whimsy has entranced, enthralled – and split the sides of – thousands upon thousands of adoring audiences.
And when he isn't doing that…he's turning in award-winning performances on film and television.
He's the man who needs no introduction, and yet he is the ultimate enigma. From a troubled and desperately poor childhood in the docklands of Glasgow he is now the intimate of household names the world over.
How did this happen, who is the real Billy Connolly? Only one person can answer that question: his wife, Pamela Stephenson. Pamela’s writing combines the very personal with a frank objectivity that makes for a compelling, moving and hugely entertaining biography. This is the real Billy Connolly.
This genre-defining book is now released as an ebook for a new generation of comedy fans, with a new Foreword from the author. Pamela’s vision of Billy is as true now as it ever was – as groundbreaking, as moving and as laugh-out-loud funny – and here she brings the book fully into its context, as one of the most influential biographies ever written.
Reviews
‘Searingly honest, it’s an engrossing story told with all the winning warmth and insight we have come to expect from clinical psychologist and former comedian, Pamela.’ Woman’s Weekly
About the author
An Australian born in New Zealand, Pamela Stephenson is famous for her starring role in’Not the Nine O’Clock News’ and other TV and film work.
She and Billy married in 1989 and currently live and work in Los Angeles, where she now practises as a clinical psychologist.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
American audiences only know Billy Connolly if they know him at all from his HBO comedy specials, or from his role opposite Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown. But Connolly is one of England's most popular and infamous comedians. This biography, written by his wife, explains why. Connolly broke into show biz in the late 1960s with a banjo-comedy routine that he performed in Glasgow pubs. By the end of the '70s, Connolly was booking sold-out shows all around England and appearing frequently on TV and film. His antics were notorious: he looked like a hippie, swore like a sailor (he used "the 'f' word in every single sentence and double on Sundays") and drank incredible amounts of liquor (he named his comedy tours after his drink du jour: the gin tour, the brandy tour, etc.). He was also prone to singing songs like "What Does a Scotsman Wear Under His Kilt" to the tune of "Blowin' in the Wind." But, Stephenson argues, there was considerable pain behind Connolly's headline-grabbing behavior. As a child, he was abandoned by his mother and raised in a slum, subject to physical and sexual abuse from relatives. It's Connolly's past, and his strength in overcoming it, that rescues this book. What could have been a humdrum biography turns into a triumph of the will, an Angela's Ashes with punch lines. Apart from an annoying tendency to name-drop American celebrities who just adore Billy, Stephenson admirably describes a man who manages to be very funny despite very unfunny beginnings. Photos.
