Tall Tales and Wee Stories: The Best of Billy Connolly (Billy Connolly)

 Now I love funny people, I spend 90% of my time trying to be one, but I have never actually seen Billy Connolly do stand up. To me he will always just be uncle Monty from A Series of Unfortunate Events. That being said I have been informed the man is hilarious. I imagine a 50 year old average Joe sees the man in a different light to that of a 24 year old. I didn't particularly like or enjoy this book and that's probably my fault for avoiding the warning sign that it was on sale in The Works.

The book had its funny parts but a lot of it i didn't understand and I have a lot of Scottish friends, so I'm slowly learning the lingo. The jokes were often repetitive, predictable and aimed at a single demographic. That single demographic being the Scottish. I can honestly say I could not decipher some of the direct quotes, despite my best efforts. In fact, i am sure most people would have struggled unless they had a GCSE in Scottish second language. There were funny stories in there, don't get me wrong! What young man doesn't find a story about someone getting their cock out a garden party funny? Or a wee story about having sex in a sleeping bag whilst being covered in vomit? To an average Joe this is comedy gold (yes we're immature). Unfortunately though having finished this book under a week ago these are the only chapters I can really remember in any detail and I think that says more than anything I can write about the book.

There are parts in the book where he almost doesn't try and make you laugh. He just talks about himself and his frustrations and opinions and this makes for much better reading. His input on sex was very insightful and I get the impression everything he says he means completely. The man doesn't hold back. He is also incredibly honest about his Parkinson's diagnosis and how he copes with that for which I can only applaud him.

It almost reminds me when someone asks you to make them laugh. You can say something funny but the delivery can be off and then all of a sudden you can hear the deafening sound of silence. I get the impression if I was sat in front of this man listening to his stories I'd be crying with laughter but for me they didn't transfer successfully into written word.

 

 I would not recommend this book and I felt like I only finished reading it because I had started it, not because I enjoyed it.  As I have said there were some humorous segments of this book, but I expected more from someone who is seen as a legend in the world of comedy. That being said though from what I read I can honestly say I don't think The man gives a fuck if I find him funny or not.

3.5\10