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Original poster

Fucking Bully Billy Connolly and his sick 'joke' about wife murder

153 replies

Wauden · 28/12/2018 22:58

Just saw a tv programme and have had my eyes opened to Bully.

He was on Parkinson back in the 1970s and told a 'joke' about a man who killed his wife and buried her body under a pile of earth but left her bottom sticking out. Wife murderer was asked why he left her bottom at the top and he replied, it was to park his bicycle.
Cos it's really funny, right.
Michael Parkinson laughed his head off. But then he has form for misogyny.

Don't give me any 'but he's a national treasure' bollocks.

OP posts:
BubonicWoman · 29/12/2018 09:54

Sketches. Don't know what happened there

IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 29/12/2018 09:55

I used to love Billy Connolly but that tv show put me off him. Going on about how when women weren’t allowed in pubs, it was all so much better, jfc.

VickyEadie · 29/12/2018 09:56

I saw BC live twice, in the late 80s/early 90s. He was onstage for more than 3 hours on both occasions and my face still hurt from laughing the next day both times.

Like someone else said, I wouldn't much like myself from the 70s, either and BC has on occasion made jokes that have made me wince. But that's the nature of comedy - it pushes boundaries and sometimes pushes them too far for many of us.

deydododatdodontdeydo · 29/12/2018 10:16

One showed a woman drowning, the life guard pulled her out of the water, looked around furtively then carried her into the changing room where we hear her scream. How funny rape is.

Interesting. That's worse than the Billy joke in my opinion, because it's more realistic, whereas Billy's is just absurdism.
Always thought Dave Allen was shite though.

CaptainKirksSpookyghost · 29/12/2018 10:17

is Dave Allen the guy with a missing finger?

tinstar · 29/12/2018 10:41

Yes he is.

Gran22 · 29/12/2018 10:44

VickyEadie, me too. Crying with laughter at the live shows. His observational dialogue was brilliant IMO. I'm an east coast Scot by birth and upbringing, but live in the north of England. If BC gets on with some of the royals, why not? Isn't social mobility, or the lack of it, always being banged on about?

Santaissleepingoffmincepies · 29/12/2018 10:49

Op maybe volunteer for a humour transplant?
Saw Billy once, ribs ached for days.
Laughter really is the best medicine when life is tough.
Maybe your life is so fine you don't need him..
Lucky you op.

Italiangreyhound · 29/12/2018 12:42

We can't all like the same comedians. Some find him funny, some don't. You've no idea what is going on in the OPs life so your comment is very insemsitive, Santaissleepingoffmincepies.

rogueantimatter · 29/12/2018 12:50

FWIW OP, I found him funny when he was at his most popular as his comedian but I find his material and his style dated know. The punchlines can be anticipated imo, though I know that a lot of his audience will enjoy the long-drawn out nature of his act. I find his constant swearing off-putting and quite boring.

He was heavily criticised after a gig in a scottish island for being verbally abusive to audience members who walked out of his gig. Probably because of thr excessive swearing.

I feel he's a good entertainer, but not worthy of his iconic status. In my very honest opinion.

Theswaggyotter · 29/12/2018 12:51

I love Billy and can’t get upset about a 40 year old joke. I’m pretty sure he did apologise about Bigley.
There were certainly many, many other comedians at that time who were awful in terms of blatant misogyny and racism so don’t know why you would single out Billy

rogueantimatter · 29/12/2018 12:59

Things being off their time only make them less bad, imo. And there are thinga that some people never found funny. Eg, my mum used to complain about Les Dawson's mother in law jokes as unkind and unfunny, despite having a horrendous mil herself.

I agree with pps that as a society we seem to have gone from being racist to ageist. Old people used to be valued because they have gained wisdom through a lot of life experience. Now, the opinion of old people is considered irrelevant and a nuisance.

Original poster
Wauden · 29/12/2018 13:07

Santaissleepingoffmincepies I don't need a humour transplant, thanks for the offer.
If you had read the thread you would have understood that the point is that wife murdering is not funny.

And I agree with the poster above about the Dave Allen sketch referred to above.
It's really as simple as that.

OP posts:
Original poster
Wauden · 29/12/2018 13:10

Again, I had just seen the programme about Billy last night so it is curious to say anyone is singling him out. Lots of his other stuff was funny, Xmas Smile

OP posts:
Knittedfairies · 29/12/2018 13:18

I really don’t like Billy Connolly as a comedian, but love him as a tour guide.
Comedy in the 1970s was vile; Wheeltappers and Shunters tv show anyone?

CaptainKirksSpookyghost · 29/12/2018 13:19

Don't forget Benny Hill...

DonDrapersOldFashioned · 29/12/2018 13:19

FFS, the ken bigley thing was ill judged but it’s not his fault that ISIS killed the guy. Lots of self-righteous handwringing on this thread.

ScouseQueen · 29/12/2018 13:38

No but it was his fault that he felt it was ok to joke about someone who was expected to be murdered at any moment, and then to be unable to handle the audience reaction. Not so much the big man then.

BlancheM · 29/12/2018 15:18

I've disliked him since he took the piss out of Ken Bigley when it was clear he was about to be murdered. I think that's disturbing. I was a teenager when that happened so I don't associate him with anything else.

YepImafraidIchangeditagain · 29/12/2018 15:26
Hmm

It's funny because it's just so stupid.

I'm sure if Billy Connolly was such an awful man, his very intelligent and articulate wife wouldn't have stuck around for 30years.

Is this the worst thing you have to worry about?

tinstar · 29/12/2018 15:32

Does anyone have any first hand evidence of what he actually said about Ken Bigley? I don't for one minute believe the media gave an accurate account.

In this article for example he claims he was misquoted-

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/stage/2004/nov/28/theatre.billyconnolly

AspieAndProud · 29/12/2018 15:33

This is ‘offence archeology’. It’s picking over the bones of the past looking for things to get offended at.

It’s tedous enough when people are trawling back five years through someone’s Twitter feed, let alone forty years through archive TV.

dementedma · 29/12/2018 15:39

Worst of all was Benny Hill. there was a programme recently about his "humour" and dh and I sat utterly appalled at it. We actually turned it off after the sketch where BH, dressed as a cowboy, happens across a scantily dressed woman tied to a totem pole. She is crying and asking for help, having clearly been "assaulted" by the nasty "Red indians". He moves as if to help her, then notices her hands are bound and she she can't get away, he leers to camera and then starts to unzip his trousers gleefully to take advantage of his "good luck".
I couldn't believe my eyes!!

SnuggyBuggy · 29/12/2018 15:40

Haven't people always made jokes about taboo or offensive subjects?

Italiangreyhound · 29/12/2018 15:43

I think it is good to remain ourselves his vile humour has been used in the past.

Not many archeological digs go back only 40 years!