Film

Billy Connolly Live 2010 DVD

Joe Coyle 01/12/2010

Rating: 4/5

The Godfather of modern stand up comedy returns with his new DVD Live 2010.
Filmed at Billy's month-long sell-out tour at London's Hammersmith Apollo.
In an expansive career which has spanned nearly 40 years and taken Billy all the way to Hollywood and back, Connolly has established himself as one of the great comedians of all time.

Live 2010 is not his best work by far. Recycling old gags, laughing at his own jokes, digressing within digressions. Yet Billy at 75 % still blows most other comedians out of the water. Some of the stories drag a little but the tremendous goodwill that Billy has built up over the years means his audience never wavers for one second.

Once Billy departs from the observational comedy and immerses himself into nothing more than anecdotes the show truly starts to take off. Never afraid to offend, tackling close to the bone subjects, despite his advancing years Billy still has a playfulness and puerility that carries him out to his audience. He quickly dispatches hecklers with glee, even saying to one, now that the stage lights are on it was his turn to talk so shut up, which raises a massive laugh.

With wonderful stage presence, Billy's once anarchic look has mellowed over the years and he now resembles an eccentric granddad but still performs with the conviction and humour that has become his trademark.

It could be argued that Billy could release anything nowadays and it would sell. Yet with, Live 2010, the comedy is still at the forefront and it provides the quality of laughs that has been ever present through Billy's career but not in the abundant qualities that we are used to.