The television programs Billy Connolly has made have become increasingly meditative since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease five years ago.
His new travelogue, Billy Connolly’s Ultimate World Tour, tracks his adventures and thoughts as he makes his way through Florida (where, he explains, he now lives since his Parkinson’s disease made the brutal New York winters too much of a risk to his health) down to Key Wes
In this episode he goes fly fishing in the Florida Keys with his friend Will Benson; just sun and sky above and gently rippling waters below. “Some people never experience this silence,” says Connolly. “You do it for the nothingness, really. It refuels you.” The 25-year tradition of him never catching a fish on camera continues unbroken. We cast back to another trip, through Scotland, as he and his friends troop back down an uncooperative loch. They have all got the giggles. Everyone around Connolly has always got the giggles. “You’re wondering where all the fish we caught are,” says Connolly sagely. “They’ve been stolen. Thieving bastards.”
LINK (via: The Guardian)
One of only three comedians I have seen live on the stage who not only made me sit there in my theatre(er) seat and uncontrollably weep with laughter but actually feel physically sick, about to throw up, possibly even pass out – “No more. Please. Just stop for a second … give me a minute to recover…”
That’s how insanely good Billy was in his 1980s heyday.
I had a hunch you’d be a fan of Mr. Connolly. What a treat it must have been for Will to guide him.