Billy Connolly doesn’t live in Glasgow, he hasn’t done for many years. He moved off to Drymen in the first flush of success and then chose to bide elsewhere during an incredible career that brought global fame.
However he remains fundamentally Glaswegian. The city defines him.
He seems to inhabit Glasgow in a peculiar way, taking a version of it with him, using it as the foundation of his work.
On stages and on chat shows and in film he’s painted vivid pictures of Glasgow characters and events that have left audiences in tears of laughter. On one of his recent tours he managed to connect with an crowd in Manhattan through a tale of a mishap on a Glasgow tram in the 1950s. Somehow the way he tells a story has a universal appeal. This is the man who can have Tom Cruise cracking up while discussing the peculiarities of an East End dancehall.
We knew he was a musician, often found playing a harmonica or banjo on some of his television travel shows. Now we have a chance to meet Billy Connolly, the “windswept and interesting” artist
Some of his sketched artworks, his “wee pals” as he describes them, are currently on display in The People’s Palace. The pictures give a glimpse into a more private side of a Glasgow folk hero, with nods towards his welding past on the Clyde and some self-portraits.
Billy Connolly has a relationship with The People’s Palace. He’s often spoke of visiting the museum and it contains a permanent exhibition dedicated to his part in Glasgow humour.
Many kids remember staring at the display of his bizarre, over-sized banana feet stage shoes from the 70s long before they realised they belonged to the Big Yin.
The 40 illustrations in The Art of Billy Connolly exhibition are on display until 21 February, alongside objects from his early career as a comedian and musician.
The images by Sheep purple, Robert Linsdell and Jean-Pierre Dalbéra used under cc licence.