Early on, performer Gary McNair makes his apologies to anyone in the audience who’s disappointed to be seeing just his ‘pus’ on the stage, and not that of Billy Connolly.
Everyone is here, however, because they love Connolly, and even his name in the title guarantees a healthy audience.
That, of course, and McNair’s own powerful reputation as a performer.
His strong track record includes solo works paying tribute to a diverse range of personal heroes including Morrissey (Letters to Morrissey) and Dundee’s own William McGonagall (McGonagall’s Chronicles Which Will Be Remembered for a Very Long Time).
Although as McNair rightly points out, no show is ever truly solo.
Alongside director Joe Douglas and the National Theatre of Scotland’s behind-the-scenes staff, there are two musicians onstage here; Jill O’Sullivan and Simon Liddell, the latter formerly of Frightened Rabbit.
McNair also cites ‘the people of Scotland’ as collaborators, whose stories have been gathered and whose thoughts on Connolly he performs here in their own words.
Some wax amusingly lyrical about Connolly, one tries badly to repeat his best jokes, one doesn’t know who he is.
Others speak poignantly of Connolly’s rough Glasgow upbringing, his time in the shipyards and inspiration as a reformed drinker, a charitable sort and a man who lives with Parkinson’s.
It’s clear some of those interviewed knew Connolly, at least a little.
More than nostalgia going on in Dear Billy
McNair would surely be first to admit he can’t match Connolly’s superstar magnetism.
Yet his show does a great job of emulating ninety minutes of Connolly’s stand-up, albeit in the words of the pub and staffroom raconteurs who would have inspired and been inspired by him.
Beneath the warmth, humour and nostalgia, there’s more going on.
The way a culture like Scotland’s builds a humour that’s uniquely its own, for example, or how a much-loved artist can have such an influence that they change the course of that culture single-handedly.
There’s also a vivid sense, as heroes die around us, that McNair wants to express exactly what Connolly means to Scotland while he’s still with us.
In which case, mission accomplished.
- Dear Billy can be seen at Dundee Rep Theatre, Wednesday May 24; the Byre Theatre, St Andrews, June 10; Perth Theatre, June 20.
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