There never has and never will be anyone quite like Billy Connolly.
The Big Yin appeared countless times at the Caird Hall during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and left audiences weeping with laughter.
His last performance at the venue took place in October 2014.
He developed a great love for Dundee.
He didn’t just visit the city for his own gigs but would support charity events including fundraising to build the Dundee Rep Theatre.
Tickets for Billy Connolly’s first headline show cost £1
Connolly has spent decades keeping audiences entertained since his first foray into showbusiness at the Stag’s Head in Carnoustie in July 1962.
He paid his dues playing the banjo in smoky folk clubs before his talent for telling witty stories in the Glaswegian fashion was rapidly assuming prominence.
The release of his Solo Concert LP in January 1974 made the national charts and suddenly Connolly’s jokes and songs were being repeated everywhere.
Connolly appeared at the Caird Hall in January 1975.
The Evening Telegraph described him as “Scotland’s newest comedy star”.
James Harris from Larg’s music shop in Whitehall Street organised the shows.
Tickets were priced £1.75, £1.50 and £1.
He performed over two nights to 5,000 people.
“We’ve had sell-out concerts before but never two in succession,” said Mr Harris.
“We tried to get him to do a third show to cater for the demand.
“But his schedule was too tight.”
What Evening Telegraph said about the Big Yin…
But they must have been a hard bunch to please at the Evening Telegraph.
Here’s what our reviewer said.
“Seeing and hearing Billy Connolly in the Caird Hall was an experience.
“So, of course, is being hit by a bus or falling into a sewage tank.
“And it would be easy to weave comparisons with such incidents into a write-up of the show.
“Into his act he brought a lot of words which have had generations of schoolboys sniggering the first time they used them.
“Yet, there was no doubt this big, long-haired chap in what looked like a polka dot pyjama suit had energy, audience appeal and talent.
“His songs and patter concerned mostly wine-drinkers, football rowdies and similar yoboes who have been the life-blood of Glasgow comedians since the days when the Clyde was a muddy ditch.
“It was maybe significant that the most effective things he did were simple pieces like a little acting bit about a drunk at a football match and his song about welly boots.”
The Courier, meanwhile, said he “came, he got wired in, and he conquered”.
But what did the Big Yin think of the response to his shows?
“This is fantastic,” he said.
“This is the fourth time I’ve been at the Caird Hall, but I’ve always been a supporting artiste before.
“I’d have been glad to do a third show but I’ve concerts to do in England next week.
“But I’d love to do another one, maybe in the summer.”
Parkinson appearance changed everything
A few weeks later, on the night of February 15, his debut appearance on Michael Parkinson’s chat show was broadcast and he became a household name.
Connolly was now riding the crest of a wave but didn’t forget his Dundee fans.
He returned to the Caird Hall in September 1975 and performed over two nights with shows at 6.30pm and 9pm and tickets £2.25, £2, £1.75 and £1.50.
Connolly became a regular visitor to the city.
After supporting Elton John in the States in 1976, he announced his biggest tour to date with the Caird Hall in June 1977 among 49 performances across the UK.
He then brought his Edinburgh Fringe play to Dundee in September 1977.
When Hair Was Long And Time Was Short opened to a capacity audience at Dudhope Church in Lochee Road, which was at that time home to Dundee Rep.
People were turned away because it was so popular.
Have you heard the one about the Big Yin and the chip butties?
Connolly did his bit to help when it became increasingly apparent the Rep had to be rehoused and Dundee University offered a site at Tay Square.
The cost of the new theatre was £1 million with £200,000 raised by public appeal.
Connolly was among those who answered the call-to-arms.
He performed a William McGonagall supper at Dundee’s Angus Hotel in January 1980 for 500 people, which he described as one of the funniest nights of his life.
The meal had a Dundee theme.
Diners were served Clepington consommé, Tay whale cutlet (Arbroath Smokie) and Dudhope Diane (roast beef) as well as Broughty Ferry tea (coffee).
At the end of the night Connolly invited the stragglers to the lounge of the Angus where he surprised everyone with a chip butty from the Deep Sea Restaurant.
A can of McEwan’s Export at Old Steeple
Connolly returned to Dundee in August 1980 on his 218-mile cycle from Glasgow to Inverness to raise £10,000 for the Variety Club of Great Britain.
He arrived from Perth and staged a mock collapse outside the City Churches in front of hundreds of fans before being greeted by Lord Provost James Gowans.
Connolly looked up at the people taking up a vantage point at the top of the Old Steeple and shouted: “Haw, you aerosol vandals!
“Who painted that clock on that bonny building?”
The Big Yin then relaxed with a cigarette and a can of McEwan’s Export.
He signed autographs before a trip to Halfords on the High Street for spare parts.
A fundraising concert for the Variety Club took place in the evening at the Angus.
Fife accordionist Jimmy Shand topped the bill and Connolly rounded off the evening.
He conducted a prize draw that turned into a show in itself.
Connolly returned to these parts in March 1981.
He performed to 600 people at the Bonar Hall to raise money for Dundee Rep.
Dundee nurses walked out Billy Connolly’s 1982 show
Connolly was then back at the Caird Hall in December 1982.
Not everyone was happy, though.
His performance prompted a walk-out after 20 minutes from 12 nurses from Kings Cross Hospital who were left “totally sickened by his filth”.
One phoned The Courier to complain and said he went “right over the score”.
She said: “In addition there were quite a few youngsters in the audience who should never have been exposed to such explicit filth at their age.
“When I came out I complained to the police at the door about what I regarded as pornography being portrayed on stage in front of children.
“It was terrible – the worst I’ve ever seen.”
In November 1985 he opened the Dundee Resources Centre for the Unemployed in Hilltown before a concert in aid of the Live Aid appeal at the Caird Hall.
He was back at the Caird Hall in October 1988 and was a national treasure by the time he returned in February 1994 while filming a travelogue for BBC Scotland.
He performed a straight reading of McGonagall’s The Tay Bridge Disaster at the top of Dundee Law for the programme where he was beset by a blizzard.
Big Yin finds perfect way to bow out in 2014
The sold-out shows continued throughout the 1990s and 2000s before Parkinson’s changed his life and eventually forced him to retire from stand-up comedy.
His Caird Hall swansong was two nights on his High Horse Tour in October 2014 where the Big Yin typically managed to steal the show 24 hours before bowing out.
Former Caird Hall manager Susan Gillan has never forgotten the special moment.
“The night before his show, Jake Bugg was appearing and Billy came along with his daughter,” she said.
“I got them discreetly seated in the balcony, got back downstairs and the fire alarm was activated.
“It was a full evacuation.
“By the time I got back to the balcony for Billy, the house lights were up full and instead of leaving the building the standing stalls audience were applauding Billy.”
It was a case of big love for the Big Yin – and the perfect example of how much Dundee adores Billy Connolly.
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