Sunday 16th September 2007. Blackpool Opera House. Us: Row F of the Circle. Billy Connolly: on stage, with his latest gig on the "Too Old To Die Young" tour of England.
It's a good 12 years or so since I last saw Mr Connolly live in this town on that very same stage, and we've both grown a bit older since then. Fortunately we've both not mellowed much. For Celia, this is the first time seeing him live. For two hours without a break Connolly stood and pontificated on suicide bombers, feng shui, "Most Haunted", unhelpful shop staff, how rubbish modern hymns are, dwarves on buses (they're not a small person)... and so on.
Okay, you may have heard some of it before (the balaclava routine, the exploding manholes) but it's forgivable when you know there's some top draw tales coming next. As ever, Connolly drifts off mid tale to some mad happening which has just jumped into his mind ("Oh, I must tell you this...") and goes off eventually to get back to the original joke only to take off again on something else he's remembered. He explained that this is no genius masterplan on his part, he genuinely just drifts off and if he gets back to the original routine it's a miracle.
In any other comic's hands the routines would be dated and over familiar, but in Connolly's they're fresh and inspired, and in many of his tales all the more funny for they're true(ish). Only he could make the news story of the attempted bombing of Glasgow Airport hilarious and at the same time make a valid point of showing how our attitude to terrorists is wrong, and we should send Bin Laden a video of John Smeaton - that'll shit him up. And only Billy could make a couple of old jokes like the "black testicles" one and the "kick the dog's balls" still brilliant.
Maybe not as good as he was, but Billy Connolly Live in 2007, even at the age of nearly 65, is the benchmark for all other comedians to aim for.
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