At the easily-embarrassed age of 12, I was the youngest person in the audience at the Waverley Market during the 1972 Edinburgh Fringe, watching The Great Northern Welly Boot Show featuring Billy Connolly.
If you've never heard the famous song, here's what you've been missing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SguYlpm3ffQ I have to admit, the song wasn't the most memorable part of the show for me. What I remember most was my ears burning under the scrutiny of an audience shocked by the fact that my mother would take such a young child to a show that included a live striptease. But how was she to know?
Nonetheless, despite that early trauma, my admiration for Billy Connolly has survived 37 years. Tapes of his LPs went with me to Greece when I first went to teach there. My students learned to understand and appreciate his immense wit and charm. As my husband is English, he initially struggled with the Glasgow accent too, but soon became as big a fan as I. So, it was a well-judged surprise gift when he took me to see Billy again just a few weeks ago at the Usher Hall. A dream come true.
On the other side of my Billy Connolly tape was a very different but equally irreverant comedian, Tom Lehrer. His biting satire may seem relatively tame now, but he was banned at about the time my mother got hold of his 45s. Pictured on the cover of Songs and More Songs as the devil himself, he was a Maths professor at Harvard with a wicked alter ego.
And finally (though there are many other early funnymen that I still like), I have a tremendous soft spot for Jacques Tati and his eccentric creation, Monsieur Hulot.
A quiet, understated humour based on his observations of life. So I am delighted that there is to be a Tati season at The Filmhouse in December and, for the first time, I will be able to watch Mon Oncle on the big screen. http://www.filmhousecinema.com/seasons/jacques-tati/
My mother would have loved that. See you there.
No comments:
Post a Comment