Printer Friendly Format
  Leave Feedback
  Read Feedback
Billy Connolly is the last performer on Earth you'd expect to see eating human flesh. It just doesn't seem to jive with the rakish, jovial image the Scottish comedian has come by so honestly over the thirty-plus years of his varied career in entertainment. Somehow, though, when Connolly shuffles up to an old woman and starts munching on her neck in Andrew Currie's Lassie-by-way-of-Romero zombie comedy Fido, it comes off as the most natural thing in the world.

It's tempting to view Fido's post-zombie-apocalypse '50s-kitsch world as a snide satire of the xenophobic, death-obsessed, war-weary America of the past half-decade. But over-thinking the movie does a disservice to its charm. It's earnest and funny, not unlike Connolly himself.

promotion
Nerve jammed with the man about the movie, comedy and his path from shipyard to stage. — John Constantine

You've said you were initially mystified by the whole zombie subculture. What appealed to you about playing Fido?
Well, the minute I heard about it, I thought, "I really don't need a Canadian zombie movie in my life," in the most snobbish way imaginable. And then my wife had a look at the script, and she loved it. She said, "You got to really have a closer read at this, it's very funny." And it was.

I'd never consciously left home to see a zombie movie. They were fine by me, but I had no intention of ever being in one. But I've been learning more about it as I've been doing interviews. I didn't even know there were specialist zombie magazines and clubs. I heard the other day that a radio station had asked people if they'd made preparations for an attack by zombies, and a staggering number of people replied yes!

What's the heart of Fido?
Getting along with aliens. Whether they're a different color or a different religion, or people of different abilities and disabilities. The whole thing is getting along with someone you don't really understand.

There's a lot of post-9/11 paranoia in there. The theme of "better life through containment."
A lot of the meaningful stuff is in there by mistake. The guys set out to write a funny zombie thing, and they ended up with something that's actually quite meaningful. It kind of reflects on you as a zombie yourself.

You were a welder in your twenties, and then became a folk singer. How did that come about?
People often think it's a massive leap, but if you look at show business, there's lots of guys who did odd little things on the way to the thing they dreamed about. And another thing that's often underestimated is the education of the average working man. The working stiff is usually looked on as a guy who is unwound and little educated, and it's such bullshit.

Most of the guys I worked with in shipyards were very well-read and encouraged me to be so. When I told them I played an instrument, I got nothing but incredible encouragement from the all guys — plus, of course, they ripped me a new one every time. You know, making banjo noises every time they passed me.

Had you always been drawn to music?
I always did love country music. I loved Hank Williams and people like that, and I had lots of records. But I wanted to be a comedian, and I didn't know how to do that. There were no comedy clubs or anything. It seemed to me that there were just famous comedians and no other comedians. There wasn't such a thing as a comedian I didn't know, there was just famous guys, and I didn't know how you got into that. So music was a great entry for me, because the guys on the folk scene seemed to be interesting and political and funny.

What attracted you to comedy?
I don't know — I loved so early in my life. Even just on the radio as a boy. When I was a kid, there was still a bit of vaudeville left in Scotland . There still is to this day a wee bit left. I could see a lot of comedians when my folks took me to the theater; we'd go to see singers, and there'd be a comedian opening. There was no such thing as a comedian topping the bill in those days. It was always singers, and the comedian was there to kill time till they got the scenery ready behind them. And I just thought they were amazing creatures.

Is there an overarching theme to your work?
I think it's the little guy who's bewildered by the world.

Most of your film work is in smaller roles. Are you drawn to the supporting role?
Yeah. Plus it's a question of what you get offered. It's very awkward to be kind of big in your own field. It limits what you're offered. People are swayed by the fact that you're a comedian or a musician or whatever they think you are. When it comes to choosing you, they get a bit shaky about offering you a different type of role. But I've really been very lucky. When you compare me to other comedians, I've been very fortunate. So you'll get no complaints.

So you don't feel bad that you've been typecast?
Well, I don't lie awake wishing I'd been in Braveheart or anything like that. But possibly at the time I wondered why every Scotsman who could walk upright was in it except me.

Looking at standup comedy these days, there's been a paradigm shift in what's really popular. What do you think of ironic hipster comedians like Sarah Silverman?
It's television. When I look at what's happening in comedy, I always look at what's happening in live comedy, because it's always miles ahead of what's on television. And I like what's happening in British television, Ricky Gervais and people like that. And Little Britain . Sarah Silverman's great. That special she did, I thought was lovely. But American television has a long way to go, I think, before it catches up with everybody else when it comes to comedy.

Your big starring roles on TV, with Head of the Class, and its spinoff Billy, didn't last that long. Would you consider returning to TV in your own show?
Nah. That never crossed my mind. If someone writes an idea, I'd have a look at it, but it's not one of my ambitions. It's not something I actually like all that much. It was a bit like doing film, and I got used to it and did it to the best of my ability, but at the end I was actually glad to be out of it. I wanted to get back in the real world, touring again. What I always wanted was to tour the world, doing the concert halls.

Do you think you'll ever go back to doing serious music again?
No. Sometimes I want to, and then I remember what that world was like, all DJs and radio stations and record companies. Oooh, shit. What I do like is going to folk festivals and playing my stuff with a friend. I'd much rather be picking in the car park than on the stage. Folk musicians are the only people I know of who can be on the concert-hall stage and feel jealous of the guys in the car park.



Printer Friendly Format Printer Friendly Format

©2007 John Constantine & Nerve.com


NEW THIS WEEK

READER RATINGS

more new films >    

FUNNIEST FILMS

READER RATINGS

more funny films >    

PERSONAL OF THE DAY

 

SMARTEST FILMS

READER RATINGS

more smart films >    

SEXIEST FILMS

READER RATINGS

more sexy films >