Billy And Albert - Billy Connolly Live At The Royal Albert Hall (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Weak
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	A brilliant classic .
Disadvantages:	No extras, play menu is a bit plain .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

●Introduction●

I think Billy Connolly is possibly the best comedian of all time. In Scotland Billy is known as "The big Yin", meaning he's tall. In this review I'll be telling you a little about Billy Connolly and a lot about his DVD, Billy and Albert DVD. I'll give you a quick outline if your not too familiar with Billy, even though he's known worldwide. This is my first review on DVD's so please be patient, and sorry if I accidentally give away any spoilers, but I'll try my best not to.

Warning! This may have a little bit of bad language in it as it accompanies Billy and Billy wouldn't quite be Billy if he didn't swear.

Billy Connolly was born on the 24th of November 1942, in Glasgow. He was brought up in the Anderton and Patrick areas of Glasgow. If anyone reading this lives in these area's I'd be so jelous. When he was 15 he started working as a welder and then went on to be a great folk singer starting a band called the Humblebums (the name speaks for itself), which included Tam Harvey and Gerry Rafferty aswell as Billy.

The band eventually split up and Billy went solo. One of the best known songs was "The Welly Boot song" which is great, but my personal favourite is the song D.I.V.O.R.C.E. In 1985 he sang the theme tune to the film Supergran then in the latter half of the 80's he moved on to be a stand up comedian. He still likes to sing songs still though, and I will always think that he is the best banjo player in the world.

Almost everyone has heard of Billy's comic talent. All of his shows are usually sold out within hours. In his shows he makes jokes about his personal life, his past, his opinions on things and what he thinks of the world. He usually gets the audience in fit's of laughter and tears. He's not at all scared of mentioning and talking about the word f**k, flatulence (farts for those of you who don't know), sex, masturbation, blasphemy (words against god) and s**t or poo.

Billy has also turned his hand to acting recently, starring in many films (too many to list) from the 70's up untill recently. He's also won a BAFTA lifetime achievement award and a CBE in the Queens Birthday Honours list. Billy's private life consists of his lovely wife Pamela Stephenson and thier 3 children. Billy has a house in Australia, Glasgow and America, but don't quote me on them as I'm not entirely sure.

●Descripton●

The play menu is Purple and simple. It can be boring if you like lots of features on the menu. I do like the purple stripes as they add an interesting touch. There's also Billy singing in the top right hand corner.

THE CASE/COVER:
The case is pretty plain.On the front there is: The words "Billy and Albert" in a mteallic blue colour. Then Underneath that is "Billy Connolly at the Royal Albert Hall" this is white in colour with a black outline. It has Billy in black and white with his clothes in pink and black. The background is white on both sides.

On the back is: A small piece of text saying "For the first time on DVD unexpugated Billy Connolly at his best at London's Royal Albert Hall, July 1987. Strightly for those not easily offended". There is a contents of what's on the disc and a picture of Billy waering a black and white striped suit with a red and white striped cup in his hand and even more stipes on his socks which are bright yellow. Billy really likes his stripes!
There is also the usual running time, age restriciton and what not but I'll explain that later.

●The sketches●

The film starts off with some lovely pictures of the Albert Hall in Londonand a tune called "Yootha's Song" playing in the background. In his opening act he plays his banjo and sings "Say Darling Say". The next scetch is about Ronald reagan, the American president having the key to blowing up the world and people always watching what he's doing . He has a walk around stage and shows off a black and white striped suit, and then tells the audience to behave in a teachers way, I quote "sit back and don't slouch".

The following sketch is called "Worrying" and is about just that thing. Billy has an art of blending each sketch into each other so it's hard to tell when he's on a certain sketch but it goes well as he refers back to one another. Billy talks about his own silly worries and the worries about being rich. Suceeding that is "Nuclear Holocaust", it's about the holocaust coming and not worrying about it coming.

Billy then cycles through "Thatcher and Reagan" and it's about crazy people having control of the government, and then Billy goes on about the Labour Party and conventional weapons such as rubber bullets, if you've watched this you'll know what I mean. Lol. The next in sketch is called "Irish Pipes" and it's about how they carry them, and the musical competition between the Scots and the Irish.

The following sketch is called "Khyber Pass". It's about Afganies smoking narcotic drugs behind a rock and then seeing the scots coming with thier bag pipes (referring back slightly to Irish Pipes). Suceeding that is "visiting Scotland" and is about just that. It mentions the sightseeing and the tourists in Edinburgh and also the bad weather.

Billy then cycles through The Fourth Bridge. This is about a bridge that on one side you are in Fife and the other side is Edinbrugh. From there Billy goes on to talk about posh people in Fife. The next two following sketches are called "Kircaldy" and "The Linoleum Factory". These run into each other very fast (so fast that I almost missed it) so I'll explain them both at the same time. These two subjects are about making Lino in Kircaldy (small town in Scotland), he then moves on to talking about Lino and why the industry went bankrupt, this is due to people not being able to pronounce it properly. Lumenumenum (those of you who have watched this will know what I mean) Lol.

The next sketch is "Liberty's carpet". This one is about buying a new carpet and the dangers of having a deep pile carpet. The sketch after this is called "babies" and it's about when children play tricks on you and what they do. Billy also offers some helpful advice, don't buy a baby monitor (you'll know what I mean if you watch it). This sketch is my personal favourite and is a bit longer than the other previous scenes. Suceeding that sketch is "Macho Scotsman" and it's about people thinking that Billy is a macho Scotsman.

Billy then cycles through "Suba Diving" and is about at time when Billy went on holiday to Barbados and learnt how scuba dive. The next sketch called "Scottish Film Crew" and is about a film crew filming lions in the serengety. At this point he quickly recapps on the previous scenes. The following sketch is called "Tarantulas And Thier Wily Ways" and is about Billy going on to mention condoms in this sketch as well as masturbation and what to say if you're caught doing it (goog for you men).

Suceeding that sketch is "Old People" and is about an old couple talking about thier past and the husband blaming all his problems on the wife. Billy then cycles through "Methyl Steelworks club" and is about Billy going to the methyl steelworks club and seeing a dog having a s**t or poo. Eeww, gross.

The next sketch is called "Neck Lumps" and is about people who have growths on thier neck. The following sketch is called "Casual Vomit" and is about drinking an awful lot of beer then being sick, and the language that it sounds like when you're being sick. Suceeding that is "High Fibre Diet" and it's about s**tting yourself thin through eating all bran. Billy also talks about different types of farts in this scene.

Billy then cycles through "NeverAgain" and it's about never wanting to come back to the Albert Hall, but he's being very sarcastic and really he can't wait to go back. He also appolagises for his bad language.The final scene is tune called "The Road Gypsies Go" and he plays the Autoharp with it he doesn't sing with it. It sounds absolutely beautiful, you should hear it. Billy tries to send the audience back to normality with this tune.

●Contents●
Here is a list and order of all 25 sketches: 1. Yootha's song, 2. Say Darling Say, 3. Ronald Reagan, 4. Worrying, 5. Nuclear Holocaust, 6. Thatcher and Reagan, 7. Irish pipes, 8. Khyber Pass, 9. Visiting Scotland, 10. Forth Bridge, 11. Kircaldy, 12. Linoleum, 13. Liberty's Carpet, 14. Babies, 15. Macho Scotsman, 16. Scuba Diving, 17. Scottish Film Crew, 18. Tarantulas and thier Wily Ways, 19. Old People, 20. Methyl Steelworks Club, 21. Neck Lumps, 22. Casual Vomit, 23. High Fibre Diet, 24. Never Again, 25. The Road The Gypsies Go.

●General Info●
Here is the information that is usually on the bottom half of the back of the cover:

Running Time:1 hour and 30 minutes
Age certificate: 18
Production year: 1987
Director: Nobby Clark
Editors: Paul Naisbitt and Ivan Naisbitt
Producer: John Reid
Dolby Surround Sound? Yes
Studios: Universal and Sleepy Dumpling (music) Ltd.

●And Finnally●
I would strongly recommend this DVD to someone who hasn't watched much Billy Connolly, or anyone with a crude sense of humour. It really is a classic and my sides were acheing for hours after watching this along with the tears of laughter at the time of watching this. This review would have been much more funny but then I'd end up giving the plot away. I hope you enjoyed my first DVD review. Thank you for your time and effort. Faye ☺