The Accidental Artist: Drawings & Stories from the Nation's Favourite Comedian

by Billy Connolly

'My drawings started by accident. I was on tour in Montreal a few years ago and found myself sheltering from the pishing rain in an art store. I went in to get dry and came out with an armful of felt-tip pens and a sketchbook, then went straight back to my hotel room and started to draw. I've never looked back.'

Welcome to the visual world of Billy Connolly - comedian, actor, storyteller and artist. In elegant, simple lines Billy conjures up a land of fantastic beasts, mysterious inventions, and blissful calm. Some drawings are charmingly simple, others feel complex, strange or rebellious. Through them, Billy offers fascinating glimpses of his childhood and his Scottish homeland, takes us on journeys to far-flung places, and shares his life-long obsession with music, wildlife and fashion.

'People think I paint or draw things on purpose. I don't, I just draw. It is a portal for my imagination. And, just like my stand-up, I never know where it will lead.'

The Accidental Artist brings together the best of Billy's drawings with a selection of his most beloved stories. It is a joyful collision of colour, creativity and storytelling, and an exhilarating new portrait of Billy's extraordinary life.

Genres: Art

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 2024

About the author

William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin (The Big One). His first trade, in the early 1960s, was as a welder (specifically a boilermaker) in the Glasgow shipyards, but he gave it up towards the end of the decade to pursue a career as a folk singer in the Humblebums and subsequently as a soloist. In the early 1970s he made the transition from folk-singer with a comedic persona to fully-fledged comedian, a role in which he continues. He also became an actor, and has appeared in such films as Mrs. Brown (1997), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA; The Boondock Saints (1999); The Last Samurai (2003); Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004); and The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008).

It is as a stand-up comedian that Connolly is best known. His observational comedy is idiosyncratic and often off-the-cuff. He has outraged certain sectors of audiences, critics and the media with his free use of the word "fuck". He has made jokes relating to masturbation, blasphemy, defecation, flatulence, haemorrhoids, sex, his father's illness, his aunts' cruelty and, in the latter stages of his career, old age (specifically his experiences of growing old). In 2007 and again in 2010, he was voted the greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.

Connolly has been married to comedian and psychologist Pamela Stephenson since 1989. In the book Billy, and in a December 2008 online interview, Connolly states he was sexually abused by his father between the ages of 10 and 15. He believes this was a result of the Catholic Church not allowing his father to divorce after his mother left the family. Due to this, Connolly has a "deep distrust and dislike of the Catholic church and any other organization that brainwashes people". In a 1999 interview with "The Sunday Herald" Connolly condemned the SNP as "racist" and the new Scottish parliament as a "joke".

In November 1998, Connolly was the subject of a two-hour retrospective entitled Billy Connolly: Erect for 30 Years, which included tributes from Judi Dench, Sean Connery, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and Eddie Izzard.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the prologue provided by Billy’s wife, Pamela Stephenson Connolly, who writes about his entry into the art world, provides some background information, and tells us one of Billy’s favourite banjo jokes: ‘What’s the definition of perfect pitch? – When you chuck an old banjo into a skip and it collides with an accordion.’

Next, Billy had me researching two of his favourite artists, as I wanted to look up examples of their artwork, then, I was delighted to learn how Billy “adopted an extrovert style of dress” to be recognized when he arrived at gigs as a novice folkie. He tells of the time he and a stranger admired each other’s pants and decided to make a swap right then and there on a bridge in Amsterdam!

Later in his career when he was appearing on chat shows, he writes, “If you look startling, the host will always have something to comment on.” Jay Leno once looked him up and down, taking note of his outlandish outfit, “including black toenail polish, and said, ‘What are you – some kind of punk pilgrim?’”

Billy reminiscences on his extraordinary meetings and life experiences are nicely interspersed between his artwork, which, like him, can be described as ‘windswept and interesting.’

I’ll leave you with some excellent advice from Billy, “By all means grow old, but don’t mature. Remain childlike, retain wonder, the ability to be flabbergasted by something.”

[MKF · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy Billy Connolly but I don't think he's that great of an artist with most of his drawings a bit too child like. The fact you can spend a small fortune (prices online) on an art piece that looks like a 7 year drew says alot. People who are crazy enough to buy one buying it to brag it's by Connolly not because they actually like your artwork. It's why if I drew a blob I couldn't sell it for a small fortune like the majority of these drawings cost. I'll stop ranting because I am glad he found something he enjoyed and works hard on to pass his time.
Besides the drawings the book has included bits and pieces of his many stories loosely connected to a drawing. They're still good for an occasional laugh so they're best part of this book.

[Susannah Creaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic insight to one of the greatest comedians ever and finding out how he became such an awesome artist x

[Joanne, drinker of tea, reader of books, servant to cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

When reading this book, I did wonder if the pictures that Billy Connolly draws would be so lauded if they had been drawn by someone else. I'm not saying that I am a better doodler than Billy, but to badly paraphrase the Bard, the doodle by another name might not smell as sweet.

But, all that aside, I did enjoy the little snippets of text between the doodles. There just wasn't enough of them.

What I liked best is that they came across as conversational. As if you were sitting down with a nice pot of tea in a comfy arm chair, and you were having a natter with Billy about anything and everything, and this were just wee snippets of the chat between the two of you.

[Chelsea Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book, Connolly's art style is unique and colourful and mesmerising, you feel like you could look at each piece for ages and still not quite pull everything out of it. I liked the additional stories, although if you're a fan you'll no doubt have heard a lot of them before. Only reason for a star less was an anti Christian slam near to the end, which was disappointing but not wholly unexpected. A good read overall.

[Michael Bellamy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always enjoy Billy Connolly's shows and books, though not sure about his art work. Mainly balls of wool.? Art is always a personal thing. I know some people love and collect his work , so all credit to them. Glad I read the book , enjoyed the stories interspersed with the drawings. One question does Billy start with the title of each artwork or does he finish and look for a suitable title ?

[Gary Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book and in particular the art, having seen some of it hanging in a gallery in Canterbury.

Sadly I picked this book up very soon after reading his autobiography and there was a lot of content taken almost directly from that included in this book.

Still a good read and in isolation would have been more rewarding.

[Jon S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazing comedian, one of the best, but not my flavour of art in all honesty. Simplistic and heavily stylised, almost certainly of claimed value due to who it is made by.

The book itself is very nice, and great quality, but if you're a fan of him already through his comedy and travel docs then the stories that accompany the art you will have undoubtedly heard beforehand.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's fascinating to discover the insecure side of a legend so used to being in front of people. The emotions that he conveys through the art is magnificent. He truly is an icon. Buy the book, and see another side of the Big Yin!

[Jon Kenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is easy-going and even occasionally thought-provoking. It's fascinating and fun because the artist is fascinating and fun. The words are enjoyable but mostly recycled from old interviews and performances.

[Jane West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting anecdotes, most of which have been recounted before but which are still funny, interspersed with Billy’s weird, wonderful and amusing art!

[David Peat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book - really a coffee table book as it is filled with Connolly’s tremendous artwork; it is littered with great anecdotes( some old, some new) that give a warm feeling. One to cherish.