COMEDY
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Your support makes all the difference.Billy Connolly plays the Labatt's Apollo, Hammersmith, London (0990 405 040) from 20 Jan to 8 Feb
Even when he worked in the Glasgow shipyards, Billy Connolly stood out as a comedian. "I was a funny welder," he recalls. Graduating from the shipyards through the folk clubs on his way to stardom, he has become what Jonathan Margolis in his biography, The Big Yin, calls "the most successful and popular British stand-up comedian of modern times."
You have to agree with that assessment. How many other performers could fill the Apollo in Hammersmith for an absurd 15 nights? Perhaps only Oasis or a reformed Beatles.
His myriad successes - the sell-out world tours, the Hollywood homes, the BBC series (let's be decent and forget about the hobnobbing with minor Royals) - have led to inevitable accusations that he has sold out. But in spite of all this, he has retained the common touch, that priceless ability to make people laugh about things that happen to us all. He can turn the most humdrum matters - pubic hairs or itchy coat collars - into the subject of inspired, elongated comic riffs. Only Eddie Izzard can rival him for his capacity to talk hilariously about absolutely nothing.
The two hours plus - without a break - that he stays rambling on stage just fly past. You don't need to take along a surreptitious book to read during the dull bits. There aren't any.
EYE ON THE NEW
As the recent 10th birthday celebrations at the Hackney Empire showed, the grand old theatre is going from strength to strength as a comedy venue. Its latest innovation is Sunday Showtime featuring The Sunday Selection, a nationwide talent quest, hosted by two guest comics each week (Jeremy Hardy and Jenny Eclair tomorrow). All for the princely sum of pounds 5.
Hackney Empire, 291 Mare St, London E9 (0181-985 2424)
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