Comedy: Billy Connolly

It was ages ago that I booked for Billy Connolly. I've always loved him, it wasn't a hard decision to make - Eventim, who sell the tickets, posted mine to me a few weeks ago. I popped it in the safest place I could think of in my chaotic room - on top of the chest of drawers. Now, that's not flush with the wall - turns out there's a socket behind it! So it came to pass that, last week, the ticket went flump! and disappeared. Behind the chest of drawers, obviously.

Well, I put off the rescue of it as long as possible, natch, and finally went about it yesterday afternoon (this working from home is handy). Moved all the stuff from in front of it - fortunately, the chest of drawers itself is on castors. The ticket was duly rescued. For the Hammersmith Apollo, Google Maps gave me the option of train, followed by bus, or I could just take the #295 bus straight there. Easiest, cheapest, and I had the time - it was, of course, the longest option.

They had me leaving for the bus stop at 7:14 - I left at about 7, and caught a bus at 7:08, probably the one before the recommended. Always a good idea, if you can manage it. I arrived at Hammersmith Broadway at abt 7:40 for an 8 o' clock show - perfect. Just walked ahead and around the corner, to the left. Gasped at the size of the queue at the entrance, but I was in quickly, and even managed to nip past without getting my bag checked - they were distracted by someone who'd brought a suitcase. :-) Might've been down from Scotland for the night - I wouldn't be surprised, I detected a good few Scottish accents round about.

Upstairs to the circle, and soon found my seat - not too far back, but somewhat to the side. Still, a decent view, and as long as he didn't spend a lot of time to the rear right of the stage, I was ok. I had time to play a bit of solitaire on my phone, and just after 8, he started..

He shuffled on. He's been very ill, you know, and still is, and at times like this you notice it. The only stage prop was a small table, with a jug of water on it, and a glass - he spent the entire thing just standing by the table, sometimes leaning on it. At one point, he highlighted his Parkinson's - his arm had started to shake, apparently, although I didn't notice from where I was. Not that he's in any way sensitive about it -  he had plenty to say about that, and about his successful treatment for prostate cancer. He's also absentminded, although apparently doesn't have Alzheimer's, as reported - he did temporarily forget the ending to one story, but went off on a tangent, and returned to finish the story some minutes later.

The man might be feeble, but not feeble-minded; he's hilarious! His set consists generally of long, rambling stories, told in his inimitable way. We learned what happens during a prostate exam, we learned about the 10 most famous Scottish people. We found out about the armourer and the cat. And all in a Scottish burr that you wouldn't mind listening to at length - although the lady beside me had to have her husband translate some of it for her, and the Indian-looking people in front of me frequently looked a bit nonplussed. We roared with laughter though - he's never lost it - and when he finally ran out of things to say, he'd been talking for nearly two hours, without interval. A well-deserved standing ovation followed. He has two more shows, tomorrow and Saturday - highly recommended, if you ever enjoyed his stuff. Still tickets for tomorrow on the Eventim site.

Back too late to blog, as ever when I'm going to Guildford next day. For me, tonight is a film, so required research - the upshot of which is, I'm going to see Room, at Cineworld Wandsworth. And I'll drive (whee!) - free parking only starts at 7, and the film is at 6:30, but so I have to pay for an hour's parking - £1.60. The return bus fare would be £3! Route should be easy enough - I pass very near there on my way to Guildford. And it'll be good to get another of the serious Oscar contenders seen.

Tomorrow, I got a cheap ticket to a Circus Show, back at the Aeronaut again. Apparently, it's a big thing with them, appropriately with that tent ceiling. And on Saturday, my last Meetup for the week is with the London Dramatic Arts Meetup, who are off to a play called The Rolling Stone, in the Orange Tree. I think that'll be easier to get to from where I am now. Mustn't forget it's the matinee.. I did get my own ticket, rather than one of theirs, but the organiser is absolutely fine with that, and it'll be great to meet them again.