Is He Still Britain's Most Influential Comedian?

It was only a few days ago that Scottish funnyman Billy Connolly was voted the U.K.'s most influential stand-up comedian of all time, but now he's in the news for a far less positive reason: He's been forced to end two shows early in a week after being booed off stage!

Billy Connolly

The audience of Scottish comedian Billy Connolly's show in Blackpool last weekend were left disappointed when he ended his performance 20 minutes early because of a vicious heckler. An audience member at the Blackpool Opera Theatre told a local newspaper, "When he left the stage he wasn't smiling and didn't thank the audience for attending." Another complained "It was such an anti climax and I felt he should have been used to hecklers."

This wasn't the first show in Billy's current U.K. tour to be cut short. Last week Connolly ended a gig at Scarborough's Futurist Theatre early because of disruptive drunk patrons who heckled and left their seats to go to the bar. While some said the hecklers were "extremely disrespectful," it seems reviewers of the show have mostly agreed with the disappointed audience members. Several have complained that Connolly has been re-using material that fans have already heard.

It's not all bad news for Billy though, as he is still extremely popular with viewers of the TV channel Dave. Earlier this week it was announced that he had been voted the U.K.'s most influential stand-up comedian of all time. 2,000 people were polled on the subject and had a shortlist of 100 comedians to choose from, with Morecambe and Wise and Victoria Wood among the stars Billy beat to win the accolade. Hopefully some of the voters have tickets for the rest of Connolly's tour!

Image courtesy of Mr. Blue/WENN.com.

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Comments on "Billy Connolly booed off stage twice in a week"

Bob February 04, 2012 | 6:22 AM

He was not booed off stage. He left the stage after 1.5 hours performance after a heckler interupted his show. He was not booed at all by anyone. He was hilarious.

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