Billy Connolly: Erect for 30 Years (1998)
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Andrew Gilman
Starring Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Whoopi Goldberg, Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams and, of course, Billy

Features:

• DVD-ROM weblink to Billy's official site
  

Anamorphic: No.

My Advice: Own it.

I had not been properly introduced to Billy Connolly until recently, when Tobias sat me down and made me watch this. I had only known him from stuff like The Impostors. But this is a damn funny guy. What's really astounding, though, and works to his success--is that he's crude without somehow being offensive and rude without being off-putting. He manages to do and say these (mostly, somewhat) terrible godawful things--but you laugh and can't wait to hear what he's going to do next. As this documentary attests, he can't wait to hear it either.

This is a smartly done documentary. Not only do you have Billy himself talking about his life, but you get some Names to step in and comment as well. They're listed up top, no sense in me doing that again. You even get his wife on camera talking about her spouse. This is all spiced with bits of his comedy from over the years, giving you nice examples to back up what's going on on screen. Then, to cap it off, there's a good length of stand-up that's exclusive apparently to this program, that comes in towards the end. So not only is it extremely informative, but it definitely brings the funny.

Now, there are some obvious questions to ask: could they have delved more into Billy's life? Sure, but this never touts itself as being a Biography episode. He's got a biography book out if you want more of that, so no worries there. It leans heavy on the comedy--and for something that clocks in at an hour-forty-five or nearly there, you'd think you'd feel it dragging. But Connolly's style and jokes make you forget about the time investment--it's worth it.

Now, there are no features on the disc, so I'm afraid I can't tout the thing for that. But thinking over it, I'm not sure what else you could stick on here. You've got built-in commentary on the program itself, and the only other thing that might work would be extra footage from Connolly's gigs--but hey, there are other discs for those, right? Regardless, this disc is worthy of at least a rental, though comedy fans should plonk down the coin.