Sir Billy Connolly has said he will no longer do stand-up comedy.
The 77-year-old, who started out in the business back in the 1970s, was hoping to keep performing in some capacity after officially retiring in 2018.
However, Connolly has now said his Parkinson’s diagnosis, which he revealed publicly in 2013, has made “his brain work differently.”
“I’m finished with stand-up,” he told Sky News. “It was lovely, and it was lovely being good at it. It was the first thing I was ever good at, and I’m delighted and grateful to it.
“The Parkinson’s has made my brain work differently, and you need a good brain for comedy. [Stand-up] is a madly exciting thing to do, it’s a delight and it’s a privilege.”
Connolly’s zany brand of off-the-cuff observational comedy won him a legion of fans and he was voted the greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in both 2007 and 2010.
But despite taking a step back from comedy, Connolly refuses to let the Parkinson’s diagnosis define him.
“I’m always being asked to go to Parkinson’s things and spend time with Parkinson’s people, having lunch or something like that. And I don’t approve of it,” he said.
‘I don’t think you should let Parkinson’s define you and all your pals be Parkinson’s people.
‘I don’t think it’s particularly good for you. So I don’t do it.”
Now, Connolly is working as an artist, having recently launched new work Born on a Rainy Day and sold pieces for thousands of pounds.
“I just started to draw not knowing what it was going to be, and it’s turned into this,” he said.
