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In recent years, Billy Connolly, one of Scotland’s greatest cultural exports, has become as well known for his travel documentaries and movie roles as for the stand-up comedy that first defined him after failed attempts at a folk-music career.

A decent banjo player, Connolly proved far more successful at talking between the songs, his honest thoughts pouring from the stage with a circumlocutory delivery that has now become a staple of stand-up and flows through to a younger generation (Danny Bhoy).

The other stylistic device that helped to make Connolly a household name is his furious and glorious overuse of words that begin with f and rhyme with truck; fans did not miss out on profanity in this performance, as Billy, reminding everyone that he is “really old”, raged on into the night, speaking out against the “beige-ness” of the world and of how we all have a duty to stop the boredom.

He told us the end of the world was coming with war and financial meltdowns, with global warming (“I got a suntan in Dunedin!”) and with people dressed in three-piece suits (“liar’s clothes!”).

Connolly will always have a special place in the hearts of New Zealanders because he married one of our own (Pamela Stephenson) – and with perfect timing he begins the show with a little Kiwi anecdote, telling us to take responsibility for our own weather rather than cursing in his direction for bringing it with him.

From there it was off to cover familiar themes (the peculiarities of English expressions, the madness of conversations with strangers) and in some cases to flat- out repetition (he seems to delight in talking about fat and ugly people; surfing against the PC tides).

When he did cover old ground it was generally still funny and, even if the unstructured nature of his show (“I have to tell you another story first before I tell you the first one because then it will make more sense”) did mean some conversational cul-de-sacs turned in to dead-ends, Connolly’s ability to mock himself (again usually with a barrage of expletives) drew a steady stream of applause.

He was preaching to the converted and while he’s offered better sermons and there are now sharper players who roll out more interesting material, there’s nothing quite like seeing Billy Connolly. And this will probably be one of his last visits here in this capacity.

We were there. Overall I agree with the review. Going out on a Monday night though is not the ideal time-I was flat, maybe he was as well. The performance did not give me the buzz that I have enjoyed before. Some material was a revisit, and he even resorted to telling a joke!

Otherwise what was notable?

1 The number of very large people

2 A plethora of Scottish accents-the most since I have heard since living here

3 An observation-is it only people with tickets in the middle of the row who feel comfortable with turning up late?