We have all done something dumbass although there are some who would never admit it. I couldn’t manage to cover all the stupid things I’ve done. Thankfully, most of my dumbass moves haven’t been published for the whole world to read — as if the whole world would even be interested. Billy Connolly maybe not so fortunate. He was recently interviewed about his involvement with The Hobbit, and either Billy was drunk or really is an idiot or the reporter chose to take comical remarks and disparage him by highlighting them as if they tend toward sincere, or the reporter is an idiot too. Whatever was happening, there’s dumbass going on somewhere in this exchange about Tolkien’s work:
So, how many times has Connolly read The Hobbit? “I’ve never read The Hobbit. Never.” What about Lord of the Rings? “Never read Lord of the Rings,” replied the 69-year-old Scottish actor. “I could never read Tolkien. I always found him unreadable … I didn’t read [the books], and I normally don’t like people who have! The people who love it, they’re kind of scary. They talk all this gobbledygook and they think of it as the Holy Grail.”
Yeah, I’m gonna go with drunk. :D Surely Billy knows it’s dangerous to make sarcastic remarks to a journalist. Okay, I will give him the idea that some of the Tolkien fans do spout things unrecognizable to 99% of the population, and before I took the time to seriously read Tolkien and get to know some of his fans, I was also prejudiced and thought it was odd. But at least I had the good sense to keep my mouth shut about it, and I’m not even beholding to any of them for part of my living.
Wait! Billy sobers a bit, er, I mean comes to his senses toward the end:
How, then, does Connolly plan to deal with Tolkien fans who will lob at him obscure questions about The Hobbit for the rest of his life?
“Usually I just make stuff up because I don’t know what I’m talking about,” Connolly admitted. “But invariably, there seems to be a sector of the press that is consumed by The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and it’s indicative of that notion, that it’s the Grail. So whatever I say is rubbish, but then I become answerable for it! People get all upset, they get terribly upset about anything that has to do with it, as if it were real! It’s a story! Just relax! It’ll go away and you’ll be just fine. Don’t panic.”
read the rest here if you dare :D And don’t even bring up his comments about 48fps. LOL! Yes, I really am laughing.
Dealing with the press is almost like a contact sport where you have to keep from getting boxed in and hopefully can emerge with no bruises, so I’m not really down on Connolly, and he may be more clever than he appears. It’s doubtful journalists or others will be on his back with questions about Tolkien when he comes with answers like those. I also appreciate the belly laugh he gave me this morning. But all of this has reminded me I’m so glad Richard Armitage is not an idiot.
Dear Rich,
Thank you for being intelligent and thoughtful and well, for not being a dumbass, and especially for never going out in public drunk –at least not that the public is aware. And I’m confident you had the good sense to stay away from reporters. Hell yes, I’m biased. What do you think this blog is about?
Of course you do have an obvious advantage over Billy. When you look like this:
you can get away with almost anything. And given that, you’re still kind to your fans. Amazing.
Signed,
One of your crazy fans who would forgive you for sticking your foot in your mouth but glad I haven’t been tried on that yet. :DP.S. And thanks again for not letting us in on your politics. I really don’t want to know. It’s just one less thing to process.
No, don’t even bring up how completely insane I am for knowing so much about some guy from the U.K. who is going to be in a Peter Jackson production. What?! Yeah, sometimes it hits me that our guy Richard may actually make it big, may actually be a movie star despite his protestations, and you and I have been along for the ride.
Anyway, this insanity is still fun even if a few of us are infected with APM at times. :D
edit: speaking of dumbass, I published this under the wrong user name, which I’ve now corrected.
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RAFrenzy 
Spot on as usual, Frenz!
Sorry…I tried to give u the usual five star salute but my finger slipped as I am wearing my dumb ass crown today ; )
Five fingers is good. I sometimes get the one finger salute. :D
I quote my friend, Frenz,
“Dealing with the press is almost like a contact sport where you have to keep from getting boxed in and hopefully can emerge with no bruises.”
OUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!
LOL!
This is probably why I have never covered celebrities in my work. They would hate the sight of me, and I couldn’t deal with that.
:-P
I wonder…is it possible Connelly also didn’t read the books because the film script was somewhat different and he was concerned that reading the book would affect his interpretation of the role? Hard to know without seeing the script itself, though. Guessing here.
I don’t think he’s being a dumb ass, he’s just being a British comedian. I’m very familiar with his stand up and i can just imagine him on stage, making the audience cry with laughter as he says this.
I’ve even seen him make people howl with laughter as he recounts the abuse he received in his childhood.
Billy’s imitates his father, holding up a fist threateningly “Would you like some more!”
“I mean, what are you supposed to say to that?” Billy asks, then imitates the thinker’s pose and answers his ‘dad’. “Would a kick in the testicles be out of the question?”
Humour and sarcasm is Billy’s defence mechanism, it’s how he deals with life and it’s how he’s made his living. Don’t be too harsh on him. The idiot here is the reporter who either took it out of context to start a furore, or just doesn’t get British humour.
He’s also dyslexic, which is probably why he didn’t read much of anything as a child.
Cat, Please don’t take me so seriously. I like Billy Connolly but couldn’t pass up the chance to get a laugh, which is exactly what he does. :D
But I do thank you for sharing about his life. :)
He is going to get some serious stick for this though, mainly from die hard Tolkenites.
But then I don’t think he’s afraid of that. As long as some people are laughing (which I’m sure is what he intended) he’ll be happy.
I think he was teasing and serious. He’s probably sick of answering these questions and having nothing of substance to say. I don’t blame him. The only part of this that was stupid was saying he doesn’t like Tolkien fans who’ve read the books. He was probably teasing, but that kind of sarcasm is hard to achieve in print.
Being British mysef it’s probably just his humour which loses it’s funniness when written down……otherwise yes probably drunk !!
I just took it as Billy Connolly being–Billy Connolly. His style of humor. Umfortunately stand-up doesn’t always translate well into print. You can’t see the “I am just winding you up” twinkle in his eyes, you know?
And yeah, some hardcore Tolkienistas will take umbrage.It’s inevitable.But he’s probably used to that. ;)
That’s just Billy being Billy! He always says stuff like that.
Oh, how I love Billy Connolly! :D
Just one point of clarification, but it is a very important one. Billy Connolly is NOT British. He is Scottish. Don’t ever let him *ever* hear you call him that. Ever! Wars have started for far less and my tartan’d peeps hold a grudge (ask the Campbells)… Also, Billy is a comedian first and a surprisingly good actor second. He has always been a wise ass and often a jackass, I suspect that half of that response was meant sarcastically.
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