'Billy Connolly is god'
Comedian makes a rare public appearance to accept an award
Sir Billy Connolly has made a rare public appearance to accept an award near his home in Florida.
The 82-year-old comedian won the award for artistic excellence at the Key West Film Festival yesterday.
He made reference to his Parkinson’s disease when he accepted the accolade – shaped like a water droplet – from his Hollywood friends Steve Buscemi and Aidan Quinn.
He said: ‘'I walk with a stick because I suffer from a horrible illness. It’s a joy to live among you and it’s a joy to be among you tonight. I don’t often do this kind of thing, but it’s smashing.’
‘I have to thank you for this award. I don’t know what it is, it’s a blue thing… It’s a joy and it will go beside my other prize.’
His wife, former Not The Nine O’Clock News star Pamela Stephenson, was also with him at the event.
Reservoir Dogs star Buscemi, 67, became friends with Sir Billy when they appeared together in the 1998 Stanley Tucci film The Impostors, and he yesterday recalled that Sir Billy was ‘so funny and told the best stories’,adding: ‘It’s wonderful to be here to honour our friend Billy Connolly.’
He recalled: ‘One day on set Billy offhandedly mentioned, "You know if you’re ever in Scotland, Pamela and I have a castle, you should drop by." So we did.
‘That’s the sort of people Billy and Pamela are. They welcomed us to their place in Scotland not once but twice, three times, four times. It was always the best time we had.’
Connolly formerly owned Candacraig House in Aberdeenshire and would regularly host big-name stars there.
Buscemi also spoke about Sir Billy’s stand-up, saying: ‘Watching Billy as a performer, you’ve never seen anything like it, when he can start to tell a story, you go off on a tangent, and that tangent goes off on another tangent, and then another one, and then another one… and then he always brings you back.’
Desperately Seeking Susan star Quinn, 66, said: ‘Americans don't know that if you live in an English-speaking country, anywhere outside of America, Billy Connolly is god.
‘We need to thank him for the laughter, the joy that he brings, the devoted fans that he has in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia… you cannot imagine the cultish nature of it. So I want to thank him for the millions of laughs and the joy that he brought to all of us for all those years.’
The actor became emotional as he told of his late brother Paul ‘who was also a huge fan, and he was dying of a very aggressive cancer, and there are only two things that took him out of his extreme pain: The Imposters… but mostly YouTube videos of Billy doing his stand-up. Those were the only things that gave him joy and took him out of his pain. I will be forever grateful to you for that. We love you Billy and we thank you for everything.’
The Glaswegian comic was presented with the award before a screening of The Aristocrats, the documentary about how comedians put their own personality into the world’s dirtiest jokes to mark its 20th anniversary
Sir Billy moved to Florida when doctors advised him to live in a warmer climate after his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2013.
Here’s the full footage from the event, including a reel of highlights from his long career:
Published: 16 Nov 2025
