Peter Kay has shared a sad health update on Billy Connolly, saying the comedy legend is “not so good” as he continues to live with Parkinson’s disease.
Connolly, 82, was diagnosed with the degenerative condition in 2013 and retired from live performances five years later.
In a new interview at the Lyric theatre, Kay, 52, said, “I still keep in touch with Billy Connolly now and he’s not so good now, but he would still message and that.
“I think a lot of comedians in this country would not be doing what they did if it weren’t for him. I think so much of it is influenced by him, heavily. Amazing.”
Connolly has largely stepped back from public life, though he made a rare appearance last month to accept an award.
He was the guest of honour at the Key West Film Festival in Florida, where he received the award for artistic excellence and left the audience laughing despite relying on a walking stick as he crossed the stage.
Supporting himself with the stick and wearing fitted blue trousers, Connolly stood as actor Steve Buscemi handed him the blue, water-droplet-shaped award.
In a moving moment, Connolly told the crowd, “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 prizes.”
Last year, he told GB News that illness has felt “strange,” saying in February, “Being unwell is strange. Everybody else is OK and you’ve got this thing that’s wrong… you’re out of step.”
In another interview conducted by his wife, Pamela Stephenson, Connolly revealed he has suffered “serious falls” as his symptoms worsen. He said his balance has deteriorated, explaining, “It’s very difficult to see the progression exactly, because a lot of things come and go.
“Recently I’ve noticed a deterioration in my balance. That was never such a problem before, but in the last year that has come and it has stayed.
“For some reason, I thought it would go away, because a lot of symptoms have come and gone away… just to defy the symptom spotters. The shaking has reappeared.”
Known affectionately as “the Big Yin,” Connolly worked as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards before launching a folk-singing career.
When audiences responded more to his between-song storytelling than the music itself, he shifted to comedy full-time.
Across the 1970s, his anarchic, boundary-pushing humour pushed him to worldwide prominence.
He later expanded into film and television, becoming one of Britain’s most influential and beloved entertainers.
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