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Billy Connolly says the best way to deal with a fear of death is to laugh in its face.

This article was updated on April 10, 2023. It discusses how Billy Connolly deals with the fear of death.

Comedian Billy Connolly says he uses comedy as a way of coping with his fear of illness and death.

The Glasgow born comic, who is 78, has Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer.

He discusses his approach in a BBC documentary about comedy, made for BBC Scotland last year. In that, fellow Scots comedians also share their thoughts on using comedy to cope with the darkness of life.

“Comedy can release you from your terror,” Connolly says.

“You can treat it lightly. It’s like the big bully at school. You can say: ‘I can beat him any day, tralala’ as long as he is not there. Comedy allows you to do that.”

Newspaper The Scotsman, also shared Connolly’s thoughts on the subject.

“The best way of dealing with the dark side of life is to laugh right in its face. Everybody knows death is coming. They try all sorts of tricks, religion etc, to deal with it. But comedy can release you from your terror,” it quotes him saying.

Humour and laughter is how Billy Connolly deals withe the fear of death and dying.

The ABC recently covered Billy Connolly and how he lives with Parkinson’s. It’s a great read.

You can also read more on how Billy Connolly deals with the fear of death since his Parkinson’s diagnosis and how that made him think about death every day here.

For Brian Ferguson’s article in The Scotsman newspaper about Connolly’s approach to death, go to: https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/billy-connolly-best-way-deal-fear-death-laugh-its-face-2884142

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