Comedian Billy Connolly explains to a bagpipe player that he has Parkinson's after the musician spotted his hands were shaking while filming his new show The Great American Trail

September 13, 2019       By Richard Spillett

• Comedian is touring the U.S. for new ITV show about Scottish immigration
• He met a band of pipers and drummers in New Jersey as part of the roadtrip
• Piper thought he was pretending to play, but Connolly quickly made light of it 

Billy Connolly had to explain he had Parkinson's to a musician who thought he was pretending to play the bagpipes in his latest TV show.

In a poignant moment from the Scottish comedian's Great American Trailprogramme, the 76-year-old was speaking to a band he met in New Jersey.

One of the pipers spotted his hand moving and asked him if he played, adding: 'I see your fingers going.'

Connolly made light of the comment, replying: 'No, I've got Parkinson's, it's second best to playing the pipes.'

He said afterwards: 'It affected me a lot more deeply than I thought... I'm scared, shaking.' 

Billy Connolly was talking to a pipes and drums band in the U.S. as part of his new TV show

He had to explain he had Parkinson's, but made light of the question by adding: 'It's second best to playing the pipes'

The Great American Trail, which sees Connolly travelling across America to experience the route Scottish immigrants took when they arrived in the states in the 18th Century. 

As part of his trip around the U.S. for his latest show, he was speaking to a Scottish-style pipes and drums band in the north east of the country. 

It is his comeback to TV after he retired from stand-up last year.

Connolly was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease six years ago and has spoken of the impact the disease is having on his life. When he retired from stand-up, he said that he was struggling to cope on stage with live shows because of his condition.

He said he could no longer stride around the stage, like he used to, and Parkinson's had made him become 'rooted to the spot and afraid to move'.

Connolly is retracing the route taken by 18th Century Scottish immigrants to the US for TV

Connolly spoke candidly about his condition in the BBC documentary Made In Scotland earlier this year.

He said: 'There is no denying it, I am 75 [at the time of filming], I have got Parkinson's and I am at the wrong end of the telescope of life, I am at the point where the yesteryears mean more than the yesterdays.

'Because it is back there in my childhood and youth when I go to all those things that made me that live keenest in my memory now. My life, it's slipping away and I can feel it and I should.'

He added: 'I'm 75, I'm near the end, I'm a damn sight nearer the end than I am the beginning but it doesn't frighten me, it's an adventure and it is quite interesting to see myself slipping away.'  

Billy Connolly's Great American Trail continues on ITV Thursday at 9pm. 

WHAT IS PARKINSON'S? THE INCURABLE DISEASE THAT STRUCK BOXER MUHAMMAD ALI

Parkinson’s disease affects one in 500 people, and around 127,000 people in the UK live with the condition.

Figures also suggest one million Americans also suffer.

It causes muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, tremors, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue, an impaired quality of life and can lead to severe disability.

It is a progressive neurological condition that destroys cells in the part of the brain that controls movement.

Sufferers are known to have diminished supplies of dopamine because nerve cells that make it have died.

There is currently no cure and no way of stopping the progression of the disease, but hundreds of scientific trials are underway to try and change that.  

The disease claimed the life of boxing legend Muhammad Ali in 2016.

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