Sir Billy Connolly gave fans a health update during a pre-recorded acceptance speech for the prestigious Bafta fellowship, as he joked that “now my career is out the window”.
The 79-year-old Scottish comedian now lives in the US and was not able to attend the event in person but recorded an acceptance speech which was played to the celebrity audience on Sunday.
Sir Billy was honoured for a career spanning more than five decades and made reference to his Parkinson’s disease as he accepted the gong, saying: “I am very proud to receive this. Life is good. I haven’t been on the stage for about two years. This is kind of nice. It suits me.
“Symptom spotters among you may notice that my left is different from my right. It is just one of these things. Parkinson’s disease. I suffer badly from the disease.
“My wife puts on my clothes in the morning and takes them off at night. It is a jolly life. I have got no complaints.”
Sir Billy, who was knighted in 2017 for services to entertainment and charity, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013 and retired from live performances five years later, but has continued to record programmes and make TV appearances.
After telling anecdotes illustrating how the world has changed in his 50 years of comedy, he added: “I went from strength to strength on television and here we are today getting this award.
“I couldn’t be happier. It has made me such a happy man getting these good attendance medals now my career is out the window.”
He joins a prestigious list of recipients including Sir David Attenborough, Dame Julie Walters, Sir Trevor McDonald, Dame Joanna Lumley, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.
Sir Billy began his working life as a welder in Glasgow before embarking on a career as a folk singer and musician alongside Gerry Rafferty in The Humblebums.
He then went on to develop the stand-up act that made him famous as well as earning a reputation as an accomplished actor.
Sir Billy won praise for his role opposite Dame Judi Dench in Mrs Brown in 1997, as well as The Man Who Sued God and The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies.
In 2002, Sir Billy was presented with a Bafta Special Award and made a CBE in the 2003 Queen’s birthday honours .
In 2010 he was given the highest honour Glasgow could bestow upon him, the Freedom of the City.
Two years later he was honoured with a lifetime achievement award by Bafta Scotland for six decades in showbusiness.
Sir Billy has been married to actress-turned-clinical psychologist and author Pamela Stephenson since 1989.
His most recent projects have been TV shows including 2018’s Billy Connolly: Made In Scotland, Billy Connolly’s Great American Trail in 2019 and Gold’s Billy Connolly Does… which aired this year.
