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Why is Billy Connolly cutting down on swearing?

Sir Billy Connolly's raucous routines have been making audiences laugh for decades but, as he revealed on The Afternoon Show, the time has come to tone things down.

In over 40 years of performing Billy Connolly never wrote down his act. Instead he preferred to find out where his tall tales could be taken on stage.

He explained, “I would get an idea and say it on stage, and the following night I would add to it, or subtract from it, or go sideways with it.

“It’s a funny process. I have nothing to do with it. I didn’t plan it and I didn’t practice for it.

“And then when I was bored with it, it stopped growing. I would let it slide out the road and start on a new one.”

So when Billy decided to end his stand-up career in 2018 it meant that his legendary routines had also finally come to an close — in a live arena, at least.

But now, they could be put down on paper.

Billy Connolly on writing things down

Billy Connolly explains how he never wrote anything down before going on stage.

The publishers of his new book, Tall Tales and Wee Stories, copied out Billy's most famous routines word for word as they had been performed, and asked him to edit them.

But one things is different about the printed versions of the routines: not all of Billy's famously colourful language made the transition from stage to page.

"I cut down some of the swearing. he admitted. "[It's] weird when you’re reading; it's much weirder than when you’re hearing it on tape."