Highland Humor, Anyone?

Of Scotland’s three living national treasures--Sean Connery, Billy Connolly and Dolly the sheep--only one isn’t a household name over here.

It’s our loss.

Billy Connolly, a banjo-playing, shaggy-haired Highland comedian with a manic barrage of one-liners and rants, wants to make Yankees laugh.

“If you don’t get America, you’ve had half a career,” said Connolly, 58. “It would be nice to entertain them because they’re the best entertainers in the world. It’s Mickey Mouse and Coca-Cola.”

Connolly has had two bites of the American apple: Sitcom fans might remember him from his short stint during the 1990s on “Head of the Class” and later on his TV show, “Billy.”

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he was a young misfit who became a shipyard welder, serial joker and, for some reason, a huge Hank Williams fan.

Armed with a banjo, Connolly and a pal formed the folk band Humblebums in the late 1960s. When his intros lasted longer than the songs themselves, he left to do comedy.

“I don’t try to be funny at all,” he insisted. “But I have a kind of funny angle toward the world generally.”

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In 1997, Connolly held his own next to Dame Judi Dench in “Mrs. Brown,” the film that probed the wee bond between Queen Victoria and her Scottish servant. He’s also had parts in “Absolution” with Richard Burton, “Crossing the Line” with Liam Neeson and “Muppet Treasure Island” as Billy Bones. He’ll be seen next in Barry Levinson’s “An Everlasting Piece” and “Beautiful Joe” with Sharon Stone.

But stand-up remains this Scotsman’s bread and pudding. “Comedy has a life-affirming thing that really appeals to me,” he said.

What’s his strategy for reconnecting with Americans?

“What you have to do is find your own audience. There’s no such thing as an American audience. You have to find your own. Like, watch television ads and they’ll say, ‘Oh, your favorite polkas in one album!’ I don’t have a favorite polka, but somebody must. And these albums sell by the barrel-load. So what they do is find the audience, even if it’s just for some yodeling ukulele player. And that just takes time. I used to come here and do Carnegie Hall, but 18 months later, nobody knew I’d been born.”

Has he ever bombed?

“Many, many years ago I was in Dundee in Scotland and I told a Hitler joke. ‘Next time there’ll be no more Mr. Nice Guy’ was the punch line--and not one person got it. I collapsed into hysterics. I thought it was the funniest thing that ever had happened to me. Not one person in the room--and there were 3,000 people in the room--not one person got it. I thought it was the funniest moment of my life: total stunned silence.”

So many taboos have fallen in comedy. How does that make him feel?

“The more, the merrier. Taboos are nothing but velvet ropes. They mean nothing. They’re mostly hypocritical. Every stage should be some kind of forum--it might be a very slight thing you’re talking about, like your mother-in-law or immigration. But it might be a very deep thing, like how you see the planet and what makes you very frightened. It’s a lovely forum for ideas. If there are taboos, it takes you closer to the book burner and, in history, they’ve never done anybody any good at all.”

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What truths does he leave his audiences with?

“Nothing much. I used to think it was the world according to me. And then I realized it was me talking to me. It’s all about me! I thought it was about everything, but it’s about me--my attitude to everything, particularly my attitude to me and my inadequacies, really. It’s the opposite from what I thought it was. That’s why I don’t like to analyze it--because I’m invariably wrong.”

Is his humor genetic?

“Aye. I caught my son being funny one day. I came in the room and he was with his friends and he was mouthing off and they were screaming and I thought, ‘Good on you!’ Because you know the way you don’t do it for your dad? My father would have said, ‘A comedian? Are you kidding? He’s the least funny man in the world!’ As far as he was concerned, I was this drip in a duffel coat--hopeless case, jail, spotty, punching people, never passed exams, a loser. But maybe they don’t know anything. Maybe none of us know anything because we’re all hiding from each other.”