Film his hobby, comedy his craft

A veteran performer and wildly popular stage comedian all over the world, Billy Connolly seems to always be on the verge of something bigger in the United States but never quite breaks through. With roles in both “Timeline” and “The Last Samurai,” perhaps the Scottish Connolly has finally found his stateside niche.

Speaking from his home in Malta, a converted 200-year-old schoolhouse, he explains. “Being a comedian who works live like me, a guy who works the concert halls, the strange thing is being live is a bit like being dead. American show business really depends on being on television, being in the public eye all the time. When you’re away on tour for a few months, you come back and people have never heard of you, they don’t get a report back on you and you fall off the radar.”

In “Timeline,” Connolly plays an archeologist who becomes ensnared in a corporate scheme that includes an accidentally discovered “wormhole,” which sends him to 1357 France. It is up to his son, played by Paul Walker, and a group of students to bring him back.

“There’s a lot of young, handsome people in it,” he says, “so it’s good to have me for balance. I thought it might be awkward with Paul Walker, with me being Billy Connolly and him being a heartthrob, but it turned out extremely pleasant. My only concern really was falling down in the mud.”

Connolly’s wife, Pamela Stephenson, recently published “Bravemouth,” a follow-up to “Billy,” her popular biography on Connolly. And Connolly just recorded a voice for the animated film “Angela and Her No Good Sister.” But he is most anxious to get back to performing comedy for live audiences.

“I love being in films,” he says. “It’s rather nice. But my manager and I have always looked at my life in film as an expensive hobby. I consider myself a comedian who acts sometimes. I’m very proud to be a comedian. I think it’s a noble craft.”

-- Mark Olsen