Parenting & Family Quote by Billy Connolly

Connolly’s praise lands because it’s both sincere and a little bit of a send-up of sincerity. The line starts in the register of genuine longing: childhood reading, a long-held desire, the pilgrim’s arc from imagination to arrival. That’s the emotional engine. But then he accelerates into repetition - “loved,” “always wanted,” “delightful,” “absolutely loved” - until the enthusiasm becomes almost performative, like he’s knowingly over-seasoning the compliment. In a comedian’s mouth, excess is a wink.

The diction does a lot of cultural work. “Smashing” is old-school British approval, faintly posh, faintly anachronistic, the kind of word that makes the speaker sound like he’s narrating a travelogue from another era. That’s the joke and the charm: he’s not trying to sound like an expert on Japan; he’s leaning into the ordinary tourist’s awe, filtered through a Scottish comic’s genial persona. It’s admiration without the burden of authority.

The subtext is also about permission. Connolly frames Japan as an earned delight: not just a trendy destination, but something he’s been quietly curious about since childhood. That protects the praise from feeling like a drive-by “I went there and it was nice.” It signals a deeper, almost nerdy anticipation, then pays it off with blunt, uncomplicated joy.

Contextually, it fits Connolly’s public style: big-hearted observational humor where wonder is a punchline’s cousin. He makes the simplest verdict sound like a story, and the story sound like a laugh.