It was Freidenberg's special genius that anticipated the structural and semiotic approaches to myth and literatue. Image and Concept develops the notion that with the transition from mythological thinking to formal-logical concepts came the appearance of literature. Inherited mythological forms were reinterpreted conceptually: causalized, ethicized, generalized, and abstracted.

It is as a stand-up comedian that Connolly is best known. His observational comedy is idiosyncratic and often off-the-cuff. He talks about himself, who he is, where he's been, what he thinks and how he reacts to the world around him. He has outraged audiences, critics and, of course, the media with his free use of the word "fuck". He has used masturbation, blasphemy, defecation, flatulence, sex, his father's illness and his aunts' cruelty to entertain. By exploring these subjects with humour, Connolly has done much to strip away the taboos surrounding them. Yet he does not tell jokes in the conventional way.