Bill Bailey: The man, the musician, the comic, the troll, the legend

Bill Bailey. No, no, he’s not dead yet – which has been a bit of a theme with some of these articles of late – but he is dead funny. And it’s also 20 years since the “part man, part troll” first started to make waves by winning the Time Out comedy award of 1995. Bill Bailey - Limboland Part musician, part comedian ... part …

[hiker]

Lovely break from tech for a Saturday morning. Off to the tardis of toasters...

[g e]

His Metallica skit is utter genius

The sonic juxtaposition is on another level. If anyone wants to know what makes BB funny this is surely one of the headline snippets of the man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98xNx87hRbU

[frank ly]

re. Comedy Store You Tube link

You've sent me on a diversion that's lasted 30 minutes so far. I'll get back to you if I can think of anything else. Thank you!

P.S. He was great in Black Books.

[Triggerfish]

Re: re. Comedy Store You Tube link

Dave's syndrome. :)

[i steal your leccy]

Shame he never got that part in the Lord Of The Rings.

It don't get more Tolkienesque than Mr Bailey!

[s. pam]

Wrong wrong wrong El Reg!

We saw Bill Bailey perform live last week in Maidenhead - he's already on tour.

Sadly he used some recycled bits and is still working out what might be funny. We were a bit disappointed having seen him quite a fe times.

Caveat Emptor.

[Anonymous Coward]

"his new Limboland world tour"

Not that new. I saw Bill doing the Limboland tour in Aus in October last year.

[Zog_but_not_the_first]

Don't do that!

I thought it was going to be an obituary.

[Bloodbeastterror]

Songs are *never* funny...

... except Bill's. Magic. "The deer is now blind and falls into a ravine"... Awesome.

[Dabooka]

Re: Songs are *never* funny...

Allow me to just park this here

[Tim 49]

"prostrate cancer"

It's a bugger when you lack the get up & go.

[x 7]

Re: "prostrate cancer"

"prostrate cancer prevention"

yeah - it must be one of those lying down diseases

[W Donelson]

A National Treasure

.. for sure.

Worth a trillion Cameron pig boys.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Billy Bragg paradoy

Truly excellent, and as you say, probably not something that Bragg himself would be upset over. Another excellent one is the Chris de Burgh/Beautiful Ladies parody. Somehow, though, de Burgh never struck me as the kind of person who'd approve of that one.

[MyffyW]

Re: Billy Bragg paradoy

"I used to buy my chips, from an oppressive chip shop regime" - classic

[Bill M]

"selling doors door-to-door."

BIll B: Knocks on door.

Me: Opens door.

Bill B: "Could I interest you in buying a door?"

Me: "I already have one. You may have noticed when you knocked on it"

[pewpie]

RIP Ol' Bill.

Used to be a huuuge Bill Bailey fan.. then, one day, I remember watching in horror as I saw his undying comedy soul leave his body on the TV, and wave goodbye forever.. as he fronted for a fucking corrupt political party.

Since then he has never been the same.. and never will be again.

[Bloodbeastterror]

Re: RIP Ol' Bill.

"fronted for a fucking corrupt political party"

I find this hard to believe. Which one? Surely they're all golden?

[pewpie]

Re: RIP Ol' Bill.

Indeed.. Take your pick.. telling you which one would be meaningless, as they're all the same.

[Mike Bell]

Re: RIP Ol' Bill.

Aw, come on, now. Anyone who describes David Cameron as being a 'congealed laminated weasel' can't be that bad.

[Quortney Fortensplibe]

Re: RIP Ol' Bill.

"...Anyone who describes David Cameron as being a 'congealed laminated weasel' can't be that bad..."

Nah. "C3P0 made of Spam" is still the best Cameron comparison.

[Anonymous Coward]

The funniest thing I've hear recently is

“There’s people on Twitter following car-parks!”

[lohankally56]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i like this

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you

for pointing me at some Bill Bailey gems I hadn't seen before, like the Death Metal stuff and teh Ski Sunday bit. Brilliant!

[tommitytom]

He signed my Theregnome many years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJY5vdX-C9k

[Tim Worstal]

It's ever so slightly odd to....

....see people you know from your youth being successful and famous.

" In 1984 he and Longworth formed the Rubber Bishops comedy duo,"

Yes, one of their bits was a lion taming act with the Yellow Pages as the lions. Not sure why it was funny but it was.....the name itself came from the fortuitous finding of a couple of cassocks in a cupboard at a gig venue (in the crypt of a church maybe?) as I recall...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: It's ever so slightly odd to....

Yes, I had the good fortune to see the Rubber Bishops in the Comedy Store back in the day. The sketch that has stuck in my mind to this day involved them acting out Dire Straits' song "Romeo and Juliet", where Romeo turns up late and drunk. Holding a kebab.

Rarely have I laughed so much. He wasn't famous at the time, but it was pretty clear Bill Bailey was going places even then.

[Tim Worstal]

Re: It's ever so slightly odd to....

I very rarely saw them as an act. Toby lived in my spare bedroom and also worked for me as a bartender at the time (OK, some of about this time).....

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to admit I clicked the article link a little bit worried, since I thought it might be an obituary. Thank you for putting the information that he is still alive in the first paragraph

[happy but not clappy]

Almost killed

By him back in the day. He did a Rubber Bishops tour with Sean Lock in the mid eighties when comedy clubs were the thing. I never knew dying laughing was possible, though I came close that night. He did it on purpose. It would have been murder.

[wowfood]

I can't believe it

An entire article on Bill Bailey, and not once did I see a mention of Chris de Burgh.

Saying that I'm going to be seeing him in December (Bill Bailey, not Chris de Burgh). Looking forward to that, also saw him for tinselworm in london, but if my seats were any further back I would have been outside. This time I'm practically front and center.

[dogged]

Re: I can't believe it

or his magnificent Eyebrow.

[Quortney Fortensplibe]

Rubber Chicken Circuit

"...venturing out into radio commentary, acting in both sitcoms and feature films as well as selling out the Royal Albert Hall, appearing regularly on TV and releasing many best-selling DVDs and albums..."

Or "would turn up to the opening of an envelope" as we used to call it.

That said, at least Bill Bailey is quite funny and has done something to justify his inclusion on the 'Rubber Chicken Circuit'. How people like Germaine-fucking-Greer can still manage to make a [probably very comfortable] living doing likewise is beyond me.

[JDX]

Black Books

Still one of my very favourite shows, although I think Moran has as much to do with that as Bailey. Maybe more - a near-perfect combination.

[Ugotta B. Kiddingme]

Thank you, El Reg!

As a Yank previously unaware of the supremely talented Bill Bailey, I offer my most profound thanks for introducing me Bailey's wonderful wit and musical mastery. As pointed out in the article, that's an exceedingly rare combination when both are done well - the only other comedic performer with THAT level of musical ability I can think of is the legendary Victor Borge.

And so now I must annoy my wife* for the next few days as I watch/listen to every bit of Bill Bailey I can find.

* not that she particularly dislikes comedians or musicians - just me "overdosing" on one performer or group for an extended period.

[Zmodem]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt8aAy_8Ub4

[JimmyPage]

Hindi-Indie

the mash-up of Dueling Banjos/Creep with the Indian band and choir is probably my favourite.

Oh, hang on .... how about "Cars" playing on a rack of bicycle horns ?