Bill Bailey has been on the TV almost constantly for the last two years. Being team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a role perfect for Bill, as music is what he's good at. He also plays Manny in the fantastic Black Books, the second series of which was recently shown on Channel 4.
With these major appearances under his belt I didn't expect to have to explain who the man I was going to see at the weekend was. Yet no one knew.
This is not to say he is a little-known stand up comedian - was show in Nottingham sold out and Bailey has been touring the country since February. Once you have seen Bill live once there is no going back, you are a loyal follower.
The thing is, Bill Bailey's stand up shows are more memorable than his TV appearances. Here he is united with his keyboard, his guitar, and the funny stick that makes whooping noises. He is free to use big words and to drift into impromptu rants. Away from the scripts and the cameras he is quite wonderfully unique.
Bill made me laugh as soon as he came on stage, his determined stride incongruous with his bohemian appearance. Moving seamlessly from joke to joke, Bill introduced disappointment as the theme of the evening. He confessed to seeking it out wherever he can (`that's why I buy Kinder Surprise') and it is this that makes up much of his live performances.
Beside disappointment, Bill's second passion is music. He manages to take a dig at just about every genre going. He rips off Busted in his tribute to Chart music, laments Avril Lavigne's disastrously supportive parents and ridicules Slayer despite actually liking them. Their concert, which he went to last year, was `hilarious' and of course disappointing. Believe it or not, he even dreams up what Portishead might sound like if they were to cover Zip-e-dee-do-da. (Enter stick instrument that makes the whooping noises).
Despite finding much hilarity in the show, I would have to complain that Bill occasionally drifts into old material. There were several moments where he reeled off a joke he has used before word for word. Don't do it Bill! It makes me question the authenticity of any of his weird digressions, surely they are not all scripted?
What is so enjoyable about the set is that it celebrates the tedious things in life, and somehow makes them magical. I am now safe in the knowledge of just what is so wrong with shopping at Argos and exactly what might lie behind the doors from which the catalogued goods appear.
Next time Bill is in town go and see him, you won't be disappointed. As for the whooping stick, it really has to be seen to be believed.
www.billbailey.co.uk
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