Bill Bailey is a comedian, musician, writer, author, director, presenter and keen stand-up paddle-boarder known for his live shows such as Part Troll, Tinselworm, Qualmpeddler and Limboland and his work on the television programmes Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and QI.

2018
Bill is currently filming a comedy drama ‘In The Long Run’ created by Idris Elba for Sky
Bill continues to tour as well as being busy developing more ideas for film and television with his own production company, Glassbox Productions

2017
Curated the Cabinet of Curiosities exhibition at Hull Maritime Museum as part of Hull’s 2017 City of Culture
Walked 100 miles along the Icknield Way and the Ridgeway Path to raise money for Stand Up To Cancer

2016
Continuation of Limboland
Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to British Birds published by Quercus Books

2015
Bill Bailey re-imagines one of his most popular songs in this spoof music video, Love Song
Bill raised over £10k for Cancer Research UK by walking 87 miles of the Ridgeway Path
Limboland UK tour & Vaudeville West End run

2014
Scandinavian tour
Performed live at Edinburgh Castle
Toured Australia & New Zealand with his Limboland show

2012
Bill started work on his new show, Qualmpeddler, taking it on a tour of the Highlands and Ireland in late Spring and on to Australia and New Zealand
Began filming Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero, a two-part documentary about naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace for BBC Two

2011
Bill headlined the Saturn Stage at the Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth, sharing a line-up that included Slayer, Motorhead, Biffy Clyro, Metallica and Slipknot and performing to 60,000 metal and comedy fans
Bill recorded the album Bill Bailey In Metal.
Toured New York, Boston, Chicago, and Toronto.
Appeared in the Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

2010
Dandelion Mind tour… and getting a carnivorous plant named after him ‘Nepenthes Bill Bailey’
Bill Bailey’s Birdwatching Bonanza was transmitted in January 2010 on Sky1 HD and Sky1
Bill played the part of Angus the hangman for John Landis’ feature film Burke and Hare
Bill wrote and directed short film Carpark Babylon for the Little Crackers series for Sky1

2009
Bill toured his Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra show culminating in a performance at London’s O2 Arena

2008
Bill wrote and performed his Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall with Anne Dudley and the BBC Concert Orchestra. This was broadcast on BBC Two in 2009 and went on to win two International Awards at the Banff International TV Festival
Bill appeared in Channel 4’s Skins, and performed at a host of summer festivals, including the inaugural Comedy Session at the iconic Eden Project in Cornwall
2007
Bill took his audio-visual comedic extravaganza, Tinselworm, on a sold-out arena tour of the UK and a subsequent West End run at the Gielgud Theatre

2006
Bill appeared on our screens on Sunday afternoons hosting Wild Thing I Love You, a Channel 4 wildlife show

2005
At the Edinburgh Festival, Bill played the slouchy, unkempt Oscar in The Odd Couple. ‘…a role he was born to play.’ – The Telegraph

2004
Bill took the show Part Troll on tour in the UK and worldwide culminating in a DVD recording at the Hammersmith Apollo

2003
At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Bill joined the all-comedian cast in an extremely well-received production of 12 Angry Men, as the restrained Juror 4

2002
Bill took over as team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He remained in the captain’s chair on the show for 11 series before departing in 2008

2001
Bill’s tour Bewilderness played for an extended run in New York and was described in The New York Times as “a treat for the funny bone, the brain and the ear”, and The Telegraph pronouncing him “a hobbit with a wicked sense of humour”

2000
Bill appeared as a small-time drug dealer in the Craig Ferguson penned comedy film Saving Grace

1999 Bill appeared in acclaimed comedy Spaced as Bilbo Bagshot; comic store owner and die-hard Hawk the Slayer fan
Bill landed the role alongside Dylan Moran in the award-winning sitcom Black Books as increasingly deranged ex-accountant Manny Bianco

1998
Bill wrote and starred in BBC Two show, Is it Bill Bailey?; a mixture of musical parodies and surreal sketches

1994
Bill teamed up with Sean Lock for their Edinburgh show Rock, before taking his first solo show to the Edinburgh Festival in 1995 and earning a Perrier nomination in 1996

Unfortunately, despite respectable viewing figures, Channel 4 have decided not to commission a new series. The programme did receive a lot of praise, however, and has left a positive impact in the environments of many endangered British animals.

It’s Godless, by the Dandy Warhols, and is taken from their album “13 Tales of Urban Bohemia”.

It’s called a theremin and has been most famously used in 1950s science-fiction films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still. Bill is one of the few modern representatives of the instrument, and has presented a Radio 4 show called “Good Vibrations: The Story of the Theremin”, and written an article on the subject for the Guardian.

The pedal is a Roland GR-33, and works with the divided pickup Roland GK-3, which converts the strings into a digital signal. It is then possible to apply effects to the MIDI signal using the pedal, or to connect it to a MIDI-compatible device such as a keyboard or a computer.

It’s not there. The back of the DVD erroneously states that it’s on the Bewilderness DVD, but as far as I’m aware Bill never performed it as part of the Bewilderness tour. It was originally a sketch from Is it Bill Bailey, and a version of it is available on The Ultimate Collection… Ever!. The chapter selection on the Cosmic Jam also names Chapter 2 “Busking in Europe” when it is actually a three blokes in a pub joke.

IMDB used to credit Bill as being in this film, and many people seem to be under the impression that he appeared as a zombie – probably confusing him with one of the two bald, beard-sporting zombie twins that feature prominently. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright confirm on the DVD commentary that he was unfortunately busy with other commitments at the time, so could not have a role.

Dylan Moran has stated in a recent article that there will not be, although he alludes vaguely to the possibility of transferring it to the stage.

These are his top 10 albums, as listed in the Sunday Express S:2 magazine on 24th October 2004:

Talking Heads – Remain in Light (1980)
The Clash – Combat Rock (1982)
Beck – Odelay (1996)
Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
King Curtis – Live at Fillmore West (1971)
The Dandy Warhols – 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia (2000)
Tom Waits – Blue Valentine (1978)
Lamb – Fear of Fours (1999)
Elvis Costello – When I Was Cruel (2002)
David Bowie – Ziggie Stardust (1972)
Bill has also written that:

“I remain a big fan of The Clash, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads David Byrne of course..I was a hopeless devotee of Chrissie Hynde for many years – I do like a bit of twiddly but followed by something loud, like the Queens of the Stone Age, or Sugar..then quiet again with Yo La Tengo and a smidgen of Javanese Gamelan…then wistful with Beth Orton…then off again with the Chilli Peppers… In the car CD at the moment is PJ Harvey, Snow Patrol and The Streets…Top Geeza! My most recent gig I attended was Kraftwerk which was magnificent.”

A songbook of some of Bill’s most popular tracks, with piano and guitar parts, is now available in our online shop here. A selection of other guitar tabs are available from 911tabs.com.

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