Comedy genius Bill Bailey on beating the skinheads to a punchline

Jun 8 2008 Mickey Mcmonagle

Comedy pioneer Bill Bailey's solo career was launched at Edinburgh's Gilded Balloon - and he believes the Sunday Mail could create a new star with our Comedy Champ contest.

You could land a place in the final of So You Think You're Funny and follow in the footsteps of previous winners Peter Kay and Lee Mack.

Bill, 44, will compere the 21st anniversary show of SYTYF at the Festival Theatre on August 13 - and stage his own solo show at The Playhouse the following night - and he is delighted to be involved in the talent search's anniversary.

He said: "My first solo show was at the Gilded Balloon in 1995. I didn't go through the contest but there's a real sense of loyalty there.

"The contest is a huge thing - the fact it has lasted so long is testament to that.

"So many people apply every year. You see the roll call of winners and it's a Who's Who of comedy now. People have gone on to become huge stars.

"It's important when you're starting out to get an early boost to your confidence. Winning something like this or doing well in it would make you up your game a bit, focus a bit.

"The most important thing at that stage is do as many shows as you can. That's the way you learn your trade.

"For me, it was in my bones, I was always going to do this."

Bill started out in a more old-fashioned way - persuading club owners in his native Bath to let him try a comedy night.

He said: "We used to go see bands in this club called Moles and persuaded the owner to let me and a mate do a night. We had no clue but people enjoyed it so we tried it again at a place called the Cactus Club.

"We did this guitar act - the Rubber Bishops - and the place was full of big scary West Country skinheads. One came up to me, poked me in the chest and asked me if I'd been the bloke on stage.

"I was already flinching, bracing myself for a doing, when he said, 'Bloody funny'."

"In a way that was a turning point - if he had battered me I may well have packed it all in."

Bill's unique blend of comedy and music has always made him stand out - and he reckons comedy newcomers should try to find their own unique twist.

He said: "The music element was always there. I played guitar, listened to the Pythons and stuff. It seemed the natural thing to sing songs and make up daft bits.

"I think it's important to have something different about you. It is hard to stand out so you need to think about that and watch a lot of other comics.

"When I started you had to have a robust, crowd-baiting act, just to get a gig. You had 30 seconds to get an audience on side before they started growling but it's different now."

While most people seem to think they could have a bash at stand-up, Bill feels it takes a certain type of person to handle the job - and the inevitable highs and lows it brings. Bill said: "You have to be thick-skinned, determined and not give up easily. Be prepared for a long slog.

"At times you are stuck in some arts centre in front of 11 people, your car has broken down so you've spent your fee on a taxi and you think, what am I doing?

"Then a good night reminds you why you do it.

The good gigs sustain you for months and even years over rough patches.

"Even when you get to a successful level you realise you are doing the same thing so need to take more risks.

"Edinburgh is a risk for a lot of comics. Clubs want you to do 15 minutes and you can live off that for years, then you have to risk moving up to a full show of an hour.

"You maybe even have to put in your own money. Sean Lock and I did a show in Edinburgh and ended up owing the promoters 20 grand. We became bonded serfs working off our debt.

"Any time I think I have a nice life I remember it's just that the karmic wheel has turned my way.

"Every successful comic will have had hard times - bad gigs, no money, living hand to mouth.

"There are times when you see people working in sandwich shops and think that's not bad, make sandwiches, get paid, do good hours, maybe even a free sandwich. That would have been very handy at times."

Bill now has his own TV production company and is about to embark on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with the Tinselworm show - the same one he will perform at the Playhouse on August 14. He said: "Audiences are what really keep me going, that's why I do it.

"For me the moment I realised I had made it was when I did a guest spot on Radio Four and my father-in-law phoned up to say it was good.

Previously he had just thought I was some sort of low-life semi-crusty scumbag so that seal of approval was important!"

Bill's wife Kris and son Dax will join him on tour - and he admits the four-year-old is already showing signs of wanting to follow in his father's footsteps.

He said: "I take the family on tour and the bit of normality helps - you need it as you get older.

"When you're young and on tour you go mad - you're in your room at 5am drinking brandy, ordering three pizzas and throwing tellies out the window just because you can.

"Now you get up early, have breakfast, watch your carbs, go to the zoo and do a nice gig. Dax does get what I do, I think. He laughs now and again, whether at me or with me or something in the audience. He knows what is going on and shushes people who talk.

"One thing that is quite worrying is he has realised I get introduced onstage - they say my name and I go on. So he will come out of the bathroom and whisper, 'Daddy, say my name.' I have to introduce him to the room.

"If he wanted to try comedy I would let him make up his own mind, no pressure either way.

"I'd try to help - maybe stick him on for 10 minutes but warn him not to be too funny. My neighbour's boy is 10 and he is funny, quirky, a natural.

"It's all to do with confidence. You have to have this need to perform."