Live
Pinter's People
West End Play
2007
West End show in which Bill, Kevin Eldon, Sally Phillips and Geraldine McNulty performed a selection of playwright Harold Pinter’s comic sketches, under the direction of Sean Foley. An ambition of Bill’s for 20 years, this stage show brought together 13 Pinter sketches written between 1959 and 2006, and imbued them with a vigour that prompted the Observer to comment on the show’s ‘cracking pace’, and a sensitivity that the Sunday Times called ‘deeply poignant.’
Many of the sketches were edgy and cynical. One sketch about the trade union, Trouble in the Works, had even been censored by the BBC in the 50s, for fear it would cause social unrest. Here it was presented as originally intended.
The play also gained the seal of approval from the man himself; Pinter was hugely enthusiastic about the project, calling it ‘absolutely riveting’, telling Bill that he was ‘really chuffed’, and even christening the production (it had previously been called The Pinter Sketches). It ran successfully for four weeks at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London, and was featured on The Culture Show and Newsnight, who found it ‘gripping’.
Set Design: Sion Hodgson
Costumes: Jack Galloway
Lighting: Jon Clark
Sound: Mark Dunne
Guardian Interview | Independent Review
Steampunk
Edinburgh Festival Show
Edinburgh show, soon to become a national tour. Bill casts a whimsical eye over subjects such as celebrity and dutch hip-hop, and performs such diverse material as a jazz version of the Imperial March, and the Friends theme as played by Slayer.
The Odd Couple
Edinburgh Festival Play
2005
Guy Masterson adaptation of the Neil Simon play. Bill played the role of slouchy Oscar Madison, with Alan Davies as the pernickety Felix Ungar. Also featuring a supporting cast comprised of comedians Ian Coppinger, Katherine Jakeways, Dave Johns, Owen O'Neill, Phil Nicol and Lizzie Roper, it received generally excellent reviews and was a huge box office success.
Scotland on Sunday Interview | EdFest Review (The Odd Couple)
Beergut 100
Edinburgh Festival Show
1995, 2005 and 2006
Punk tribute band Beergut 100 – also featuring Kevin Eldon, Martin Trenaman and Phil Welans originally performed at Late ‘n’ Live at the 1995 Edinburgh Festival, and made a spectacular comeback ten years later, doing four shows in the 2005 and 2006 festivals.
Billed as “one of the greatest unrehearsed bands on the planet” their comeback has been called a “spectacular life-affirming event”. Their set includes covers of The Clash, the Sex Pistols and Kraftwerk, with full band versions of songs such as Insect Nation and the Cockney Medley.
Part Troll
International Tour
2003 - 2004
Originating in August 2003 as an Edinburgh Festival show, Part Troll later transferred to a West End run - the tickets for which sold out within 24 hours. It then became a national tour, before Bill performed it internationally, in places such as Australia. Topics in this show include Things To Do Before You Die, Argos, and George W. Bush, and songs such as I Will Not Look at Titties for a Year, and a powerful love ballad.
It was filmed at the Hammersmith Apollo and received a DVD release in late 2004. Special features include Tea, Coffee and Trouser Press Census (a video diary) and Das Augenblik (an homage to Kraftwerk).
Independent Interview (Part Troll) | Guardian Review (Part Troll)
12 Angry Men
Edinburgh Festival Play
2003
Guy Masterson adaptation of the Reginald Rose novel featuring a cast of 12 comedians, with Bill almost unrecognisable as the neatly trimmed, bespectacled, Juror Number 4. A critical and commercial success, it won the Strathmore Audience award, the Jack Tinker Memorial "Spirit of the Fringe" award and was nominated for Best Ensemble at The Stage Awards. It later toured Australia, although Bill did not take part.
12 Angry Men Website | Chortle Review (12 Angry Men)
Bewilderness
International Tour
2001 - 2002
A national tour recorded for DVD in Swansea and released in 2001. Topics include Countdown, Kinder Eggs and the Magic Roundabout. Most notable songs were Unisex Chip Shop, Midnight in Parliament Square and Beautiful Ladies.
Bill took it to New York in 2002, and released a CD of it that year. This version differs in many respects from the British version, most notably in a routine on the futility of train station announcements, as well as several observations of Brits in foreign countries.
It also featured a routine on Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, which was not featured on the original DVD but was later included in the Bewilderness Director’s Cut. This is a cut supervised by Bill himself, which features more material, and less audience cutaways. It was released in a double-pack with Cosmic Jam in 2005.
The DVD also features an Interactive Shed Game, shed biographies, and a "Legacy of Dreams" interview with Martin Trenaman.
Chortle Interview | Telegraph Review (Bewilderness)
Cosmic Jam
Edinburgh Festival Show & TV Special
1995
A Perrier nominated Fringe hit that was recorded in London for a one-off Channel 4 special and broadcast in 1996 as the hour-long “Bill Bailey Live”.
Bill’s first full length solo effort, it contains many of the trademark elements of his comedy with whimsical, post-modern rambles mixed in with devastating musical parodies. Bill also shines a satirical spotlight on TV shows such as Starsky and Hutch, and thoroughly deconstructs the traditional “three blokes in a pub” joke.
The full length version of Cosmic Jam was finally released under the correct title in 2005, in a double Bill with the director’s cut of Bewilderness. Special features include an interview with Bill, and an all-new Interactive Shed Game.
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