Bill Bailey

Bill Bailey is a comedian, actor, musician and author known for his role in the cult sitcom Black Books, as team captain on the anarchic music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks, his appearances on the freewheeling panel show QI and his many critically acclaimed UK and international stand-up tours, and was even crowned Strictly Come Dancing champion in 2020.

Bill’s other notable TV work includes the two-part series Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero for BBC Two about the Victorian naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, and a brilliant deconstruction of the way orchestras work in Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra, both garnering much acclaim and winning international awards.

Bill’s comedy is a fusion of the surreal and the intelligent, blending stories, poetry and deft wordplay that takes aim at the absurdities of our world, set against an impressive array of weird and wonderful instruments. Music is the defining feature of his live shows, where his expertise allows playful interpretations of classic styles such as Tom Waits singing Old Macdonald or Kraftwerk singing the Hokey Cokey… as the Sunday Times says, “Comedy’s Mozart”.

He is a veteran of UK festivals having performed at Latitude, Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, Sonisphere, and the Eden Project.