Bill Bailey
I’ve decided; Bill Bailey is officially my joint favourite living British comedian (with Eddie Izzard). I’ve enjoyed him a lot as an actor in ‘Spaced’ (as Bilbo, the comic book shop owner), and of course as the cheerfully opressed Manny in ‘Black Books’, but I’ve just seen some of his ‘Part Troll’ tour on TV, and I’m still giggling.
Trying to explain what makes someone funny is a sure way to kill any humour, but I must just give a few examples of some of the many things that cracked me up in the show1.
- He wondered why the pages of the catalogues in Argos are laminated, and came to the conclusion that it was to stop the tears of joy from making the pages wrinkly. [In a voice a little like Gollum, and turning the pages reverently] “So many beautiful things, but I cannot possess them all…”
- He related talking to a Buddhist in Indonesia. The man asked him what Britain was like: “It’s OK I suppose. [Brightening a little] We’ve got Nectar Points [mimes showing the Nectar card].”
- He performed the Hokey Cokey as Kraftwerk. This was absolute geniusâimagine the Hokey Cokey in expressionless German, complete with Kraftwerk robotic actions.
Of course, it might all be in the way he tells them.
1 A warning to non-UK readersâthe first two points listed contain some highly culturally-specific material. You probably won’t find them funny, but trust me, they are.
1
David (TEFL Smiler): Yes, David.
Ian: Hehe, that's the phrase: 'laminated book of dreams'! I was too busy laughing my head off to note any of these gems down, and was desperately trying to remember them. I also loved his expansion on what is good about the UK, where he explains to the Indonesian guy that Little Chefs were constructed on a network of ley lines, and it was only later that roads joined them up.
by bsag @ 24/01/2005 8:01 pm • Permalink •
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The other three were actually Kraftwerk, weren't they?----- I don't think I will be able to go past Argos again without thinking of the 'laminated book of dreams'. Genius.
by Ian @ 24/01/2005 8:02 pm • Permalink •
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I especially liked his impression of the Argos assistants - the ones who take the stuff off the conveyor belt and pass it to you. The little hunched troll impression was priceless.
by John @ 25/01/2005 9:02 am • Permalink •
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The "Part Troll" tour was superb - I was lucky enough to catch it on the first night, performed (bizarrely enough) in Salford.
I've been a fan for a while, but Part Troll was the first time I'd seen him live, and it's definitely not going to be the last.
Oh, and on this post something seems to have kippered your CSS positioning. I suspect it's the ordered list, but I could be wrong.
by Lyle @ 25/01/2005 10:01 am • Permalink •
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OK, I lied, it's not the OL that's apparently kippered it. But I don't know what it is.
Maybe you've changed the CSS- but on both Firefox 1 and IE6 the left border is now under the text, which makes it pretty hard to read that word. It's like the white section has been offset to the right by another 10-15px, as it's messing up the right-hand mini-column too.
by Lyle @ 25/01/2005 10:01 am • Permalink •
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I see no problems - also Firefox 1.0.
That Kraftwerk sketch sounds like pure genius; I'd love to have seen that
by Matthew @ 25/01/2005 5:01 pm • Permalink •
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John: Yes, that was wonderful. I know that I'm not going to be able to keep a straight face next time I go into Argos.
Lyle: Lucky you! I bet it was one of those gigs you go away from with a really aching jaw because you've been laughing so much.
And the CSS problems were the old story of people not encoding URLs in their comments, so that the comment overflows in the sidebar. I'm getting a bit fed of having to fix it, so I might see if there's something I can do.
Matthew: Fixed now (see above).
by bsag @ 25/01/2005 6:01 pm • Permalink •
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Ah right - was it me who kippered it then? Or someone else?
If 'twas me then I apologise, but I'm pretty sure 'twas kippered before I got my grubby mitts on it...
by Lyle @ 26/01/2005 8:02 am • Permalink •
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Lyle: No, don't worry, you're not guilty
. The problem only occurs when someone leaves a fairly long URL which isn't in HTML tags. It's fine in the comment body, but of course the URL doesn't wrap, so in the narrow fixed-width sidebar, it breaks the layout. In an attempt to fix this, I've altered the 'Recent Comments' section so that only the first 35 or so characters are displayed. Anyone putting unencoded URLs in the first 35 characters of their comment will incur my wrath! 
by bsag @ 26/01/2005 7:02 pm • Permalink •
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Lance: Whaaat? You don't have the Hokey Cokey and you call yourself a super-power? What kind of country are you from!
Seriously, yes, Hokey Cokey == Hokey Pokey. Actually, that's very, very strange. It's a nonsense song with nonsense words, so why does one consonant get changed in the trip across the Atlantic?
And I'm sorry that this post was a bit Brito-centric, but a lot of Bill Bailey's humour is rather that way inclined.
by bsag @ 26/01/2005 10:01 pm • Permalink •
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Wow! I hadn't realized just how far removed we of the colonies have gotten. I didn't understand anything of this blog! Is "Hokey Cokey" like our "Hokey Pokey?" You know, "You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all a-bout?"
Still enjoying your blogs regardless of the growing chasm between English and American (sic)
Cheers!
by Lance @ 26/01/2005 10:02 pm • Permalink •
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No it wasn't the real Kraftwerk, the guy on the right is Kevin Eldon from Big Train and other stuff...
by DaveB @ 27/01/2005 12:01 pm • Permalink •
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One assumes it ended up being called Hokey-Pokey so as not to incur lawsuits for infringing the trademark of a certain well-known manufacturer of fizzy cola-based soft drinks...
by Lyle @ 27/01/2005 2:01 pm • Permalink •
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DaveB:
I know, I was just joshing the other David! Since Kraftwerk are notoriously publicity-shy, I can't quite see them appearing in a mickey-take against themselves, however affectionately it was done.
Lyle: Nice hypothesis! But don't you get sued in this country for that kind of thing? I remember the legal action that McDonalds pulled against a wee sandwich shop run by a genuine Scottish McDonald here. Luckily, the Clan McDonald took out a counter-suit against McDonalds: "Look pal, we've had the name for 500 years, and you stole it from us!"*
*Obviously, this isn't the actual court transcript...
by bsag @ 27/01/2005 10:01 pm • Permalink •
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Bill Bailey has long been a favourite of mine. He did briefly have his own series on BBC2 called "Is this Bill Bailey?", if memory serves me correct. Ricky Gervais' "Animals" last Friday was also good.
I was always surprised by the popularity of Monty Python in the USA. I too thought that it was "too culturally specific".
by Kris Jones @ 01/02/2005 4:03 am • Permalink •
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