BILL BAILEY: “BRAINIEST COMIC OF HIS GENERATION”

What makes comedy funny? That’s not a question that’s part of a normal everyday conversation. But while speaking to comedian, musician and actor Bill Bailey, the man described as “the brainiest comic of his generation” almost unconsciously analyses how his act has changed to keep in step with comedic trends.

His current show Larks In Transit which is flying into Derby Arena this month contains more personal material than his earlier tours and many humourists are moving in a similar direction.

He tells me: “In the last ten or 20 years I’ve noticed that comedy has become much more confessional. People like to talk about themselves and their own feelings, and that’s very much reflected in us generally as a society.

“We’re almost guilty of over-sharing on social media and the internet plays a big part in that. So there’s a little bit of that in the show but a lot of silliness as well. I get the audience to sing You Are My Sunshine in German which is always a delight to hear.”

USE OF LANGUAGE

Bill doesn’t aim to be an educator but he points out: “You might learn something at my show – you might go home with a fact and say ‘blimey, I did not know that and I’ve had a laugh over a couple of hours’. If I can do that, then my job’s done.”

We discuss other ways in which comedy has changed. I note how comedians who tell joke after joke seem largely to have disappeared, except for the odd exception like Tim Vine. Bill admits he still likes one-liners and includes all sorts in his act so that you can’t really classify his brand of comedy.

“I like the well-turned phrase to describe a politician or a person in power. The use of language is very important to me because English is such a subtle, interesting language, lots of shades of meaning that can be used to great effect in comedy.”

Larks In Transit is billed as a “compendium of travellers’ tales and the general shenanigans of 20 years as a travelling companion”.

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