COMEDIANS: NEW SERIES

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BILL BAILEY

Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known by his stage name Bill Bailey, is an English comedian, actor and musician. Bailey is known for his role as Manny in the British sitcom Black Books and for his appearances on the British panel shows Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You and QI, as well as for his stand-up work. He plays a variety of musical instruments and incorporates music into his performances.

In 2020, Bailey won the eighteenth series of the televised dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing with his professional partner Oti Mabuse. At 55, he was the oldest winner in the show's history.

Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in 2003. In 2007, and again in 2010, he was voted the seventh greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups

Bailey began touring the country with comedians such as Mark Lamarr. In 1984, he formed a double act, the Rubber Bishops, with Toby Longworth (a fellow former pupil at King Edward's, Bath). It was there that Bailey began developing his own style, mixing in musical parodies with deconstructions of or variations on traditional jokes ("How many amoebas does it take to change a lightbulb? One, no two! No four! No eight..."). 

According to comedy folklore, after a reviewer once criticised his act for its lack of jokes, Bailey returned the following night, at Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, to perform a set composed entirely of punchlines. Longworth left to join the RSC in 1989 and was replaced by Martin Stubbs.

Stubbs later quit to pursue a more serious career, and in 1994 Bailey performed Rock at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Sean Lock, a show about an ageing rockstar and his roadie, script-edited by comedy writer Jim Miller. It was later serialised for the Mark Radcliffe show on BBC Radio 1. The show's attendances were not impressive and on one occasion the only person in the audience was comedian Dominic Holland. Bailey almost gave up comedy to take up a telesales job.

He went solo the next year with the one man show Bill Bailey's Cosmic Jam. The show led to a recording at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London which was broadcast in 1997 on Channel 4 as a one-hour special called Bill Bailey Live. It was not until 2005 that this was released on DVD uncut and under its original title. It marked the first time that Bailey had been able to tie together his music and post-modern gags with the whimsical rambling style he is now known for.

After supporting Donna McPhail in 1995 and winning a Time Out award, he returned to Edinburgh in 1996 with a show that was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. Amongst the other nominees was future Black Books co-star Dylan Moran, who narrowly beat him in the closest vote in the award's history. Bailey won the Best Live Stand-Up award at the British Comedy Awards in 1999.

Bailey is a supporter of the Labour Party and appeared in its fifth party election broadcast of the 2010 general election campaign. In 2015, Bailey endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election, saying "Corbyn's nomination showed there is a kind of craving for a bit of honest speaking, a bit of principled plain speaking. But I think he is in a bit of a bind. Nuanced debate doesn't cut it in the toxic, political atmosphere. He’s having a fast-forward of his own political evolution, having to become 'a politician' – the thing he never was."

Bailey is an avowed feminist and a supporter of the Fawcett Society. He is also a prominent advocate of men's issues, most notably prostate cancer and the Men United campaign. Bailey is a patron of International Animal Rescue and has been instrumental in the organisation's campaign to rescue dancing bears.

 He has also campaigned for the Sumatran Orangutan Society. For his works in environmental conservation, he received an honorary doctorate in conservation and sustainability from the Australian University of the Sunshine Coast in October 2014 

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking