Early stand-up Bailey began touring the country with comedians such as
Mark Lamarr. In 1984, he formed a double act, the Rubber Bishops, with Toby Longworth, Stubbs later quit, and in 1994 Bailey performed
Rock at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe with
Sean Lock, He went solo the next year with the one-man show ''Bill Bailey's Cosmic Jam
. Bailey combined his post-modern jokes with music in his whimsical rambling style at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, which was broadcast in 1997 on Channel 4 as a one-hour special called Bill Bailey Live''.
Television In 1998, and wrote and presented the BBC television show,
Is It Bill Bailey?. a Channel 4 sitcom about a cold-hearted bookshop owner, his nice-guy assistant, and their socially awkward female friend. It was commissioned in 2000, and Bailey took the part of the assistant
Manny Bianco, with Moran playing the owner Bernard and
Tamsin Greig the friend, Fran. Three series of six episodes each were made. While touring in 2009, Bailey joked that the main reason for leaving the show was a lack of desire to continue humming
Britney Spears'
Toxic to little known figures in the
indie music scene. During this time he also left his position as "curator" of
the Museum of Curiosity, and declared his intention to "retire" from panel games, although he has since appeared on
QI many more times and hosted
Have I Got News For You. In 2008, he played Maxxie's dad, Walter Oliver in episode one of the second series of the E4 teenage "dramedy"
Skins. The series was filmed in
Cape Town and spanned eight episodes, with exclusive content available on itvWILD. Bill Bailey played Droxil, a Harvest Ranger from the Planet Androzani Major, in the 2011 Christmas Special of
Doctor Who, titled
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. Bailey said in an interview that Wallace had been "airbrushed out of history", and that he felt a "real affinity" with him. In 2013, to coincide with
the centenary of Wallace's death, Bailey presented a two-part documentary, ''Bill Bailey's Jungle Hero'', first broadcast on
BBC Two on 21 and 28 April 2013. He travelled around producing and filming the series in
Indonesia and
Borneo. Bailey took part in the
eighteenth series of the televised dancing competition
Strictly Come Dancing, broadcast in late 2020. Their win made Mabuse the first dancer to receive the title two years in a row. Bailey voiced Grandfather Smed in the 2022 short film
The Smeds and the Smoos.
International tours In 2001, Bailey began touring the globe with
Bewilderness. A recording of a performance in
Swansea was released on DVD the same year, and the show was broadcast on Channel 4 that Christmas. A modified version of it also proved successful in America, and in 2002 Bailey released a CD of a recording at the WestBeth Theatre in New York City. The show contained his popular music parodies (such as Unisex Chip Shop, a
Billy Bragg tribute, which he also performed with Bragg himself at the 2005
Glastonbury Festival), "three men in a pub" jokes (including one in the style of
Geoffrey Chaucer) and deconstructions of television themes such as
Countdown and
The Magic Roundabout. A
Bewilderness CD was sold outside gigs, a mixture of studio recordings of songs and monologues Bailey had performed in the past; it was later released in shops as
Bill Bailey: The Ultimate Collection... Ever! That same year he also presented a Channel 4 countdown,
Top Ten Prog Rock. Bailey premiered his show
Part Troll at the
2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A critical and commercial success, he then transferred it to the West End, where tickets sold out in under 24 hours, and new dates had to be added. He continued to tour it all over the UK as well as in Australia, New Zealand and the US. Bailey expanded on subjects such as the
war on Iraq. He also talks extensively about drugs, at one point asking the audience to name different ways of baking
cannabis. A DVD was released in 2004.
His 1995 show Bill Bailey's Cosmic Jam''. was released in 2005. The two-disc set also contained a
director's cut of
Bewilderness, which featured a routine on
Stephen Hawking's
A Brief History of Time not seen in the original version. Bailey performed a show at the
2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe entitled
Steampunk. Bailey appeared at the
Beautiful Days festival in August 2007. The UK leg of the
Tinselworm tour enjoyed three sell-out nights at the
MEN Arena in Manchester, Europe's largest indoor arena, and culminated with a sell-out performance at
Wembley Arena. Early in 2007, a petition was started to express fans' wishes to see him cast as a dwarf in
The Hobbit films, after his stand-up routine mentioned auditioning for
Gimli in
The Lord of the Rings. The petition reached its goal in the early days of January, and was sent to the producers. It was hoped that as the
Tinselworm tour took him to
Wellington where the film was in pre-production, he would be able to audition.
Dandelion Mind was released on DVD on 22 November 2010. In 2012, his world tour entitled
Qualmpeddler toured the UK as well as returning to Australia and New Zealand in August and September 2012. In September and October 2018, Bailey toured his show,
The Earl of Whimsy, to seven venues within New Zealand. In 2021, Bailey toured his new show,
En Route To Normal, to venues in the United Kingdom and
Ireland. In 2022 Bailey took the tour to venues in Europe, and in October to Australia.
Music Bailey plays numerous musical instruments, and incorporates music into his comedy. He has
perfect pitch. His stand-up routines often feature music from genres such as jazz, rock (most notably
prog rock from the early 1970s),
drum'n'bass, classical, and even theme songs, usually for comic value. Favourite instruments include the keyboard, guitar,
theremin,
kazoo and
bongos. He also mentioned in an interview that he has achieved Grade 6
Clarinet. He was part of punk band Beergut 100, which he founded in 1995 with comedy writer Jim Miller and also featured
Martin Trenaman and Phil Whelans, with
Kevin Eldon as lead singer. The band performed at the
2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His musical routines include performing "
The Star-Spangled Banner" in a minor key and performing the
Hokey Cokey in the style of the electronic band Kraftwerk. In October 2008, he performed ''Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra'' at the
Royal Albert Hall with the
BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by
Anne Dudley. In November 2009, he was a guest on
Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3. In July 2011, Bailey performed at the
Sonisphere Festival in
Knebworth, headlining the Saturn Stage. He released an album,
In Metal, using songs played at Sonisphere, later that year. In June 2014, The Music House for Children announced Bailey would become their patron alongside
Sophie Ellis-Bextor in celebration of their 20th anniversary. On 13 September 2025 Bailey made his debut at the
BBC Proms, with a performance of "
The Typewriter" by
Leroy Anderson. He later introduced the traditional rendition of "
Auld Lang Syne", from the
Royal Albert Hall Organ, with phrases from Bach's "
Toccata and Fugue" and "
The Final Countdown" by
Europe. In the same month he presented a series of the BBC podcast
Eras about the band Queen. ==Personal life==