Comedian Bill Bailey was so tongue-tied when he met Sir Paul McCartney that he spoke gibberish and poked him in the eye. Invited backstage after going to one of his London gigs, Bill, 61, says: “I was so keen to say the right thing and I wanted to say how meaningful the songs were.
“But I was a bit starstruck, so I got tongue tied and it all came out wrong. I was trying to say that the songs were entrenched in people’s memories, but I got confused and I said ‘enmenched.’ He looked at me as if to say ‘what did you say?’
“Then I forgot what I was saying and I went ‘sorry, what?’ and he went ‘what?’ It was a disaster. As I was leaving, he said ‘I’ll be watching you’ and did that gesture with his fingers, pointing at his own eyes and then pointing at me.”
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He continues: “I did the same thing to him – ‘and I’ll be watching you’, but he leaned in at the last minute and I ended up poking him in the eye. They say don’t meet your heroes, meaning you might be disappointed, but my interpretations of that is – don’t meet your heroes, because you might make a complete t*t of yourself!”
Hopefully, Bill’s composure will return when he launches the UK tour of his new show, Vaudevillean on Friday in Plymouth. Having already successfully toured it across Australia and New Zealand, he will now tour Great Britain throughout November and December, ahead of a two-month residency in London’s West End.
In the true style of vaudeville, which was popular from the 1870s to the 1930s and is traditionally a variety show, featuring a mix of different acts, including comedians, singers, musicians and magicians – the twist is that Bill’s playing all the parts.
He says: “I’m celebrating the tradition of vaudeville. Vaudeville was very much about variety and different performers and my show is like that, except it’s just me. I’ll play different instruments and tell stories and jokes and use screens and visuals. And I am trying out new things in the show that I’ve never done before, including old theatrical illusions, which I’m excited about.”
Sporting the short back and sides that replaced his mullet after he set his hair alight over an open fire while wild camping in the Scottish Highlands two years ago, he admits his long hair was more about laziness than making a style statement.
He says: “The long hair came about due to neglect really. I’m not a vain man and I didn’t take a great deal of care over my appearance. I used to get called all sorts of names saying I looked like an old hippy or someone who lived in the woods. And when his hair caught fire, he says: “ I thought ‘this is the universe telling me – sort it out.”
Bill, who hails from the West Country, began performing stand-up comedy in the 1980s and became a regular fixture on TV by the ‘90s, on shows like Have I Got News For You. In 2002 he became a team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and he is a frequent guest on the panel game QI, alongside host Stephen Fry.
But in 2020, he found a whole new audience of fans, after competing in Strictly Come Dancing – becoming the show’s oldest winner at 55. Bill says: “It was life-changing. I was astonished to win. The kind of people that win seemed to be younger, so I think it challenged that misconception of blokes in their 50s being a bit self-conscious and not wanting to learn a new skill.
“It was daunting. I thought it would physically get too difficult and that I wouldn’t have the stamina and that I’d get injured or go over on my ankle – I imagined all these scenarios. But I surprised myself to learn that you always have a reserve of strength and energy that you don’t realise you have. Strictly put me out of my comfort zone and presented a completely new challenge, but it was very rewarding and taught me what I’m capable of. I took a lot from it in terms of resilience, self-reliance and confidence.”
Six years on, Bill – who lives in west London with his wife and business manager Kristin with whom he has a son Dax, 23, a scuba diving instructor – remains good friends with his former Strictly dance partner Oti Mabuse. He says:“She brought her whole family round to the house recently. I got to meet her mum and dad and her husband and the new baby. We message each other all the time.”
Another milestone for Bill, who will soon be seen on screen in a new Channel 4 travel series – Bill Bailey’s South Korea – was turning 60 last year. He says: “The Japanese call the 60th birthday Kanreki, which means rebirth and a new beginning. They set enormous store by 60. They say it’s a great age and that you have earned the time where you can reflect a little bit. It’s also a jumping off point for a new phase of your life and that’s how I see it. There’s a finite number of years left and I want to make the best of all of them.”
To mark the landmark, Bill – who already plays a mind-boggling number of musical instruments, from the piano, guitar and clarinet, to the didgeridoo, bagpipes, the alpine horn and kazoo – set himself the challenge of training as an orchestra conductor. He says: “The way I see it is that you have to try out new things and embrace new thoughts and ideas and constantly challenge yourself in the time that you have.”
He continues: “One of my great ambitions is to conduct an orchestra, so that’s what I’m going to set my mind to now. I’m going to have to be taught and that’s something I’m very willing to do. I know a few conductors and I’m happy to get a tutor. When I think of my dad’s generation, people often retired at 60 and decided to take things easy. But I think life is more fulfilling if you’re always learning some new skill or working or challenging yourself – that’s what keeps you young.”
* Bill Bailey’s Vaudevillean is touring from 5 November to 13 December 2026 and will be at Theatre Royal Haymarket from 16 December 2026 to 6 February 2027. Tickets available at www.BillBailey.co.uk
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