A biography for Bill Baileyhasn’t been written yet.
“Fatherhood made everything more straightforward. I was relieved that no longer did I have to agonise over what meaning I had in my life.”
“For me, audio books was about when you can't actually physically get hold of a book, like when you're driving. It's a fantastic companion on a long journey.”
“The devil's in the detail and sometimes if you're thinking too big, you can miss the detail.”
“I hate getting ill, it irritates me so I try to stay reasonably healthy.”
“I used to live on a houseboat near Hammersmith Bridge.”
“I didn't have any brothers or sisters, so I did a lot of stuff where I entertained myself playing games, reading a lot, a lot of fantasy novel stuff.”
“I am pretty laid-back as a parent, but I do like a lot of activity. So I am constantly suggesting things to do that involve some physical activity: cycling, mountain biking and paddleboarding.”
“If you're going to perform, you're going to attract criticism. You can't please everyone all the time. You don't know how things are going to come out. But that's part of the fun of it, the adventure of doing any kind of art.”
“I've always been reasonably upbeat about most things.”
“When I was 15, I went to see the Stranglers at Bath Pavilion. I saw Jean-Jacques Burnel take off his bass and whack a skinhead over the head with it because he gave a Nazi salute. I thought: 'This is brilliant!'”
“Normally, with stand-up, it's quite solitary, you write the material on your own, you perform it on your own, it's all very much on you. Your own thoughts. You have to sort of modulate your own performance.”
“As a comedian and satirist you have to be neutral, because everyone's fair game. Once you show bias, you lose that.”
“As a young man, the temptation was to drink the minibar dry. I did all that - now I prefer to get outdoors.”
“You have to have a thick skin, yes. If you're going to do something as foolhardy as standup, you've got to be able to take it on the chin if someone has a go at you.”
“There is something very poignant about plastic bags. These lonely plastic bags that gradually disintegrate.”
“My grandparents lived with us. And I remember watching 'Doctor Who' with my granddad on his new telly. These were the days before remote controls but my granddad, being quite a resourceful sort of chap, had fashioned his own remote control - which was a length of bamboo pole with a bit of cork that he'd glued on the end.”
“All kinds of things have gone into my shows - cajun and rock bands, Bollywood, Kraftwerk tributes, effects and so on. As long as it services the comedy, everything is up for grabs.”
“The Dutch do have a slightly odd sense of humour.”
“When you're a birder, you have all sorts of reference books, and you know about migratory patterns and technical stuff. Most people just look out the window, and say 'is that a pigeon?'”
“One of the things I do really appreciate is that my audiences tend to be a wide range of ages and backgrounds, and I ascribe that to putting in the hours.”