Interview: Bill Bailey

The gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are is the subject of Bill Bailey’s latest show Limboland, which he brings to the Hippodrome for four nights this month.
With his trademark intelligence and sharp wit, the inimitable Keynsham-raised polymath tells tales of finding himself in this halfway place.

Limboland derives from this idea of a gap between things. ‘Limbo’ is usually seen, in a religious sense, as some kind of holding pen before you enter the afterlife – but I prefer to think of it as a state of weightlessness. Of slight uncertainty, even – but not in a bad way.

The gap between how you imagine something and how it actually turns out is quite fertile ground for comedy. My original story, which features in the show, was about a holiday to see the Northern Lights which went horribly wrong – but this gap could apply to anything, from your hopes for a night out to, ‘I always dreamed of playing centre forward for Bristol City, but I’ve ended up as, I dunno, a shed consultant in Lowestoft’. 

Then I started thinking: this probably works on a wider scale, too – about how we see the world now. I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid I was led to believe things were gonna be a lot better, things would be all sorted out by now, that we wouldn’t be in this state of anxiety – about leaving Europe, vague terror threats, the world heating up… this gap between your dreams and reality seems to work on both a personal and a wider level.

Much of the show muses on happiness, and our pursuit of it. What is happiness? It’s now a global currency – the American self-help business is worth billions of pounds, the Global Happiness Index rates countries around the world. It has become a commodity, rather than something that happens when you see a funny-shaped cloud or eat some lemon drizzle cake.

What also informed the show was reaching the half century. I felt I could stop and take a look back. Because my motto in life has always been to just keep barrelling on, regardless. And I thought, no, maybe I’ll afford myself a stop and a look round.

There’s a long section where I discuss the British way of looking at happiness. We are quite downbeat and, and we tend to downplay everything. And actually I see some merit in that. Life throws all sorts of curve balls at you, and it’s often good not to get your hopes up. Expect things are going to be a bit shit and actually, you’ll be fine! Just muddle through. And take delight in the tiny things. Birdsong in the garden, the way the sun catches the light: these are the things that you’ll remember.

As usual, there’s loads of stuff in the show that I’ve got interested in. There was a quote about one of my great heroes, the naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace: “he was only ever interested in everything”. I feel an affinity with that. I was asked to appear on this TV programme once, where you choose something that you just aren’t interested in, and someone tries to persuade you of its merits. I couldn’t think of one thing I wasn’t interested in.

I’ve always loved birdwatching. My favourite bird? Honestly, I love little things like wrens. I just think they’re brilliant. I’ve travelled all around Britain doing comedy and making docos and all the rest, and everywhere you go – there’s a wren. I was up in the Highlands, in the middle of nowhere, looking for white-tailed eagles, and in the hedge where we were filming there was this little chack-chack-chack. ‘Never mind the eagle, I’m here as well!’ Fair play, I thought.

Growing up in Keynsham was… actually idyllic, when I think about it. There was a little valley behind the house where I used to go down and chuck sticks in the stream, then beyond there was the park, and then wonderful winding country lanes. I’d take my dad’s collection of maps and go off on my bike to find Saxon barrows and tumuli… I couldn’t have wished for a better place to grow up.

Bill Bailey performs Limboland at Bristol Hippodrome from May 16-19. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.atgtickets.com/shows/bill-bailey/bristol-hippodrome

Pics: Andy Hollingworth