Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier

That old card Bill Bailey has gotten into the habit of starting his tours in New Zealand. It’s a sad fact of life that many acts, both comedians and music, will start off their tours in Europe & America, and don’t get to New Zealand until (sometimes) several years later. Not so Mr. Bailey, though…in fact, at one point during his show, as he railed against the incompetencies of UK politicians, someone heckled him “Emigrate!”, and he shared his serious thoughts on how he’d considered moving to New Zealand at one point. He loves New Zealand!

But I digress. Obviously, you want to know where we went for dinner beforehand? We went to Mr. Go’s, a perennial favourite, who have now relocated to larger premises on Eva Street. The food, however, has remained to the same high standard, and we had my favourite, Korean chicken wings, along with broccolini, dumplings, and “typhoon shelter” prawns – because they’re like a typhoon for the taste buds!

Bill (we’re mates) was on at the Michael Fowler Centre, which has a bigger capacity than St James Theatre...and also, crucially, more comfortable seats! Nevertheless, he’d had to book an additional night – we were on the second show of the two, on Monday night. I’ve since spoken to some people who went on the previous night, and there were definitely elements of our show that weren’t in theirs – a testament to his ability to ad-lib and concoct hilarious moments without needing to just stick to a script. Many of his quips were tailored specifically for a New Zealand audience, including constant digs at Palmerston North, and always referring to this gig as being in “Wellington and the surrounding areas”.

As ever, the show involves a lot of music, and this time round he’d come equipped with MIDI balls. These are bouncy balls, wirelessly connected to a computer, which play a sound whenever they are bounced or hit. He distributed some of these to the audience (in the front row, natch), to play the drum line, whilst he played the guitars on another pair of balls himself. Obviously, there's a comedy moment to be had about playing with one 's balls. Another instrument he introduced was the laser harp – a series of laser beams are the strings, and he plays it by “plucking” them – a note is played when he interrupts the beam. He also plays more traditional instruments, including walking around the house and doing everything in the death metal style. Also, a madrigal interlude based on Henry VIII’s meeting with Anne of Cleves – clearly a comedy goldmine! And a rendition of Habenera from Carmen, with subtitles which he felt more accurately reflected the content of the aria; with the assistance of Deborah Wai Kapohe.

Another area he explored in some detail was the emergence of AI. He has built some AI clones of himself and asked them questions, and also deals with some ChatGPT live on a screen. He’s unconvinced by the idea that AI will be taking over the world soon, and demonstrates why.

As ever, two hours of howlingly funny, intelligent comedy. If you can get to it, do – he’s playing the UK and Ireland from February next year.