Bill Bailey: “I have a great fondness for Newcastle”
NE1 checked in with Strictly Come Dancing Winner, Black Books icon and multi-award-winning comedy superstar, Bill Bailey, for an exclusive chat!
You’re just back from a huge UK tour, how did it feel to be out and about again?
It was fantastic! Live performance is a huge part of my whole life, and when you can’t be up on stage, it suddenly hits you as to how much you do miss and appreciate it.
I think audiences have missed being out and about really. There is something really special about being a part of a crowd and that communal sense of sharing an experience is something we’ve all missed.
Lockdown and the general craziness of 2020 meant we all spent time doing weird and wonderful things. Any news skills you’re proud of? Any new instruments you’ve tried to master?
I have actually spent an incredible amount of time practising the mandola, the mandolin and percussion instruments! I also began collecting drums, horns and so on which will all be a part of the show at some stage.
You performed at Utilita Arena recently, what was it like being back in Newcastle?
I absolutely love it up there. Newcastle is one of the places where I began performing comedy as a double act which was at least 30 years ago. Me and my comedy partner, Martin, would come up and play in the Tyne Theatre & Opera House in the foyer and café!
There was a comedy club back then and we’d spend a full weekend in Newcastle playing to anybody. It’s one of the first places, especially in terms of my comedy career, where I truly practised my routines outside of London!
I have a great fondness for Newcastle and a huge amount of fond memories and playing various venues across the Toon. Places such as Newcastle University and O2 City Hall Newcastle are just some of the fantastic venues I’ve been lucky enough to visit.
My family and I have visited Newcastle a great deal in the last year or so. It’s a place where I have a lot of fond memories!
Having spent so much time in Newcastle, surely you have a favourite Geordie saying?
*belly laughs*. I absolutely love the little word ‘wor’. I just think that is so uniquely Geordie and it comes from ‘our’ and Geordies ‘kinda say it backwards? ‘Wor’ is almost back to front of ‘our’! People from the UK will say ‘that’s our sister’, but Geordie folk hilariously say ‘wor’ and have essentially made a universal word redundant!
Geordie’s don’t need ‘our’, they just need a noise! ‘Is that wor drinks? Aye?’ I just love all that! I like the fact that Geordies save time with their words!
What’s your favourite thing about performing in Newcastle?
The crowds are super friendly and I always have great fun there. There’s always some crowd banter, some Geordie exchanges which I love! I always try and attempt the accent which is always great fun. Even when I get it horrifically wrong, I think Geordies appreciate it when you at least attempt the accent. I might make a few incredibly tentative stabs at the accent when on stage.
There’s also a very real tradition running throughout the North East that storytelling, sitting around and playing songs, having a bit of a chat as if you're at the pub is what I like about playing in Newcastle.
I want my gigs to be like; a bunch of people sitting around in the pub, chatting away telling stories and playing instruments. That’s very much what my shows are and I think the city has a long tradition of that. Newcastle feels like the natural place to do what I do.
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