Bill Bailey is not just the country’s most unlikely Strictly Come Dancing champion, he is about to be a court jester. The acclaimed comedian was recently revealed as one of the acts who will perform at the People’s Pageant, the finale of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations on June 5. But before that there is the trifling matter of completing his sold out arena tour.
The Wembley show found Bailey on fine form, demonstrating exactly why he has become so ubiquitous. He is a populist performer who never dumbs down. There are songs in French, songs in German, classical compositions, albeit played on car horns. His verbal flights of fancy exude wit, brains and boundless imagination.
There was also a mandatory dash of politics. He started by skewering the current government, or as he calls them, “nitwits, halfwits and nonwits”. Bailey has so much charm it never felt malicious, though it was definitely not affectionate.
The new show is called En Route To Normal. This suggests that it is about post-pandemic life, but the title refers more to Bailey asking what is normal. His off-duty life is anything but, if his anecdotes here are a guide. One moment he is skydiving in New Zealand, the next he is pulling plastic bags out of his dog’s bottom.
There are many different Baileys and they all get a look-in. The mainstream entertainer essays a quick Strictly Charleston, the middle-aged metal fan resembling “Gandalf in a spoon” rocks out on the guitar. Bailey the conservationist talks about saving tree snails. Bailey the aspiring Eurovision entrant delivers a melancholy Gallic ballad.
Throw in songs about Cockney sherpas and a Coldplay send-up and you are still only scratching the surface of this ever-changing, never-boring two-hour spectacular.
Very occasionally he came close to treading water. A Kraftwerk-style children’s song echoed his previous Teutonic take on Das Hokey Kokey. A routine about Google reviews of Poundland stores (“lots of stuff for a pound”) and the imagining of a Victorian version of Love Island have appeared in previous shows, but are always welcome.
If it feels disparate sometimes that is because Bailey is bursting with ideas. Towards the end any pretence of theme was abandoned in favour of a succession of rapidfire musical numbers, culminating in a new song including a topical reference to looking online for wheelbarrows and ending up finding porn.
The show never quite answers Bailey’s question of what is normal but it certainly does not describe what he does onstage, which is essentially a sublime celebration of silliness. The image of Bailey, wispy hair flying around as he frantically plays heavy metal riffs on cowbells, will live long in the memory.
