July 7, 2025 • 11 mins
New Zealand can’t get enough of Bill Bailey.
The UK comedian last came to our shores in 2023, tickets to his ‘Thoughtifier’ tour selling out.
He’ll be back towards the end of the year, bringing a celebration of comedy, songs, and skills by the name of ‘Vaudevillean’ to Kiwi audiences.
Bailey joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to delve into comedy, technology and AI, the resurgence of people seeking out live shows and performances, and just why Kiwis love him so much.
“Most of life is just showing up, and so if you turn up somewhere and you show willing, then I think you draw people along with you.”
“Plus the fact I think there’s quite a lot of similarity between our senses of humour. I think there’s a sort of shared love of the absurd, and a love of language, and a love of the general sort of oddity of life.”
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now New Zealand cannot get enough of Bill Bailey. After
selling out when he last toured here all the way
back in twenty twenty three, he's bringing a new tour
back to the country near the end of this year.
It's called Vaudevillion and he's going all over the place
around the country. The show is described as a celebration
of comedy, songs and skills. Bill Bailey, Good morning, lovely
to talk with you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello there, and you also.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Now you have been there's been a couple of years
since you've been in New Zealand. You look like you've
been really busy, have you.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yes, I have, And I mean I'm always busy. I'm
always doing something because I like to be busy, and
so I was trying to find something meaningful to do.
So yeah, the last couple of years I've been making
TV programs, touring the world, writing books, usual sort of thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Are you an active relaxer?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Are you? But I like, yeah, I think so. I
tend to sort of feel nervous if I'm not doing something.
So if I'm doing one project, always try and get
it to overlap something else. And I do identify that
they do sort of you know tend to one will
we'll kind of sort of start to cross pollinate a
(01:08):
little bit, you know something, there's there'll be an element
of one project which you can use in another project.
So I think they all kind of tend to blur
together after a while and blend together. And that's good.
I love to be busy, you know. I just I
find I kind of get nervous. I get reckless if
I'm not doing something.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Why do you think that is? I'm asking you this
because Bill, I experienced exactly the same thing, and I
found that the only way to stop myself doing this
is literally put myself on a bath because you can't
get you You're forced to sort of sit there and
enjoy the thing.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh did you sorry? Did you say bath or bar?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, I mean a bar works as well, but at
home about.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I was going to say that would work equally for me,
But but yes, I know what you mean. You have
to sort of like actually program in a little bit
of time where you just do nothing. Yeah, And what
my sort of go to is puzzles. And I do
the spelling Bee every day. It's a it's part of
(02:07):
the puzzle on New York Times website and I try
and sort of do. That's my kind of moment where
I just zone everything out and I just concentrate on
that for a bit.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I don't believe I don't do the spelling I don't
do the Spelling Bee because it costs money and I'm
too tight to pay for it, so I just do
the money crossword and the word.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Ah, yes, yes that's true. Now you're right, Yeah, you
do have to have a subscription for that, But I
mean I do. I like the New York Times, so
I'm kind of it's a bit of a bonus, you know,
you get, I like the journalism, but I also, yeah,
the bone the spelling Bee is my is my go to,
and I get a bit obsessed about it, and I
actually start asking random people do you know a seven
(02:49):
letter word that starts with al that means this? You know,
and then just taxi drivers, you know, opt them into it.
But yeah, I think so, I mean, I think that's
I've always been like that since I was a kid.
Even when I was at school, I'd always be doing
the school play and also playing in the cricket team
and also doing something else. So I kind of think
(03:11):
that's really been a pattern of my life since childhood,
which I guess you know, once once the patent takes hold,
that's it. You know, we're cooked.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
While we're on the subject of technology, are you asn't
ai as I am?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, I'm kind of fascinated by it, because like I
am with any new thing, you know, I always like
sort of, you know, try to avoid any sort of
sense of like, oh, you know, things are better in
the old days, you know, and it's all gone to pot.
There is an element of saying, well, no, we actually
live in a time where where technology has improved the
(03:46):
lives of millions of people, so why wouldn't this do that? Also?
And I'm slightly fascinated by the kind of how it's
come on in leaps and bounds, and you know, the
visual element of it. But I mean, I do explore
a little bit I have done in the last show.
I would say though that, you know, in terms of
an artistic process and certainly performing, there's something about live
(04:09):
performing where you interact with an audience which can't ever
be replicated. I don't think I think that's that's in
a way, in a way, I suppose I'm sort of
I feel kind of slightly relieved by that in a way,
and also an obligation to keep performing in a way,
because I think there will be a time won't there
shall shall we know? Let's imagine a time in the
(04:31):
future when when you say scripts are written by a
computer chat GBT AI AI does a rendition of actors
performing lines, and I mean, you know, I mean you see,
I mean, it's not beyond the realm of possibility, is
it that? You know, recorded entertainment might be computerized, but
(04:52):
there's nothing that can replicate that moment, that sort of
spark between an audience and a performer in a live context.
And so I sort of feel almost like it's something
I will continue to do and probably sort of to
a point where I want to concentrate. I want to
almost accentuate that that I want to focus on. I
(05:16):
want to make a virtue of the fact that it's
that there is this bond between an audience a performer
which doesn't exist. You know, it can't be replicated.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Bill, you know, on the subject of AI, I reckon
what we've lost through the smartphone is human interaction. You know,
where you see a family sitting around, everyone's on a smartphone.
They're not talking to each other. Is it possible actually
though that the further we go down this road where
we realize how many of our tasks can be replicated
by AI, which you start to value again the face
to face and the interaction.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yes, I do actually think that's true, and I think
that I've noticed this in other forms as well. Like
one of the programs I've been making in the last
few years is about traditional craft, which is something which
I've always been interested because my father was a Stonemason,
and so I've always had a love for that, for
(06:05):
things that people can make things, you know, and during
in fact from But I think very sort of about
five years ago, when we were all incarcerated indoors we
can go out, people started to make things and film
it and then post it online and this became hugely popular,
and then it became enormously sort of shared viraly on
(06:26):
TikTok and so on. And so what I've discovered is
that now there is a resurgence in those sort of things,
almost like slow entertainment, you know, more there's a bit
more value intrinsically in it than something which is just
a kind of immediate, you know, sort of gratification that happens,
you know, in a minute thirty seconds from a video
(06:49):
or some kind of sketch. There's something a bit more
a value of that. And I think that there is
genuinely a kind of people recognizing the value in a
live performance. And that's that's replicated. I mean, it's it's
indicated by numbers of people going to see shows. I
mean there's like shows in London, but Thatt Western shows,
record numbers of people going to see shows, record numbers
(07:10):
of people that are going to see live concerts, music concerts,
comedy concerts. You know that it's almost like people are
genuinely craving this, seeking out something which you can't really
get in any other form.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Is that why you and I've noticed this with other
comedians as well, why you are increasingly you guys are
increasingly booking a lot of small venues rather than just
heading one big city. See it, because you're going from
Embercago through the road, rul all the way, you know,
like all of these venues.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, absolutely right, yeah, because well, I mean that's the thing.
You know, if like, as you say, other comics are
doing I've started doing comedy when I was a teen,
you know, it's something I've I've loved my entire life,
and I've discovered, you know, more and more that actually
(07:58):
what I love about it is when you can interact
with audience. And sometimes that's that's that element is harder
if you if you're in a bigger venue, in a
larger venue which is a little bit more impersonal, some
of the smaller, well, you know, smaller mid medium sized venues,
you can do that. You can actually interact with you
can hear what everyone says in the room. And in fact,
recently I was doing a run in a theater in
(08:20):
London which was quite a cozy West End theater, you know,
it's one of those sort of small Victorian theaters where
you can literally hear every single but if there's any
comment from anyone in the room, you can hear it.
And that was just a joy to do that, and
in fact it led to a wonderful conversation with somebody
about nuclear fusion, and then it ended up with me
(08:42):
being invited to the UK Atomic Energy Authorities, you know,
for st and so. But but things like that happen
in those in those situations. If you love comedy as
I do, then you know, you you you just want
to get close to the audience, and sometimes it's not
feasible sometimes, you know, the practicalities of touring mean that
(09:04):
you end up in larger venues and I and equally
then the show becomes more of ReSpectacle. And I sort
of like that as well. I mean I kind of
adapt the show to fit the space in a way.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Tell me something, every time you come here you sell out.
Why do we love you so much?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I don't know. I mean I would say this right,
and that is that I've put in the hours, if
you like, I've been coming to New Zealand now for
nearly thirty years, and over that time, I think, as
someone said very eloquently, most of life is showing up.
And so if you if you turn up somewhere and
you show willing, then I think you draw people along
(09:41):
with you. And I think that over the years, I've
hopefully formed a bit of a bond with New Zealand
audiences and you know, they've they've found me as it
were when I first turned up. Of course, you know,
nobody knew I was and so you have to you know,
some people would come along and just just on a
sort of random night out lose this bloke, and then
gradually over the years people get to know what your
(10:03):
stuff is and you sort of develop an audience as
you go. And plus of fact, I think there's quite
a lot of similarity between our senses of humor. I
think there's a sort of a shared love of the
absurd and a love of language, and a love of
the general sort of oddity of life. Plus you know,
a sort of I kind of I find that the
(10:25):
New Zealand comedy are very warm and very and self deprecatory,
like very much like British comedy, So I think we
have a lot in common. There's an affinity between us.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Well, it has been delight to talk to you, Bill,
Thank you very much for your time. Look forward to
seeing you when you're here.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Thank you very much. I will see you then.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Brilliant Bill Bailey coming with the tour of Vaudevillian. He
will be here from the end of October all the
way through to the end of November, and he's going
to Queenstown and Vigegel, Dunedin, Omaru, christ Church, Nelson, Hawks Bay, Wellington, Auckland, Palmson,
North New Plymouth, Hamilton. Absolutely nobody is going to miss out.
How good is That.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
News Talks it' B from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Now New Zealand cannot get enough of Bill Bailey. After
selling out when he last toured here all the way
back in twenty twenty three, he's bringing a new tour
back to the country near the end of this year.
It's called Vaudevillion and he's going all over the place
around the country. The show is described as a celebration
of comedy, songs and skills. Bill Bailey, Good morning, lovely
to talk with you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello there, and you also.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Now you have been there's been a couple of years
since you've been in New Zealand. You look like you've
been really busy, have you.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yes, I have, And I mean I'm always busy. I'm
always doing something because I like to be busy, and
so I was trying to find something meaningful to do.
So yeah, the last couple of years I've been making
TV programs, touring the world, writing books, usual sort of thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Are you an active relaxer?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Are you? But I like, yeah, I think so. I
tend to sort of feel nervous if I'm not doing something.
So if I'm doing one project, always try and get
it to overlap something else. And I do identify that
they do sort of you know tend to one will
we'll kind of sort of start to cross pollinate a
(01:08):
little bit, you know something, there's there'll be an element
of one project which you can use in another project.
So I think they all kind of tend to blur
together after a while and blend together. And that's good.
I love to be busy, you know. I just I
find I kind of get nervous. I get reckless if
I'm not doing something.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Why do you think that is? I'm asking you this
because Bill, I experienced exactly the same thing, and I
found that the only way to stop myself doing this
is literally put myself on a bath because you can't
get you You're forced to sort of sit there and
enjoy the thing.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh did you sorry? Did you say bath or bar?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, I mean a bar works as well, but at
home about.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I was going to say that would work equally for me,
But but yes, I know what you mean. You have
to sort of like actually program in a little bit
of time where you just do nothing. Yeah, And what
my sort of go to is puzzles. And I do
the spelling Bee every day. It's a it's part of
(02:07):
the puzzle on New York Times website and I try
and sort of do. That's my kind of moment where
I just zone everything out and I just concentrate on
that for a bit.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I don't believe I don't do the spelling I don't
do the Spelling Bee because it costs money and I'm
too tight to pay for it, so I just do
the money crossword and the word.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Ah, yes, yes that's true. Now you're right, Yeah, you
do have to have a subscription for that, But I
mean I do. I like the New York Times, so
I'm kind of it's a bit of a bonus, you know,
you get, I like the journalism, but I also, yeah,
the bone the spelling Bee is my is my go to,
and I get a bit obsessed about it, and I
actually start asking random people do you know a seven
(02:49):
letter word that starts with al that means this? You know,
and then just taxi drivers, you know, opt them into it.
But yeah, I think so, I mean, I think that's
I've always been like that since I was a kid.
Even when I was at school, I'd always be doing
the school play and also playing in the cricket team
and also doing something else. So I kind of think
(03:11):
that's really been a pattern of my life since childhood,
which I guess you know, once once the patent takes hold,
that's it. You know, we're cooked.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
While we're on the subject of technology, are you asn't
ai as I am?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, I'm kind of fascinated by it, because like I
am with any new thing, you know, I always like
sort of, you know, try to avoid any sort of
sense of like, oh, you know, things are better in
the old days, you know, and it's all gone to pot.
There is an element of saying, well, no, we actually
live in a time where where technology has improved the
(03:46):
lives of millions of people, so why wouldn't this do that? Also?
And I'm slightly fascinated by the kind of how it's
come on in leaps and bounds, and you know, the
visual element of it. But I mean, I do explore
a little bit I have done in the last show.
I would say though that, you know, in terms of
an artistic process and certainly performing, there's something about live
(04:09):
performing where you interact with an audience which can't ever
be replicated. I don't think I think that's that's in
a way, in a way, I suppose I'm sort of
I feel kind of slightly relieved by that in a way,
and also an obligation to keep performing in a way,
because I think there will be a time won't there
shall shall we know? Let's imagine a time in the
(04:31):
future when when you say scripts are written by a
computer chat GBT AI AI does a rendition of actors
performing lines, and I mean, you know, I mean you see,
I mean, it's not beyond the realm of possibility, is
it that? You know, recorded entertainment might be computerized, but
(04:52):
there's nothing that can replicate that moment, that sort of
spark between an audience and a performer in a live context.
And so I sort of feel almost like it's something
I will continue to do and probably sort of to
a point where I want to concentrate. I want to
almost accentuate that that I want to focus on. I
(05:16):
want to make a virtue of the fact that it's
that there is this bond between an audience a performer
which doesn't exist. You know, it can't be replicated.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Bill, you know, on the subject of AI, I reckon
what we've lost through the smartphone is human interaction. You know,
where you see a family sitting around, everyone's on a smartphone.
They're not talking to each other. Is it possible actually
though that the further we go down this road where
we realize how many of our tasks can be replicated
by AI, which you start to value again the face
to face and the interaction.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yes, I do actually think that's true, and I think
that I've noticed this in other forms as well. Like
one of the programs I've been making in the last
few years is about traditional craft, which is something which
I've always been interested because my father was a Stonemason,
and so I've always had a love for that, for
(06:05):
things that people can make things, you know, and during
in fact from But I think very sort of about
five years ago, when we were all incarcerated indoors we
can go out, people started to make things and film
it and then post it online and this became hugely popular,
and then it became enormously sort of shared viraly on
(06:26):
TikTok and so on. And so what I've discovered is
that now there is a resurgence in those sort of things,
almost like slow entertainment, you know, more there's a bit
more value intrinsically in it than something which is just
a kind of immediate, you know, sort of gratification that happens,
you know, in a minute thirty seconds from a video
(06:49):
or some kind of sketch. There's something a bit more
a value of that. And I think that there is
genuinely a kind of people recognizing the value in a
live performance. And that's that's replicated. I mean, it's it's
indicated by numbers of people going to see shows. I
mean there's like shows in London, but Thatt Western shows,
record numbers of people going to see shows, record numbers
(07:10):
of people that are going to see live concerts, music concerts,
comedy concerts. You know that it's almost like people are
genuinely craving this, seeking out something which you can't really
get in any other form.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Is that why you and I've noticed this with other
comedians as well, why you are increasingly you guys are
increasingly booking a lot of small venues rather than just
heading one big city. See it, because you're going from
Embercago through the road, rul all the way, you know,
like all of these venues.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, absolutely right, yeah, because well, I mean that's the thing.
You know, if like, as you say, other comics are
doing I've started doing comedy when I was a teen,
you know, it's something I've I've loved my entire life,
and I've discovered, you know, more and more that actually
(07:58):
what I love about it is when you can interact
with audience. And sometimes that's that's that element is harder
if you if you're in a bigger venue, in a
larger venue which is a little bit more impersonal, some
of the smaller, well, you know, smaller mid medium sized venues,
you can do that. You can actually interact with you
can hear what everyone says in the room. And in fact,
recently I was doing a run in a theater in
(08:20):
London which was quite a cozy West End theater, you know,
it's one of those sort of small Victorian theaters where
you can literally hear every single but if there's any
comment from anyone in the room, you can hear it.
And that was just a joy to do that, and
in fact it led to a wonderful conversation with somebody
about nuclear fusion, and then it ended up with me
(08:42):
being invited to the UK Atomic Energy Authorities, you know,
for st and so. But but things like that happen
in those in those situations. If you love comedy as
I do, then you know, you you you just want
to get close to the audience, and sometimes it's not
feasible sometimes, you know, the practicalities of touring mean that
(09:04):
you end up in larger venues and I and equally
then the show becomes more of ReSpectacle. And I sort
of like that as well. I mean I kind of
adapt the show to fit the space in a way.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Tell me something, every time you come here you sell out.
Why do we love you so much?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I don't know. I mean I would say this right,
and that is that I've put in the hours, if
you like, I've been coming to New Zealand now for
nearly thirty years, and over that time, I think, as
someone said very eloquently, most of life is showing up.
And so if you if you turn up somewhere and
you show willing, then I think you draw people along
(09:41):
with you. And I think that over the years, I've
hopefully formed a bit of a bond with New Zealand
audiences and you know, they've they've found me as it
were when I first turned up. Of course, you know,
nobody knew I was and so you have to you know,
some people would come along and just just on a
sort of random night out lose this bloke, and then
gradually over the years people get to know what your
(10:03):
stuff is and you sort of develop an audience as
you go. And plus of fact, I think there's quite
a lot of similarity between our senses of humor. I
think there's a sort of a shared love of the
absurd and a love of language, and a love of
the general sort of oddity of life. Plus you know,
a sort of I kind of I find that the
(10:25):
New Zealand comedy are very warm and very and self deprecatory,
like very much like British comedy, So I think we
have a lot in common. There's an affinity between us.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Well, it has been delight to talk to you, Bill,
Thank you very much for your time. Look forward to
seeing you when you're here.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Thank you very much. I will see you then.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Brilliant Bill Bailey coming with the tour of Vaudevillian. He
will be here from the end of October all the
way through to the end of November, and he's going
to Queenstown and Vigegel, Dunedin, Omaru, christ Church, Nelson, Hawks Bay, Wellington, Auckland, Palmson,
North New Plymouth, Hamilton. Absolutely nobody is going to miss out.
How good is That.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
News Talks it' B from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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