Bill Bailey - Qualmpeddler

I mentioned in my previous blogs that this was a VERY busy weekend for me. The final event (again, booked long before I knew Neil would be in town) was Bill Bailey's live show - Qualmpeddler. 

I've seen Bill Bailey twice before, and he did not disappoint. Having booked early (benefits of being on the mailing list) I found that I was seated in the 3rd row of the stalls, which was nice (if loud).

The show is almost all new material - and covers ground from Danish TV murders, to badgers, to internet acronyms. There was a song about Quantum Physics (shades of Mitch Benn!)

Bill also made his views of 'celebrity' know (He's a little vague, but I think he's against it...) he critiqued the quality of the heckling, and there was a certain amount of clapping along..

Oh, and a discussion about how no phrasebook, ever, includes the phrase "You use the oven glove to hold the owl, I will cut the sellotape off using the nail scissors". Apparently Bill needed that phrase while in China. (Yes, the story is just as weird as it sounds)

It was a lot of fun.

Sunday night was the last stop on the current leg of the tour (The first time I saw him was in Bristol, on the last night of his tour, and his Roadies put glue on one of the parts of the set so his shoe stuck to it part way through the set. Nothing of that kind this time, although he did at one point get down from the stage, and had a certain amount of difficult getting back on...)

The tour continues in September - if you're anywhere it goes, do go and see him. It's well worth it. Intelligent comedy for the win!

In Which Mr Bill Bailey entertains Ilfracombe

I am signed up to Bill Bailey's mailing list, and as a result, I heard that he was doing two shows at Ilfracombe's Landmark Theatre as warm up for his new 'Dandelion Mind (gently modified)' tour, and, as Ilfracombe is only about 20 minutes from my parents' home, it seemed like a good opportunity to see Bill Bailey and my parents, in one fell swoop.

Pretty picture of the Landmark Theatre (photo from theatre website)

It was not 100% successful, as it turned out that my Mum and Dad were actually away all day on Saturday, but we did meet briefly as I popped in for coffee on my way past, en route to the theatre, and again on my return, for about 10 minutes before we went to bed.

The show was great.

I saw the 'Dandelion Mind' show last September (Blogged it here ) and this version of the show has some of the same material, with some new - including bots about 'Broken Britain' - I particularly enjoyed Bill's comments about the Coalition "It's like being governed by a bowl of pot pourri and a sea-cucumber" (which is one of the few descriptions I can remember, most of the others were more insulting. I kept expecting 'Cream-faced loon' to come up!

Other highlights included some art appreciation, a rendition of 'Scarborough Fair', in German, not to mention a song after the style of 'Chas'n'Dave', (during their Devil Worshipping phase).

Oh, and California Dreaming'  at different speeds, which is much funnier than you might think.

I had a great evening, and I'm really glad I went, as although the tour has dates all through November, none of them is near me.

This morning, my parents were leaving at some ungodly hour  7a.m. but did stick their heads round the bedroom door to say good morning and goodbye, and to bring me a cup of tea, before the left. I then went back to sleep, pottered around a bit, and then went on a long, meandering drive on my way home. (I'd planned to visit a couple of picturesque bits of Exmoor, and go for a couple of short walks and take pretty pictures, but unfortunately it started to rain very heavily at just the wrong moment, so in the end I ended up driving around some very narrow Devon lanes (albeit some of them with nice views) without any walks.

On arriving home I found my next door neighbours have moved out, and some new ones have moved in. I hope they are nice and quiet! The old ones were nice people, but had a very yappy little dog which got hysterical every time I went into my garden...

Tomorrow, I am going to see Fascinating Aida, and if it is a nice day I may go to Stourhead, as it's supposed to be at it's best, for the autumn colours, this weekend. (So it will probably pour with rain all day!) I went around this time last year, and got some gorgeous pics..

In Which I am Vastly Entertained

Friday didn't start well. A problem which is not my fault but which will take a lot of sorting out showed up, then I had a meeting which took 3 and a half hours and meant I missed lunch, which wasn't ideal, especially as it was my last day in the office for a week, and I'd already been in court for 2 days this week.

However, at around 5 it started to improve. I caught a train, then another train (the second one was late, which is annoying, but I had a little time in hand, and it would have been worse had it been the first train which was late, as that would have meant missing the connection.

I got to London at 8, and just had time to drop off my bag at the hostel I was staying at before heading off to Bill Bailey's show in Leicester Square.

By virtue of having booked very early on, I had managed to get a seat in the centre of the 2nd row, and I had time to get myself a pint of beer before the show started. The theatre is a nice, small one - in a basement, so is quite snug.

The show is a wam up for Bill's Dublin show and has some new material - talking about Doubting Thomas, and Darwinism, for instance, and some which was familiar from the Tinselworm show - tales of barnacles, and playing the Oud, for instance.

There was some audience participation in singing 'California dreaming' at varying speeds, a wonderful suggestion about how Michael Winner hould be treated, and the joy of hearing Bill sing 'Hallelujah' in the style of Kraftwerk..not mention mockery of West country accent, and a wonderful rendition of 'Cars'

I can't remember last time I literally laughed till I wept.

If you get a chance see the show, do it. You won't regret it.

Family, and other entertainments.

Being in Cambridgshire it seemed like a good idea to call by to visit my brother, who recently moved to Cambridge. He has a new job, which seems a little odd, as I still have a little trouble remembering that he is a real grown up, now. I think it is partly because he is enough younger than me that he was a student for lots of the time since I started working, and partly because I don't really understand his job, so it's hard for me to put it in context!

And as well as working full time, he's currently studying for an Open University degree, so it's not as though he's busy, or anything.... It was really nice to have the chance to just sit down and talk - mostly we tend to meet up at family parties, where there tends not to be time for lengthy conversations.

So that was a very pleasant morning :-)

I couldn't stay longer, as in order to get back home in time to go to Bill Bailey's show in Bristol I needed to leave just after lunch.

I hadn't realised when I booked the ticket that it was not only the last night he was in Bristol, but also the final show if the tour, which I think added a certain end-of-term feeling to the show! Such as the part where the crew had put glue on one of the monitors so Bill's foot stuck to it, and the part where he threatened to keep the whole theatre in until the audience member explained her comment about Nelson's Column....

It's difficult to pick a favourite part of the show, although hearing 'I've got a Brand New Combine Harvester' sung in German, with a West Country accent, in the style of KraftWerk was, I think, the most memorable....

I'm glad I went. The man is a comic genius.