I introduce to you a wonderful Brtish comedian who would surely make Prof. Smaldone’s Word Hoard explode with musical terms. Did I mention I saw him in concert on Saturday, September 17th? Or that I met him after the show?!?!

I give you Bill Bailey, a respected musical comedian who has been active since the 1990’s. For several years he was regular team captain on the popular British music quiz show “Never Mind the Buzzcocks”. He has toured the world countless times with his charming and different comedy shows. His latest tour, Dandelion Mind, came to NYU’s Skirball Center from September 14th to the 17th. My dad and I caught him on the last night- due to scheduling uncertainties we almost didn’t go, but I’m so glad that we decided to go! He has been a comedic favorite of mine for a few months now.

Bill Bailey’s comedy is unique in that it centers largely around musical themes and ideas. Much of his comedy revolves around reimagining a song in a different genre, pointing out qualities that make certain genres of music recognizable, and, my favorite, demonstrating new instruments most of us have never seen before. A lot of my knowledge of musical instruments, I must say, comes from him! He really makes one want to go out and learn all of the instruments that exist in the world.

The concert was completely laugh out loud funny. Bill Bailey is friendly and open to audience members calling out things to him, which works perfectly for his improvisational comedic style. There was a wealth of musical instruments on the stage- from the bozouki, an Iranian oud, a Japanese electronic instrument called the tenori on, and even a recorder added to the comedic brilliance. I’m a shtickler for not spoling comedy shows for people, but for the sake of plugging his show I will [vaguely] mention a couple of memorable moments: a group sing along, a special reimagining of Akon’s “Smack That”, some laugh-til-you-cry jokes about barnacles, some comedic descriptions of Biblical art [note: Bill Bailey discusses Jesus Christ in this bit a lot- I want to make this known in case anybody is interested in seeing this tour, but would find this offensive to their religion], some poetry, and a short film. The show was so fun and it went by in a split second- with comedy shows, one never wants them to end 🙁

A final word about after the show: in recent months I’ve become one of those insane people who waits for people at the stage door after concerts are over; I find it quite fun and thrilling, and it’s also a great opportunity to get further inspired by the artist who has just permanently wowed you. My dad and I waited close to an hour after the show for Bill to come out- by the time he did, only ten people were left, which made for a quite intimate meet-and-greet! I hugged him and told him his genius has given me a BillBailyeurism (anyeurism, Bill Bailyeurism, get it? ok…) He autographed my program, and I am still reeling that he actually cared about how my name was spelled! It is the first autograph I’ve ever gotten that has my name spelled completely correctly: Annmarie. Below is a picture of my dad, Bill, and I- pardon my hopelessly humongous smile, I was just too happy to meet him! If all that isn’t enough, I witnessed Bill and my dad talk about accordions for at least thirty seconds. Cooool 🙂

And finally, here’s a sample of what Bill is like: this is one of my favorite bits from his huge orchestra tour from a couple of years ago, Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra.

p.s. Bill told me himself he’ll be back in New York early in the New Year… keep an eye out if you’re interested!