Bill Bailey, an English comedian, musician, singer, actor, TV and radio presenter and author, chats with Kevin Cooper about his favourite comedians, performing at Knebworth, freedom of speech and his latest tour of the UK, Larks In Transit, which comes to the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on May 

How is life treating you?

Pretty good actually. The sun is shining, the birds are hopping around the garden, and I have got a cup of tea on the go. 

Where did the title Larks In Transit come from?

I wanted to describe just what it was like to spend twenty years of my life travelling around the world doing comedy. So I was trying to think of a phrase which would sum all of that up.  Whilst I was driving I saw a sticker on the back of a car which said ‘Show Dogs In Transit’ which rather tickled me because I thought ‘why are you telling me this, do you think that I am going to drive any differently because you have got some pampered poodle in the back of your van?’. The idea of being a Show Dog really struck me as I thought to myself ‘that really is what I am’. I now see myself as some sort of performing thing that travels around.

It isn't going to be a story about carting some birds around the country in a white van. Having said that there is actually a bird quiz within the show, which has become a major feature of the first half of the show.  I test people’s knowledge of bird calls, and I am pretty impressed with the standard of identification here in Great Britain. People here really do know their birds.

What else can we expect?

There will be tales of being stopped by the police, people recognising me in odd places, strange conversations that I have overheard in Britain, together with tales about the Nutella riots. So really, all of the things which fascinate me. I sing Old McDonald in the style of Tom Waits; I play lots of tunes that people know but in either the minor key or the major key.  I actually play the American National Anthem in the minor key which seems to work really well. There is some Country and Western in there and there is even a song about me selling my soul to the Devil.

There are also stories about making wildlife documentaries in Britain, so I will be talking about Otters, Badgers, and Weasels.

Do you get any down time when you are out on the road?

I always like to make time to get out during the day otherwise you tend to get a little bit stir crazy.  I tend to get all of the crew out as a group and we try to find something that we can all do together.   Whether it is just a walk somewhere, or perhaps we will get the bikes out and do a bit of mountain biking, or we may take out the binoculars and do a bit of birding.  It has to be something that involves getting outside otherwise you can start to get cabin fever being holed up inside.  You find yourself talking to the trouser press.

How long does it take you to write and put together a show of this size?

Well it takes a while because the initial ideas start to come randomly. For example, when I read the stories about the Nutella riots and then after that I read a story about Iceland, the country, suing the high street shop of the same name.  I just thought ‘what?’. Those are the things that you put together.  You then find links between those and other stories and then I start to remember things that have happened to me on tour.  After that I will then start to noodle around on the piano whilst I come up with an idea.

The whole process of getting to this stage is a couple of years really.

Phil Jupitus, Mark Lamarr and Bill Bailey on Never Mind The Buzzcocks in 2002

Who makes Bill Bailey laugh?

I see lots of comics and I have to say that I really did love watching Louis C.K. when he came over to the UK to perform here.  I think that he is unique and has a brilliant comic voice.  I like watching people who are friends of mine perform, people like Sean Lock, Demetri Martin and Bo Burnham.

I also love to see the real wry American satirists, people like Rich Hall and Will Durst together with some of the newer comics like Aparna Nancherla, who has a very interesting and quirky take on her own life, together with her own anxieties.

It is quite different to the comedy that I grew up doing.  That is why I very much notice that a trend has emerged in the last ten or twenty odd years in comedy where it has become much more personal, much more confessional and it is now very much about people’s experiences. When I first started out there was none of that. It really was very much about gags, silliness, being daft and in general just mucking about.

Are any subjects off-limits?

Stand-up is the last bastion of free speech. We are all able to get up onstage and say whatever we want.  I became very acutely aware of that when I was performing over in Shanghai.  I was performing there for the first time and I was told, in no uncertain terms, that there are certain things that you simply cannot talk about.  You can’t mention Tiananmen Square, you can’t mention Taiwan and you can’t mention Tibet; basically you cannot mention the three T’s.  They were very serious when they said to me “this will not affect you, you can get up on the stage and do gags about the three T’s but we will suffer because of it. There will be repercussions.”

L-R, Peter Edgar, Lola Webber and Bill Bailey before handing in a petition to the Indonesian Embassy in London to protest about the country's appetite for dog meat, 2018. Photo: Philip Coburn

Bjork was over there recently and during her show she made a comment about Tibet and a month later her promoter lost his licence. In fact it was not only the promoter but all of the people who provided services, such as the merchandise stalls and the food outlets; all of them suffered from it.  Such is the power of the State so I am very aware of that.  We almost take that for granted, the fact that we can get up on stage and say anything that we like about anyone whilst performing here in Britain.  That is one of the great freedoms that we have.  You have to use that freedom wisely, and don’t simply squander that freedom.

Bill Bailey

Bill Bailey brings Larks In Transit to the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on Friday, May 24. Tickets are £40.10 from  Ticketmaster.