Bill Bailey was raised in Keynsham,
Bristol. He became an Associate of the London College
of Music whilst still at school, and managed to complete
a year of an English and Drama degree in London.
He got his first taste of Edinburgh in a college
production of Under Milk Wood and after dropping out,
played the piano in a wine bar.
He did a stint with Corin and Vanessa Redgrave and
Frances De La Tour in the WRP company's The Printers
and went on to appear in a group called "The Rubber
Bishops". His eclectic mix of tunes and gags really
kicked off in 1995 when his live show Bill Bailey's
Cosmic Jam won the Edinburgh Festival Critics Award.
In 2001 he won Best Live Stand-Up at the British
Comedy Awards.
He broke into TV and since his own series Is It Bill
Bailey? on BBC2, has co-starred in Dylan
Moran's sitcom
Black Books as the downtrodden Manny Bianco. He made
an appearance in the comedy Wild West starring Dawn
French and written by Men Behaving Badly creator Simon
Nye. He also filmed The Stick Up for Mermaid Films.
Bill regularly appears as team captain on Never Mind
the Buzzcocks, and toured in 2004 with the show 'Part
Troll'. |