Current Strictly champion BILL BAILEY has announced a new arena tour ‘EN ROUTE TO NORMAL‘ which brings him to the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff this year and an extra date which has just been added in 2022.

For those of us who were glued to this year’s Strictly, we always hoped Bill would come out on top, but his final performances, and we think the dedication he made to his supporters sealed his win.

This was the moment his win was announced……

As the title of his tour suggests, material will include his, and our time in lockdown and how to navigate our way through it. Bill told us he actually came up with the tour name pre-pandemic.

“It’s how we see a way through the strange unreality of our new world, but the name came before we’d even heard of COVID”.

According the show’s description: ‘Tracing lines through chaotic moments in history, Bill seeks out parallels where human resilience and our ability to endure has got us through times of strife.’

Bill said that for him the pandemic led to a greater appreciation of birdsong and how nature has inspired many great composers. Lockdown also prompted him to create dance remixes of video-calling ringtones.

World-renowned stand-up Bill Bailey is one of the most loved comedians in the business with his musical virtuosity, surreal tangents and trademark intelligence. He often tackles topics like politics, philosophy and the pursuit of happiness. 

With Bill you never quite know what he’ll dip his toe into next, as we can see with his brilliant performances in the current series of ‘Strictly’ where he’s actually dipping both his toes into all the routines, very well. Bill said at the start of the series he was doing for his late Mum Madrin.

He explained that Madrin was a huge fan of the BBC One show before she died.

“In these strange times we’re living through, it feels right to do something different and take on a new challenge.”

“So I am delighted to be a part of this year’s unique Strictly Come Dancing.”

He is of course a comedian, but also a musician, writer, author, director, presenter and keen stand-up paddle-boarder known for his live shows such as Part Troll, Tinselworm, Qualmpeddler and Limboland and his work on the television programmes Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and QI.

Bill was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in 2003. In 2007, and again in 2010, he was voted the seventh greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.

The music, although an integral part of his act, is a serious thing for him. He is a classically trained musician and anyone who has seen his live shows leaves dazzled by his skill on any instrument he picks up.

He can deliver a killer punchline but his more high-minded, philosophical riffs are amazing, intelligent, accessible, thoughtful and hilariously funny.

Since the early ’00s, Bailey has been wowing audiences with his live shows. In 2001, he crossed the pond bringing Bewilderness to New York for eight weeks, while 2004 saw him perform Part Troll at over 50 venues around the UK.

His comedic extravaganza Tinseltown helped earn him a reputation for outrageous routines. In 2007, Bill took it on a sold-out UK arena tour, then headed to Australia and New Zealand in 2008, before returning home for a 10-week residency at London’s Gielgud Theatre. 

The passing years brought more live shows, each with different twists and replete with musical offerings. From 2009’s Bill Bailey Live and Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide To The Orchestra, to 2010’s Dandelion Mind and 2015’s Limboland, he has been selling out venues and raking in critical acclaim.

The Evening Standard says that

“Bailey live is a joy to behold”

The Telegraph calls him……

“One of the funniest and most brilliantly original comedians around”.

In addition to being a comedian, Bill is also an actor, panellist and presenter. Known for his role in the offbeat TV sitcom Black Books, where he played the blissfully naïve ex-accountant Manny Bianco opposite fellow comic Dylan Moran, he’s also been seen on Jonathan Creek, Skins and Midsomer Murders and in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz. He was also a team captain on Never Mind The Buzzcocks and a regular face on QI and Have I Got News For You.

In 2018, Bill launched the Larks In Transit tour, his compendium of travellers’ tales and general shenanigans over 20 years as a travelling stand-up performer. Again he sold out venues both at home and abroad, ending 2019 with a five-week residency at London’s Wyndham Theatre. Over 350,000 people saw Larks In Transit before he had to cut the final leg of his tour short due to the global pandemic.

He’s also a prolific writer with numerous books under his belt. The Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide To Happiness, a collection of funny and thoughtful essays exploring the nature of happiness, was published in October. And we can highly recommend his Remarkable Guide To British Birds.

We’ve managed to find a pretty good deal on both of them, just click on the pictures to check them out.

Bill announced his En Route To Normal tour would be heading to UK arenas in December 2021.

He gets to the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff on Wednesday 15th December and he’s back again in 2022 on Wednesday 12th January, which so far, is the final date on the tour before he heads to Ireland. If you’d like more details and to get yourself tickets, go here. BILL

Incidentally, if you’re of a certain age and find yourself humming ‘that’ song every time you see Bill, it is the tune that gave him his stage name.

He was not only a very academic King Edward School pupil in Bath, but also a pretty good sportsman. He would often combine music and sport by leading the singing on the long coach trip back from away rugby fixtures. It was here that he was given his nickname Bill by his music teacher, Lynda Phipps, for being able to play the song “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey” so well on the guitar.

Which made it even more special when he performed the Charleston on a recently Strictly…..

BILL & OTI – THE CHARLESTON

He also turned in a great performance to Rappers Delight on the final evening, which is worthy of a watch at any time.