Why do people want to swim with dolphins? The equivalent would be an Indonesian fellow coming over here, going up to a farmer and saying 'Can I get in with the cows? I just fancy scuffling about with them.'
Bill BaileyOf course, uh, the universe is gradually slowing down and, uh, will eventually collapse inwardly on itself, according to the laws of entropy when all it's thermal and mechanical functions fail, thus rendering all human endeavors ultimately pointless. Just to put the gig in some sort of context.
Bill BaileyI never really thought comedy was a career option, just something I did for fun. Suddenly I realised I was getting paid which was a bonus. I studied for a diploma with the London College of Music, and teaching was something I thought I might do but comedy intervened.
Bill BaileyBut our country's equivalent of gritty reality is more like "Look out Sarge, he's got a shooter!"
Bill BaileyI spent my childhood scrambling round badgers and foxes and playing fantastic country kid games like knocking on people's doors and running away. God that was a good game.
Bill BaileyI tend to go through periods worrying, "Where am I going, I can't see a way out of this," and it becomes quite stressful. But sometimes you have to take a bet on yourself.
Bill BaileyA horse walks into a bar, and the barman says "Why the long face?". The horse replies: "I'm deeply troubled by the anthropomorphic aspects of my existence and the extent to which I am now protected by law."
Bill BaileyStupid National Anthem... Look at this flag; Two bears fighting over a pineapple. What kind of message does that send to the world? "Come to Belarus, where wild animals will steal your fruit."
Bill BaileyLive comedy's a very reckless, foolhardy profession. You're only as good as your last gig so earnings fluctuate.
Bill BaileyThree women walk into a pub and say, `Hooray, we've colonised a male-dominated joke format'
Bill BaileyThe BBC did a survey of the top 50 things to do before we die. Not while we're still alive, before we die.
Bill BaileyI feel sorry for James Blunt, he has to wake up every morning and think 'Oh my God, I'm James Blunt, what have I done?'
Bill BaileyI'm a vegetarian, I'm not strict. I eat fish. And duck, but they're nearly fish aren't they.
Bill BaileyIf you have enough money to be comfortable it makes life a lot easier and that's undeniable. But I think happiness is more elusive.
Bill BaileyNot so great in England at the moment; in an online poll we came last, we actually came bottom of European countries for quality of life, because of things like the weather, obviously, late retirement, poor holiday, poor public services, poor health service; it's basically just a kind of grey, godless wilderness, full of cold pies and broken dreams.
Bill BaileyI once punched a bloke in the face for saying 'Hawk the Slayer' was rubbish, when what I should have said 'Dad, you're wrong.'
Bill BaileyAdd a drop of lavender to milk, leave town with an orange, and pretend you're laughing at it.
Bill BaileyThe reason we'd stopped was that the buffet car was on fire, that was the reason we stopped. One of the giant biscuits spontaneously combusted out of boredom. Whoever was charged with making the announcement momentarily lost all sense of procedure and we got this tantalizing glimpse into the chaos on the trains, and all we could hear was (bangs on microphone) "Gary, it's burning, what we gonna do?!" And everyone on the carriage just cheered, "Hooray! We're rubbish!"
Bill BaileyThree blind mice walk into a pub. But they are unaware of their surroundings, so to derive humour from it would be exploitative.
Bill BaileyThree blokes go into a pub. One of them is a little bit stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability.
Bill BaileyWithout the beat in the background, Jazz basically sounds like an armadillo was let loose on the keyboard.
Bill BaileyI would never condone the burning of a Dan Brown novel, much though I loathe and detest his work. Well, I say work, you know, words, randomly arranged to form millions of dollars... I'm not bitter at all.
Bill BaileyI suppose you could be a member of a terrorist organization in a non-violent way, in the laundry or the catering department.
Bill BaileyOrchestras have often been used to conjure up the natural world: Swans, sharks, trout, but not, as far as I know, the often maligned jellyfish.
Bill BaileyAldous Huxley took the drug mescaline and then chronicled his experience in the book The Doors of Perception. Now, I don't actually think that's the first thing he wrote: he probably wrote 'my brain is melting' ten thousand times, but it was the book that the critics latched on to.
Bill BaileyThis was my attempt to deter cold callers: "There's no past, there's no future, just one pulsating present... Please leave your message after the tone."
Bill BaileyHitler was a vegetarian. Just goes to show, vegetarianism, not always a good thing. Can in some extreme cases lead to genocide.
Bill BaileyThe way we live in the West we live like kings. People moan about this and that in Britain but we have running water, electricity, security and a rule of law and so many people in the world don't have these.
Bill Bailey