''Is It Bill Bailey?'' was a

stand up Stand Up may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Stand-up comedy, a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience Film * ''Stand Up'' (2007 film), a film featuring Modi Rosenfeld * ''Stand Up'' (2008 film), a Brit ...

sketch Sketch or Sketches may refer to: * Sketch (drawing), a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work Arts, entertainment and media * Sketch comedy, a series of short scenes or vignettes called sketches Fi ...

comedy series written by and starring British actor and comedian

Bill Bailey Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known professionally as Bill Bailey, is an English musician, comedian and actor. He is known for his role as Manny in the sitcom ''Black Books'' and his appearances on the panel shows ''Never Mind the ...

. One series of six episodes was produced and aired on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

in 1998. It has never been recommissioned or released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

. It was to be repeated for the first time since original transmission on

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

from 23 September 2008, but was dropped from the schedules a few days before broadcast. Each episode featured Bailey performing stand-up comedy on stage, interspersed with sketches starring himself and other actors. As well as performing parodies of

pop songs Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the Un ...

or performers, Bailey would deconstruct music from television shows such as '' Doctor Who'' or ''

Starsky and Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a '' Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by ...

''. The programme was produced by

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

and many of the sketches featured Scottish actors such as

Forbes Masson Forbes (Robertson) Masson (born 17 August 1963 in Falkirk) is a Scottish actor and writer. He is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in classical theatre, musicals, comedies, and appearances i ...

and

Ford Kiernan Ford John Kiernan (born 10 January 1962) is a Scottish comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for his work with Greg Hemphill on the BBC Scotland comedy series ''Chewin' the Fat'' (1999–2005) and ''Still Game'' (2002–2007, 2016–2019 ...

Geraldine McNulty Geraldine McNulty is an English stage and television actress. She has played the character of Mrs Raven in '' My Hero'', and had guest appearances in ''Neverwhere'', '' Gimme Gimme Gimme'', ''The Vicar of Dibley'', '' The Smoking Room'' and ''T ...

Norman Lovett Norman Lovett (born 31 October 1946) is a British stand-up comedian and actor best known for his portrayal of Holly, the ship's computer in ''Red Dwarf''. Career Lovett became a stand-up comedian in his thirties, initially supporting punk ba ...

and

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom '' Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. ...

also featured. Additional material was contributed by frequent collaborators

Sean Lock Sean Lock (22 April 1963 – 16 August 2021) was an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian and in 2000 he won the British Comedy Award, in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Per ...

and

Martin Trenaman Martin Trenaman (born 1962) is an English comedy writer and actor, who has contributed to many modern comedy series. He played Simon's father, Alan Cooper, in the sitcom '' The Inbetweeners'' (2008-10). He reprised the role of Mr. Cooper for the ...

. The shows were directed by

Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and ...

, who went on to direct the sitcom ''

Spaced ''Spaced'' is a British television show, television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes, Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the (comedic and sometimes Farce, farcical and action-packed) mis ...

'' and the films ''

Shaun of the Dead ''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden salesman in London who is caught in a zombie apocalypse with his friend Ed ( Nick Frost). T ...

'' and ''

Hot Fuzz ''Hot Fuzz'' is a 2007 action comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Starring Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, and Jim Broadbent, the film centres on two police officers investigating a series of mysterious ...

'', all of which starred Simon Pegg. Bailey had a cameo in ''Hot Fuzz'', as well as a small role in ''Spaced''. He was also approached to appear in ''Shaun of the Dead'' as a zombie, but was busy with other engagements at the time. Many songs and routines featured in the show were first performed in his ''Cosmic Jam'' tour and TV show ''

Asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...

'', and several were later used during his ''Bewilderness'' tour. The title is derived from the game "Rizla" (also known as ''"Who Am I?"''), in which players are assigned the name of a celebrity or animal and must ask other players

yes–no question In linguistics, a yes–no question, also known as a binary question, a polar question, or a general question is a question whose expected answer is one of two choices, one that provides an affirmative answer to the question versus one that provi ...

s to determine who they are. The opening credits of the show depict Bailey with a

Rizla Rizla (), commercially styled Rizla+., is a French brand of rolling papers and other related paraphernalia in which tobacco, or marijuana, or a mixture, is rolled to make handmade joints and cigarettes. The company was sold in 1997 to Imper ...

on his forehead, bearing his own name.

External links

* * BBC television comedy 1998 British television series debuts 1998 British television series endings 1990s British comedy television series {{BBC-tv-prog-stub