Bill Bailey in Part Troll
Apollo Theatre, London W1
Bill Bailey is doubly blessed: he has the rare comic gift of simply looking funny, married to a talent for writing superbly original material and a superior musical ability. On top of all that, he always comes across as modest and amiable. He must have a hidden dark side, you think, perhaps hinted at in the choice of title.
Not exactly: the troll in Norse mythology is an outsider that tries to blend into society but can't on account of its tail, Bailey explains, drawing parallels with his own experience of growing up with a West Country accent. Part Troll, which has been touring for nearly a year, runs into a minor difficulty common to a lot of stand-up in the West End in that these old theatres were not designed acoustically to encourage banter with the audience. Bailey takes requests for hillbilly versions of popular songs but can't always hear the audience.
The highlight remains his 'Drum 'n' Bush' composition, which samples Dubya soundbites over thumping beats. The set pieces are fantastic too: the theological argument with a car rental manager who tells him he is not insured against Acts of God, or the deconstructed joke in which the Trinity go into a bar, are some of the cleverest comic writing on the West End stage.
