Ever since music was invented, people have been using it for storytelling.
When we turn on the radio, chances are we’re likely to hear songs about love, songs about going out and enjoying the town and even songs about getting through hard times.
Even so, not all music has to be completely serious—some of the best musical performances have plenty of comedy in them. At least, that’s how Bill Bailey approaches it in the clip we’re talking about today.
And needless to say, the audience couldn’t get enough of it!
For those who don’t know, Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor.
Although he has his own serious dramatic and musical chops, sometimes he likes to bend genres together and make his musical performances a little bit funnier.
At least, that was the plan when he performed on Michael McIntyre’s Easter Night at the Coliseum in 2015. McIntyre is known to host comedy variety shows in the UK, but nobody was ready for how hilarious and inventive Bailey’s performance was going to be.
The entire thing started off with a little routine on emergency sirens.
As he explains with the help of a keyboard, there’s a pretty significant difference between British and American sirens.
At the beginning, he does a demonstration of British sirens showing how they’re functional and dry compared to American ones.
But he also shows how they sound like disappointment when they go past, making the whole audience laugh as he does it. As he continues, he does a bit about how French sirens sound…which isn’t entirely accurate, but is still hilarious.
After a brief applause break, he goes into his main bit.
First off, he comments that Downton Abbey is a particularly slow and boring song.
Although he says he can’t play the exact theme song, he does a very close interpolation of it so that everyone knows what he’s talking about.
Even so, he says, he thinks the original version is too boring and needs to be spruced up. “My favorite version is the Jamaican Dub Reggae version,” he says. And with that, he starts a remix of the theme song that is perfectly hilarious!
But it also had the crowd dancing!
As he continues, he shows off his musical skills by working samples and strange musical bits into the song as well.
Partway through, there are musical samples saying that someone is “too tall to be a footman,” and of course there’s a response: “Me five foot nine! Check it!”
As the song goes on, it’s clear that the sketch is based on the premise that the Downton Abbey house hired a Rasta… and the entire thing was a huge hit with the crowd. Throughout the performance, Bailey dances along with the music.
Before long, there’s another hilarious rant about different kinds of fancy spoons.
The clip was originally loaded in June 2015, but since then it has earned more than three million views online.
Although there are all kinds of different music in the world, there’s something particularly satisfying about musical comedy. When someone can play instruments and also work a whole different level of performance into it, it’s definitely impressive.
Congratulations to Bill Bailey on this hilarious performance! Check out the whole thing in the link below:
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