Strangely sufficiency, it isn�t a big stretch to imagine Bill Bailey, his long, sprawling hair streaming behind him, riding on the back of a giant worm.
The British comedian - known for his turn as the excited, hyperactive Manny Bianco from television register Black Books�- admits that was the dream for his new standup musical comedy point, Tinselworm,which he brings to New Zealand next week.
�I was hoping to get on level riding on the back of a giant 50-foot worm made of tinsel, rather like the sandworms in the film Dune. But apparently it was ludicrously expensive."
The name Tinselworm is something he made up to contrast with the elegance of a silk worm.
"A tinsel worm is a bit gaudier, you acknowledge. It�s a bit more cheap. It�s down on the street, not your exclusive insect. It�s a worm of the people."
Bailey presents himself as a working-class larrikin with a wild and woolly appearance.
In fact, he�s the son of a GP, he did well at school, and he�s a classically trained player who has perfect shift and can play the piano, guitar, theremin and bongos, among other instruments.
His answers to interview questions (which had to be emailed to him in advance) power seem like adlibbed, phantasmagoric ramblings, simply you bring forth the printing there�s thought and cooking behind them.
When he speaks to The Dominion Post from London it�s afterwards 11pm, only he�s a night bird of night after years of playing late-night gigs since his standup calling began in the mid-1980s in a double do called The Rubber Bishops.
"I'm naturally more disposed straight off to think up things in the evening. After so many years of performing it�s ingrained now. I incline to associate evenings with having to think up jokes."
Bailey has done a lot more in his career than telling jokes. Along with acting in cult comedy Black Books with booster and gent comedian Dylan Moran, he has appeared on several other video shows, including as a team captain on the gameshow Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
He�s presented a wildlife series, Wild Thing I Love You, had a cameo theatrical role in the film Hot Fuzz, and performed in a punk band called Beergut 100.
Of all his projects, he loves standup the most because it allows him to do and say whatever he wants.
"TV is a different kind of buzz because it�s in the last process. It�s a delayed reaction type of gig, whereas standup is very immediate. For shameless gratification junkies it�s more of a hit."
The 44 year old is married and has a fiveyear-old boy, Dax, and his feet are kept on the ground by performing the menial tasks of domestic life such as "pickings bins out and cleanup out the dishwasher".
He�s reluctant to define his sense of humour, but says what makes him jest most is seeing portentous, opinionated the great unwashed made to look foolish. He enjoyed Sacha Baron Cohen�s Borat for that reason.
"It�s a function of comedy in a way to prick at people�s self-importance. It�s quite powerful like that. It canful seep through the cracks a little bit where other things can�t arrive through."
Despite a petition latterly launched by fans career for him to play a hobbit in the upcoming Peter Jackson-produced Hobbit films, Bailey - world Health Organization named one of his earlier live shows Part Troll - says he�s unlikely to be attendance any auditions while he�s in New Zealand.
"I think producers casting a film normally get agents and casting people and I just make a prayer sent through�- it moldiness just genuinely annoy them.
"But I�d beloved to be in The Hobbit. It would be great, what a grotesque gig. I�ve had furry feet for years at present. I�m ready to go at a moment�s notice."
* Bill Bailey performs�Tinselworm on�August 31 and September 1 at the ASB Theatre in Auckland,�and on September 4 and Friday, September 5 at the St James Theatre in Wellington.
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