DVD review by Steve Bennett

Every comic works best in a smaller room, but ­– on the evidence of this DVD at least – Bill Bailey can make Dublin’s 9,500-seater O2 Arena seem as intimate as a theatre the tenth the size, while losing nothing of the sense of occasion.

His greatest weapons in this are the Middle-Eastern mandolin-style instrument called the oud, and the playfulness of the Irish audience, who cheekily imbue it with awe and mystique. The in-joke wears a bit thin by the end of the show, when their cries of ‘our’ sound worryingly like boos – but when it starts with Bailey asking, repeatedly and hypnotically, ‘is it an oud?’ the effect is hilarious, capturing a spontaneity of stand-up that’s often missing in DVD releases.

Yet this, his sixth DVD, is about as far from being a one-joke show as you can get. While he may appear wide-eyed and bewildered, Bailey’s semi-shambolic appearance belies a sharp mind, which has constructed a  multi-faceted and beautifully-written show, reinforced by his usual musical silliness and a few multimedia flourishes.

He touches on big issues, such as rationalism, but with a dottily silly approach; and even politics comes under his gaze as he deconstructs Barack Obama’s ‘uplifting but vague’ oratory as lightly and as wittily as he does the facile lyrics of James Blunt. Equally he's just as likely to be whimsical or sometimes even angry, in a kind of grouchy middle-class way. Whatever the angle, fine metaphors pepper the routines, plenty of which will tickle the funnybone. Wayne Rooney looking like a duffle bag with its drawstring pulled too tight is a particular favourite.

There is, of course, the usual musical jiggery-pokery, much of it in the extended encores when Bailey is joined by Kevin Eldon for some West-Country hip-hop and the fusion of Kraftwerk with the Wurzles. Kraftwerzuls?

But in something of a departure, the ever-curious Bailey also breaks his patter to offer us a fact-packed, but none-too-informative, art lecture about depictions of The Incredulity of St Thomas. It’s probably not the best routine of the lot, but one of several useful change of pace that means this eclectic show never flags.

Bill Bailey: Dandelion Mind
Running time: 92 minutes
Recorded at: Dublin O2 Arena
Extras: Scenic Roots (44min on-the-road video of a tour of Scotland's islands and Highlands); Nemesis Of The Insect Nepenthes Bill Bailey (2mins about how he got a flower named after him)
Released by: Universal Pictures UK, November 22
Price: £19.99. Click here to buy from Amazon for £12.93.

Published: 7 Dec 2010