The road worrier
Why Bill once quit stand-up
Bill Bailey has revealed that he once quit comedy for a telesales job, because he was fed up with life on the road.
And the last straw came in the early Nineties, when he became disheartened with the tiny audiences he was getting for his Edinburgh show with Sean Lock, called Rock.
He said: “I went out on stage and there was just one person in the audience - Dominic Holland, another comedian. He said, 'Don't worry, lads, just enjoy yourselves.'
"'You know what, Dominic?' I replied. 'I don't think we will. We'll just take you down the pub and tell you the jokes there instead.' It's very difficult not to get downhearted when things like that happen."
In an interview with today’s Independent, he added: “I remember driving along the motorway with a friend one night and saying, 'Let's not stop at this service station - the next one's better.'
“When you suddenly realise you know the relative merits of different motorway services, it's time to re-evaluate your life."
So he quit comedy for a job selling advertising space on a magazine about international business development.
But he got into a row with his boss about the need to wear a tie, even though customers couldn’t see him, and was fired – forcing him back onto the road as a stand-up.Published: 18 Nov 2004
