When Bill Bailey repeated his jokes on stage

Bill Bailey has vowed never again to take painkillers before going on stage – after he unwittingly ended up repeating his material under their influence.

The stand-up had been taking the medication after injuring his back lifting a piano that had been delivered to his London home.

And the pain intensified after he flew to  New Zealand for some tour dates, so he found a doctor in Auckland who prescribed some anti-inflammatories and some powerful painkillers,  the Daily Star reports

‘That night, a strange thing happened to me on stage,’ he said. ‘After the show, I was in the dressing room and [wife] Kris said to me, "Is there any reason you told the same joke twice?" I had no recollection of this.

‘I think I got away with it – the audience may have thought it was some clever, meta callback routine – but in reality it was because my brain was so fogged by the painkillers. 

‘I stopped taking them after that night and every subsequent gig right up to this day.’

Bailey starts a run of his latest show, Thoughtifier, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London’s West End next Saturday. Tickets.

And he has just been named official patron of the Musical Comedy Awards, posting on social media: 'I invite you to support the next generation of musical comedians'. Producer Ed Chappell said: 'It's really special for me, as he is one of the main reasons that I set up the MCA in the first place. He has been so kind as to plug the final for us since 2018.'

Published: 21 Dec 2024