Bill Bailey discusses his love for Australia during an interview with Megan Burslem on ABC Classic Breakfast, sharing stories from his current tour including a skydiving adventure in Gold Coast. He also talks about musical experiences such as filming a documentary in Vietnam's Sapa Valley and playing alongside local musicians using traditional instruments like the khèn. Additionally, Bailey recounts performing at the Last Night of the Proms at Royal Albert Hall, where he mastered playing on an organ with 9,999 pipes after midnight rehearsals.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-17,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Few performers can make people think and laugh quite like Bill Bailey.
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people → make → Bailey
Currently on an extensive tour of Australia, Bailey shares stories of adventure, connection and wonder with Megan Burslem on ABC Classic Breakfast.
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Bailey → share → Breakfast
From making music in Vietnam's remote highlands to mastering a typewriter solo at the Last Night of the Proms, Bailey reveals what it takes to be "a consummate professional".
He also shares the music that has inspired him throughout his career and why Australia continues to hold a special place in his heart.
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Australia → make → heart
On touring Australia
Megan Burslem: What do you love about Australia?
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you → tour → Australia
When my son came out on tour and he wanted to go skydiving, I said: "All right, let's go."
It was up on the Gold Coast, a beautiful pristine morning with blue skies.
We hurtled earthwards and then we deployed the parachute, and we just sort of gently floated down and landed on the beach.
Then I asked: "What's that down there?"
And he said: "Oh, that's just some whales breaching in the bay."
I was like, come on, really?
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I → come → bay
You're touring all over Australia.
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You → tour → Australia
Are you secretly sussing out real estate to move here?
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you → susse → estate
It's crossed my mind.
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It → cross → mind
What is the best musical experience you've had around the world?
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you → have → world
I filmed a documentary in Vietnam, and we went up into the remote highlands up north, to a place called the Sapa Valley.
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we → film → place
[The local indigenous people had] an instrument called the khèn.
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people → have → instrument
It's a blown instrument that looks a bit like a bagpipe, but it's made of different lengths of bamboo.
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it → blow → bamboo
It makes a very fluting, haunting sound.
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It → make → sound
There was one practitioner of it who didn't even speak Vietnamese.
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who → be → Vietnamese
He only spoke a local dialect.
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We had to get two translators, but we figured it out musically.
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we → have → it
He would demonstrate [on a few instruments] how [the khèn] would be played.
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khèn → demonstrate → instruments
I figured out the notation of [one of] the instruments and found that I could accompany him on my phone with a little [keyboard] app.
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I → figure → app
I played a few chords and accompanied him on this instrument up in these remote highlands.
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I → play → highlands
It's moments like that where I think music has this incredible transformative power to connect people across nations, cultures and languages.
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music → think → nations
You played at the Last Night of the Proms last year.
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You → play → Proms
What was it like to experience the Royal Albert Hall organ up close?
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it → experience → organ
When I played on the Last Night of the Proms last year, I had to rehearse at midnight.
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I → play → midnight
It's not something where you can just turn up and say: "I'm just going to be noodling around up here.
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I had to come in when all the concerts were finished, and everyone had left.
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everyone → have → ?
"Meet me at the stage door at midnight and I will take you to the organ.
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I → meet → organ
And then you sort of wind your way up through the corridors.
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you → wind → corridors
When the organ switched on and it started to fill with air, the whole thing [came alive] like a beast.
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thing → switch → beast
I got loose on this instrument, and it felt like that scene in Star Wars when the Emperor goes, "Ultimate power!", and sparks come out of his fingers.
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sparks → get → fingers
You also played Leroy Anderson's The typewriter at the Proms.
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You → play → Proms
How did you practise your solo?
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you → practise → solo
You have to return the carriage [to get that ting sound].
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But you can't rely on the machine to ting every time.
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you → rely → machine
So, as a backup, you have a little bell on the desk next to the typewriter.
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you → have → typewriter
But at the Last Night of the Proms, they wanted the bell under the table, so I had to operate a foot-pedal bell on live television.
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I → want → television
I practised and practised for hours and hours.
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I → practise → hours
They'd hired me a beautiful old Corona typewriter, and I'm sure the neighbours thought: "Bill's gone analogue.
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Bill → hire → typewriter
He's writing a novel."
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Burslem: Did you make a mistake?
Bailey: At one point, the keys jammed.
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keys → make → point
But being the consummate professional, I'd planned for that eventuality by deliberately jamming them while I was playing and then rehearsing how to unjam them in the middle of a phrase.
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I → plan → phrase
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia