Bill Bailey reflects on disastrous comedy gig in New Zealand that was intended to ‘breach the racial divide’

‘I did this song and the gig crashed and burned,’ he said

Bill Bailey has reflected on a disastrous comedy gig he did in New Zealand.

The comedian, who is performing at the Royal Opera House in London next month, told the story in a new Q&A, in which he was asked: “Can you remember a gig so bad, it’s now funny?”

“I was doing a show in New Zealand years ago and I used to do a song about racial harmony called ‘Hats Off to the Zebras’,” he told The Guardian.

“It was about black and white living together in harmony, and a sendup of ‘Ebony and Ivory’ [by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder].”

He continued: “My wife said to me, ‘Do that song, they’ll love it.’ The gig was going great, then I did this song and the gig crashed and burned because I didn’t realise the whole evening was about breaching the racial divide.

“It was white New Zealanders and the Māori community. It was like I turned up there and gave two fingers up to the whole thing.”

Bailey is at the Royal Opera House, London, 11-14 August.

Bill Bailey (Shutterstock)

In August, Bailey is taking on a 100-mile walk along a section of the South West Coast Path to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. He is doing the walk to mark the one-year anniversary of comedian Sean Lock’s death from cancer.

In March, Bailey talked about how much he misses his friend Lock, saying the comic knew him “inside-out”.