‘That’s a rare and wonderful thing’: Bill Bailey says he misses Sean Lock who ‘knew him inside out’

Comedian died of cancer last summer

Bill Bailey has spoken about how much he misses his late friend, the comedian Sean Lock, who died of cancer last year.

The comedian and regular comedy show panellist died aged 58 in August. His death came as a shock to fans, who didn’t know he had been ill.

Speaking on the Out To Lunch with Jay Rayner podcast, Bailey said he still finds himself wanting to send Lock funny material, before realising that he can’t.

“I come up with an idea and I think, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll run it by him,’ but then, ‘Oh no, I can’t.’ Another thing comics do, when you find something funny, you send it round to everyone. I think, ‘Oh, I’ll send this to Sean – oh no.”

He added: “I guess one of the things I miss most about him is that it was like a sounding board for yourself, you know, when someone knows you inside out, that’s a rare and wonderful thing, because they keep you right.”

Last year, Bailey said that Lock was still cracking jokes in his final days. “Even in his last few days, we were still having a laugh, still joking, still coming up with ideas,” he said.

“We had great conversations. I brought in my guitar and sang him his favourite Johnny Cash songs.”

Alan Davies, Bill Bailey, Stephen Fry, John Hodgman, Sean Lock and Sandi Toksvig on the set of ‘QI’ in 2009 (Brian J Ritchie/Talkback Thames/Shutterstock)

Lock was best known for being a team captain on Channel 4 series 8 Out of 10 Cats, presented by Jimmy Carr, for 10 years from 2005.

He also performed as a stand-up and appeared on Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie To You? and QI.