Bill Bailey (I)

Video: Bill Bailey on today's celebrity culture

Bill Bailey explains to BBC Breakfast how the term "celebrity" has become devalued over the years. The comedian suggests that in today's world you only need to wave your hands on television to become famous.

Bill Bailey auditions for 'The Hobbit'

Bill Bailey has revealed that he auditioned for a role in Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies.

Along with Stephen Fry's quiz questions on the letter H tonight, it would be quite interesting to find out why the erudite Gyles Brandreth has taken seven years to make his second appearance on this show as a panellist. Also risking the blare of the klaxons for only the second time is comedienne Sue Perkins, who appeared earlier this year. Bill Bailey completes the trio of promising guests lined up to discuss esoterica with Fry and Alan Davies.

Tonight one of QI's infrequent female panellists, Sue Perkins, fresh from dusting the flour off her dainty hands in The Great British Bake Off, joins the boys. She's sparky and funny and will be more than capable of holding her own with those noisy, competitive lads. They are, of course, question master Stephen Fry and genial regular Alan Davies, here with Gyles Brandreth (so garrulous he never knowingly uses two words when he can use 20) and frequent panellist Bill Bailey, who is always good value as he dallies with the esoteric, the surreal and the downright daft.

Bill Bailey set to headline Greenwich Comedy Festival

Bill Bailey, Adam Hills, Phill Jupitus and Ed Byrne are set to headline Greenwich Comedy Festival's comedy line-up for 2010.

Video: Bill Bailey on being immortalised in plant form

Comedian Bill Bailey has had a plant named after him, in recognition of his work in the field of conservation.

He posed with the 'Nepenthes x Bill Bailey', a Borneo Exotics hybrid, at the Chelsea Flower Show.

What I've learnt: Bill Bailey

Described as a "hobbit with a wicked sense of humour", the comic Bill Bailey, 46, is best known for Black Books and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

Bill Bailey's Highlands fling

Why is one of Britain's biggest comedians going on a tour of Scotland's smallest venues?

Now here's a treat for an Easter Monday night; just as you look back fondly on the four-day bank holiday weekend and look forward not too fondly to returning to work tomorrow, Channel 4 have taken it upon themselves to cheer you up. They've skimmed the cream of comedy talent for a gala night dedicated to making us laugh, while raising funds for the Great Ormond Street Hospital's Children's Charity. The night will fund two new anaesthetic rooms, allowing parents to stay with their children right up until they enter the operating theatre. Make sure you watch tomorrow's brilliant documentary, Great Ormond Street (9pm BBC2), to get some idea of the astonishing work done at the hospital. The cast of comics is a glittering one: David Mitchell, Bill Bailey, Catherine Tate, Jack Dee, James Corden, Jo Brand, Jonathan Ross and many, many others will perform stand-up routines in front of a capacity crowd at the massive O2 Arena in London. As a nice little bonus, Robert Webb, Ricky Gervais, Derren Brown and Johnny Depp, who can't be there in person, have filmed comic sketches especially for the night.

Great Ormond Street Hospital is the recipient of this fundraising gala - the biggest live stand-up concert in UK history. And they couldn't have asked for more from the roster of stars who each donated five minutes last week at London's O2 Arena. Some hefty editing will be needed to get this show down to the two-hour running time it's been allotted and if the rude bits from Jonathan Ross and Mark Watson end up on the cutting room floor, then they may survive in the DVD which goes on sale on April 26.

Among those who'll definitely make the cut are, in no particular order, Michael McIntyre, Jack Dee, Bill Bailey, Kevin Eldon, Jason Manford, Jo Brand, Sean Lock and Noel Fielding.

The evening opens with a raucous dance number from Stomp and closes with a legendary performance from Lee Evans, looking the grand old man of stand-up in every sense.