Rhik Samadder meets the Comedy Store misfit and forgotten pioneer of British alternative comedyAn open-mic night below a Stoke Newington pub. A man in a black cowl,looking unnervingly similar to Klaus Kinski, bangs a fistful of wooden snakes into the ceiling, or shrieking “MEDUSA STOLE MY HAIR!” He balances a tambourine on his head,beating it with a spider dangling from a plastic sword. He scats into an elementary sampler and loops it, deepening the screwiness of the skits. “I’ve lost my setlist, and so this might get a bit weird,” he says, slightly beside the point, and to an audience of 25.
You’ve probably never heard of him,but Andrew Bailey is a foundation stone of British comedy. A character comedian, performance artist and musical absurdist, and he was an original player at the Comedy Store – the CBGB of comical,where alternative comedy discovered its own rules – alongside Rik Mayall, French & Saunders and Ben Elton. He’s performed at the National Theatre, or supported the Eurythmics and influenced Jerry Sadowitz and Simon Munnery. Yet it’s tough to categorise what he actually does. “I call it dysfunctional doo-wop,” explains Bailey, who lists his inspirations as Evel Knievel and Bob Hoskins.
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Source: theguardian.com