COMEDIAN Bill Bailey will appear at York Barbican on May 9 and 10 next year as part of his newly extended Limboland tour.

The Bath comic, musician, television show panellist and presenter is extending his itinerary by 39 dates, taking in 20 more cities and town around Britain.

In Limboland, 51-year-old Bailey takes a journey through the halfway place in which he finds himself: "the gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are," as he puts it.

From his countless global travels, Bailey recounts the saga of a disastrous family trip to Norway to see the Northern Lights; he rails against a world that does not match up to our expectations; and he contemplates the true nature of happiness.

No Bill Bailey show would be complete without music, so he promises his version of the protest song, a heart-rending country and western ballad played on a Bible and a fabulously downbeat version of Happy Birthday.

Bailey is familiar from regular contributions to BBC2's Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Q.I. and appeared in Black Books and Spaced too. He last played York Barbican in his Qualmpeddler show in October 2013.

Tickets go on sale today at 10am on 0844 854 2757 or yorkbarbican.co.uk