I enjoyed Billy Bragg's latest album Tooth & Nail when it came out earlier this year and now, thanks to Johnny Vegas, Kevin Eldon, Stewart Lee, Ross Noble, Ricky Grover, Phill Jupitus, Neil Morrissey and Samuel West I've been enjoying the track Handyman Blues again. In case you haven't heard, Johnny Vegas directed the other names mentioned plus the Barking Bard in the video for the song. You can see the fine and dandy result here.

The video was filmed in the Uxbridge branch of Wickes as real-life customers pottered about examining hammers and outdoor heaters. It's a lovely visual accompaniment to the haunting, witty ditty about the modern male's pathetic inadequacy when it comes to doing simple jobs around the house – "It takes me half an hour to change a fuse," sings Bragg in his best Chas & Dave croon over a plaintive steel guitar backdrop.

The style is simple and engaging, featuring the performers in a circle - resembling a men's therapy group or an AA meeting – miming one-by-one to Bragg's vocals (Vegas, who also appears, gets the ironic line "I'm not any good at pottery"). The video follows in a tradition of comedians appearing in music promos. In fact Chevy Chase in Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al pulls the same trick of miming to the vocals. It is not that unusual an idea – Robert Downey Junior lip-synced Elton John's vocals for I Want Love.

I suspect the idea with the Elton John video was to be all arty (it was directed by Sam Taylor-Wood) but a nice by-product of getting someone in who was better looking than the actual singer was that TV networks might have been more likely to air the clip. That can hardly be the case with Handyman Blues. While Bragg is no oil painting  – unless it is by Bosch – most of his cast waved goodbye to their thirties and skinny fit jeans years ago.

So this ramshackle bunch of jokers now joins an illustrious band of comedians. Robin Williams pops up and noodles about in Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy. Eddie Murphy appeared in Michael Jackson's Pharaoh-inspired romp Remember The Time. There are loads. Jerry Sadowitz clowned around in The Shamen's Ebeneezer Goode clip. Recent visitor to the UK Judah Friedlander showed off his chops with a cameo in Everyday by the Dave Matthews Band.

Getting comedians and musicians together like this is a natural fit. Stand-ups are good in front of the camera, like to perform and also often fancy themselves as rock stars. Some of them even came close to making it as rock stars. Kevin Eldon was in a punk band before the comedy bug bit him. Charlie Higson was in The Higsons. Vic Reeves has constantly flirted with pop fame, having a number one hit with Dizzy. And long before he was a star in his own right Reeves appeared as an extra in the video for Shakin' Stevens' What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes At Me For?

The Handyman Blues video came about after Vegas approached Bragg to record some incidental music for his recent Sky Arts play Ragged, about actor Ricky Tomlinson's fight for justice as one of the Shrewsbury 24 jailed for their part in the first ever national strike in the construction industry in 1972. Bragg did the music and they clearly bonded over their uselessness at household chores. Their shared inability to put up shelving resulted in this little gem.

These days videos don't get aired on mainstream television very often and I doubt whether Handyman Blues will trouble to Number One spot – though of course it should – so enjoy watching it. It's not every day you get to see Stewart Lee in a hardware superstore.