insideKENT Magazine Issue 44 - November 2015 | Page 22

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

an evening with

NOEL
FIELDING
BY JAMES RAMPTON

Noel Fielding is about to embark on his
first solo tour for five years. The comedian,
who thanks to his work on The Mighty
Boosh, Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy
and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, has an
enormously loyal following, and is starring
in a new show, simply entitled, An Evening
with Noel Fielding.
Featuring Noel’s inimitable blend of stand-up,
animation, music and appearances by some of
his best-loved characters, including The Moon,
The Dark Side of the Moon and Fantasy Man,
it’s a blinding show. As Noel himself puts it, “You’d
be a fool to miss out. Come along, bring your
Nan. Fancy dress optional.”
Noel and I are chatting in his north London
studio. Surrounded by props – including life-size
cardboard cut-outs of a robber with a stripy
jumper and a swag bag and a nun wielding a
huge gun – and his own arresting paintings, he
makes for marvellously entertaining company.
The five years away from the live arena have
only whetted Noel’s appetite for stand-up. He
can’t wait to get back in front of an audience.
Noel says, “The great thing about live comedy is
that it cuts out the middle men – all those TV
producers and directors. It takes out everything
that gets in the way, so it’s just you and the
audience. It’s a really pure set-up.”
Because it’s so deeply original and innovative,
Noel’s comedy can divide people. But he thinks
that the infectious nature of his stand-up show
can help to win over the agnostics. “Some people
might think they’re allergic to you, but if they
come to a live show and see everyone is laughing,
it’s hard to say that it’s not funny. It was the same
with the Boosh. Sceptics were convinced when
they came to our shows.”
The comedian, who will be joined on stage
in An Evening with Noel Fielding by the loose
stylings of his brother Michael Fielding (best
known as Naboo and Smooth from The Mighty
Boosh) and the physical lunacy of Tom Meeten
(who plays Andy Warhol in Noel Fielding’s Luxury
Comedy), proceeds to let us in on the plot for
An Evening with Noel Fielding.
"The first half is set in a cabaret club," he
reveals. "Then I get kidnapped from my own
show, and in the second half the rest of the
characters have to find me. I'll be playing other

characters during the second half. It becomes
like a play. It's a sort of farce."
The show promises a typically uplifting
variety of disparate elements. "That's why I've
called it An Evening with Noel Fielding, because
it's not something I'd usually do," the comedian
explains. "It's more like something Barry
Humphries would do."
The evening will also feature music that
Noel has composed with Serge Pizzorno from
Kasabian and some characteristically entrancing
stand-up routines. Noel, who for many years
performed with his close friend Julian Barratt in
The Mighty Boosh, dubbed “The funniest comedy
double act in Britain” by the NME, discloses some
of the themes he will be addressing in this part
of the show. "I touch on turning 40 and my Peter
Pan complex. Because I'm now 40, I try to do a
bleak bit, but of course it soon becomes
completely fantastical. I attempt to go gritty, but
I can't help going fantasy."
The comedian attempts to sum up the style
of the show. "It's so abstract. It's like you turn
the radio dial, and something random comes
on. You're not quite sure what it is, but you warm
to it."
So what does the comic hope that audiences
will take away from An Evening with Noel Fielding?
"I hope they have a really good time," Noel
declares. "I hope they laugh their heads off. I've
always been very concerned not to sell people
short. But the only danger is that the show ends
up as long as the film Gandhi!" Ever philosophical,
Noel carries on that, "I suppose if it doesn't work,
I'll have to do something else. What would I do?
Breed shire horses!"
The only drawback about touring as far as
Noel is concerned is that, "You're buzzing with
adrenaline when you come off stage. You have
to do something with that, and it's very hard not
to go and get drunk. In the old days, we'd give
the Rolling Stones a run for their money with our
after-show behaviour.

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“But now I'm i n my forties, I have to find
new ways to calm myself down. Like Mick Jagger,
I'll have to get fit. After the show, Michael and I
used to go drinking. This time we'll have to go
to mazes and local markets and drink peppermint
tea.”
Unable to resist one last gag, Noel concludes:
“It's the Peppermint Tea Tour. I should have
called it that!"

See An Evening with Noel Fielding in Kent on
one of the following dates/venues:
13 November
Tunbridge Wells – Assembly Hall Theatre
18 November
Bromley – Churchill Theatre
9 December
Margate – Margate Winter Gardens
More details of the An Evening with Noel
Fielding tour can be found at
www.mcintyre-ents.com/talent/noel-fielding/