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The Duke In Darkness: Review

20 Apr

A couple of weeks ago we gave you the chance to win a pair of tickets to The Duke in Darkness, a play by Patrick Hamilton, directed by Orlando Wells and produced by Lliana Bird. This week our resident theatre critic, Mog, headed over to the wilds of west London to take a look for herself. Here’s her review of the play:

© Bird & Be

I’m not sure why, but I don’t go to many plays. For similarly uncertain reasons, I rarely find myself further west than Hammersmith. So to be heading out to Turnham Green to see a play felt rather special before anything had really happened. Thankfully, the rest of the evening lived up to the promise.

The upstairs theatre space is small and intimate. The close proximity of the entire audience to the stage, and the steeply tiered seating, has the effect of making you feel included in the action as it unfolds. This isn’t so much watching a play as feeling the story as it unfurls around you. That the actors can quite possibly feel your breath on the back of their necks makes for an involving audience experience.

At the heart of The Duke in Darkness lies the relationship between the two main characters, the Duke  of Laterraine and his friend, Gribaud. As the play begins they have been incarcerated as political prisoners in a tower for 15 years, and this spartan space provides the setting for the entire play.

The strength of the performances of the two leads (Michael Palmer as the Duke and Jamie Treacher as Gribaud) is outstanding; both actors project an on-stage energy that demands your attention, while at the same time presenting performances which are as nuanced and subtle as they are powerful. The result is a study of friendship which is full of deep love and intense tragedy – with all of the shades in-between, while never feeling overdone or predictable.

Costume design also deserves a shout out; the distressed Elizabethan wardrobe of the two main characters helps to anchor their situation without over-whelming it. The inclusion of a subtle hint of punk in the costumes adds authenticity and ensures that the obvious is avoided. Kudos to Ameena Kara Callender, who you may remember as the award-winning Costume Designer for Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy.

The production was enthusiastically received by the audience on the night I was there, which included a few familiar faces from the world of TVO (Noel and Mike Fielding, Tom Meeten, Dolly Wells) – and rightly so. In fact, the general concensus afterwards was that it really felt rather special: a charming, gripping play, powerful performances and impressive staging. Birdy and her team should be feeling rightly proud.

The Duke in Darkness plays at the Tabard Theatre until 11th May; tickets are available by clicking here.

Voodoo Naboo Do!

9 Mar

© Voodoo Ball

Mike Fielding will be reviving DJ Naboo for one night only this evening!

Everyone’s favourite little brother will be the headline dj at the inaugral Voodoo Ball event at The Amersham Arms, in New Cross, London – which promises a night of “unguided misjudgements and alcohol-soaked decay”.

Mike will be headlining the evening, which will also feature 1930s time travellers The Old Hat Jazz Band, dj duo Mr Sands & Mr Vision, erotic stranger-danger The Sexy Offender and the gypsy fortune-teller Madam Zjaza.

If all of that sounds right up your alley, don your best headdress and get on down there for 10pm this evening.  Anyone attending in voodooesque garb gets in for just £7, but if you turn up looking somewhat of a mess, it’s more likely to be £9 on the door. And if you want to get in even cheaper, there’s a guestlist available over yonder… get in!

2012: A Year In Interviews

2 Jan

In 2012 we were lucky enough to get the chance to chat to a few of the artists that we write about on these pages. So here’s a look back at some of the year’s interviews – and the fascinating, colourful and revealing comments that were shared. A big thank you to everyone who gave us their time and permitted us to poke cameras and dictaphones in their faces – we couldn’t do this without you! 

© Dave Brown

“You kind of get sick of photographers going: ‘What about this? Let’s try a look. Gimme a look! thumbs up, relax that jaw, big smile, oooh, Cheeky! Whuhey!’ All that kind of crap. Whereas with this, it was the opposite and I think they enjoyed the novelty. I think there’s a certain power to looking moody.”
Dave Brown talks about the un-comedy portraits in his photography exhibition ‘Tough Crowd’

“You do sort of wonder how many more good dresses you can pull out of your wardrobe. I might just turn up to the next one looking like Tina and go: ‘Hi, everyone. I’m not actually a film star. I don’t have the wardrobe for this.’”
Alice Lowe discusses dressing for the multiple Sightseers premiers

“They keep going on! The London Film Festival was the gala screening, and I went to Cannes for the premiere there, which was very exciting. They had one last Thursday, which I couldn’t go to, and then this one tonight, which is being called the UK Premiere. I’m not sure what the difference is anymore, but it will be fun. I get to wear my suit again.”
Richard Glover’s take on dressing for the multiple Sightseers premiers

© Examiner

“That is completely Noel’s fault. I kept saying ‘Can’t I be called something like Jana or another German name?’ and he said ‘No, Dolly is better’ and he and Nigel Coan were absolutely certain that I was going to be called Dolly. I got really self-conscious about it, and in the early days of filming Tom Meeten enjoyed putting my name in every single sentence because I was so embarrassed about it.”
Dolly Wells squirms about playing a character called ‘Dolly’ on Luxury Comedy

“Before Boosh, I was the shyest person in the world. I was scared of my own shadow, I wouldn’t talk to anyone that I didn’t know. Boosh has made me who I am now. It’s given me an animated, childish confidence. People say that when you’re thirty, you can’t be stupid like that anymore, but who says? There’s no rules!”
Mike Fielding in introspective mood

“We thought we knew what we were doing – we didn’t – and suddenly we found ourselves on stage with all these people like Simon Farnaby. They assumed we must be good, so we had to come up with something. It was all an accident, no actual decisions were made.”
John ‘Willie’ Hopkins talks about his appearances at Ealing Live with Richard Glover.

© Amelia’s Magazine

“I’m not sure I have much of an opinion on mainstream music – I just don’t really listen to it! I imagine if I did listen too much I might not be too complimentary about it, so best not to get involved! Or maybe that’s where I’m going wrong. I think I’ll go and check out the charts RIGHT NOW!”
Sue Denim’s views on mainstream music

“You do get to see why it’s a bad idea to go and kill people, in a really cathartic way.”
Alice Lowe notes that Sightseers has a strong moral code 

“Maybe he doesn’t like the idea of being moody for me…the offer’s there, Paul, whenever you’re ready, stop body swerving me and get on your frown for Brown!”
Dave Brown courting Paul Foot for ‘Tough Crowd’

“Yeah. It’s not like I’m gonna go: ‘Well, actually, it’s funny you should say that. I’ve got a little pot of spunk in my pocket.‘”
Mike Fielding’s reaction to fans screaming at him that they want to have his babies

“My brother never stops talking. Usually about sweets.”
Noel Fielding’s analysis of bother Mike

“I’ve secretly always wanted to be in the S.A.S. A friend of mine used to say I could have been in the S.A.S. but on reception.”
Richard Glover talks about his alternative career path

“I’ve got my balls out on telly, they’re horrible things…I’ve got really dangly balls.”
Tom Meeten discusses his award-winning appendages

“Keep the faith! And let’s get The Boosh to make a film before they get too old and grey!”
Oly Ralfe’s message from NY to TVO readers

“Writing with Alice is like writing with your wife. It really is just like being with your wife, and arguing on holiday, whilst sightseeing, then writing it down.
Steve Oram’s take on writing Sightseers with Alice Lowe

© Big Talk Pictures

“I tend to write the first draft of stuff, then Amy totally rewrites it! She changes everything, and I’ve learnt over our twenty-odd year relationship to understand how that works for the greater good.”
Director Ben Wheatley’s approach to working with his long-term partner, Amy Jump

“We’ve got the power to take people on a journey – if we want to go to the moon, then let’s go to the moon for 10 minutes!”
Joey Page on the power of stand-up

© Marjorie Keak

“If a drama show goes out on TV and it’s not that good no one kicks up a fuss, no one goes ‘Whoever commissioned this should be shot. I want my license fee back!’ I could easily say that a drama that doesn’t engage me in the first five minutes is the same as a comedy that doesn’t make me laugh, but people just don’t mind as much – they just accept that it’s not their cup of tea. But rarely do people accept that about comedy!”
Dan Clark takes on the harsh critics of comedy

“There’s no limits with him, whereas when you meet an actor for the first time it can be a bit awkward to pull their trousers down or something. With Richard, you can punch him in the face, rape him, and he’ll still come back for more.”
Steve Oram shows his love for working with Richard Glover on Sightseers

“I’ve been looking at Noel’s face constantly for three years, and even I watch him and say ‘There’s NY Cop’. I don’t say ’There’s Noel doing NY Cop’. You’re not looking at Noel, you’re looking at the character. It’s pretty incredible because he’s got such a pointy, distinctive face.”
Nigel Coan, director of Luxury Comedy, talks about Noel’s character performances

“I can’t believe they didn’t have Minstrels!”
Mike Fielding

© Secret Peter / Channel 4

The Velvet Onion Calendar 2013

31 Dec

The Velvet Onion is pleased to continue its tradition of a yearly Calendar, available for free download!

calendarpics

Once again we’ve been working with a number of our friends both in front of the camera and behind it, to bring you twelve great months to print out and stick up on your wall between January 1st and December 31st.

With yet another new design from Velveteer Lauren “Lozzy” Taylor, based on our fresh looking website layout, we really hope you like the results – which are available for a free download now.

GET YOUR FREE 2013 CALENDAR BY CLICKING HERE NOW!

Thank you to everyone involved, and to all of you – our dearest Peelers – for a truly fantastic 2012… Happy New Year everyone, and here’s to a glorious 2013 for all!

The Mighty Teacher

1 Sep

Sometimes the weird and occasionally wonderful world of social media provides an unexpected smile. Yesterday was one such moment, as #ThingsILearnedFromTheMightyBoosh achieved world trend status on twitter.

© Baby Cow/BBC

Boosh folk and fans alike seized on the hashtag, using it as an opportunity to share their happiest memories of The Mighty Boosh. There was everything from “To succeed in life, I need a door in my hair!” (Mike Frankish) and “Never let a crack fox near your medicine cabinet” (Ellie Shaw), to “Roger Daltrey hoovers for nobody” (Shane) – and everything in between, including lots of mentions of ponchos, Baileys and cheese/meat.

Those involved in the series added this to the hashtag conversation:

“Far too much to tweet” and “Mike can’t eat chocolate cheesecake” (Dave Brown)
“I learnt that the Boosh fans are the best fans in the world x x x love you freaks” and “Tony Harrison learnt that its best to buy poppers in bulk” (Noel Fielding)
“The Boosh boys don’t like learning their lines” and “Spiders have eight pensises” (Spencer Millman)
“What goes on tour stays on tour” (Peter Kyriacou)
“Never try to get on a bouncy castle in crutches!” (Lliana Bird)

To read through the comments (which are still coming through thick and fast a whole day later!), take a look at #ThingsILearnedFromTheMightyBoosh. You see, twitter can be a happy place!

Blinkbox Booshdom!

6 Aug

© Copyright blinkbox Entertainment Limited.

Steve Coogan‘s sitcom Saxondale and anthology spoof Dr Terrible’s House Of Horrible are amongst a smattering of TVO favourites available to watch free online.

UK based video on demand service Blinkbox offers television and film from both sides of the pond to download or stream via pc, mac, games consoles, tablets and smart tv’s – and already offers a large back catalogue of programming for purchase.

This includes the TVO flavoured likes of The Mighty Boosh, Dead Boss, This Is Jinsey, Horrible Histories and Mongrels, and movies Come On Eileen, Weekender and The Boat That Rocked to name but a few.

Coogan’s work is well represented on the site, from films such as Tropic Thunder and Hot Fuzz (also featuring our very own Alice Lowe), and the televisual adventures of one Alan Partridge.

Now as part of a deal with the BBC, a number of comedy classics are available to stream free of charge.

These include Saxondale – which also featured Matt Berry, James Bachman and Tom Meeten, and underrated spoof Dr Terrible - featuring Julia Davis.

© BBC

Also up for free viewing is criminally ignored sitcom Lab Rats featuring Dan Tetsell alongside Chris Addison and Dead Boss star Geoffrey McGivern.

You can also take another look at Rob Brydon’s Annually Retentive which co-stars Sharon Horgan and Alice Lowe, or That Mitchell And Web Look featuring James Bachman.

For something a little bit more ‘out there’, you can also catch rarely seen French animation series A Town Called Panic – which included Lucy Montgomery and Alexander Armstrong in it’s English dub cast.

To browse the full Blinkbox catalogue, click on any of the links above, or be really obvious and fall onto it’s home page via the word Battenberg - and of course, almost all of these shows, and more, can still be purchased the good old fashioned way on dvd and blu-ray via THE VELVET ONION AMAZON STORE!

The Luxurious Digital Oz!

11 Jul

© Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia Pty Ltd

Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy is to receive it’s dvd premiere in Australia next month.

News of the release of the entire first series, complete with extras including behind the scenes footage, first appeared on blog The Momus Report, and naturally, we at TVO were highly curious.  After all, this release is seemingly premature – with the UK launch date pencilled in for early next year, and for once, we were completely out of the loop!

TVO confirmed news of the release with Noel directly today, as well as the possibility that a release in R2 may – and we stress may – be pushed forward to compensate.  We’re sure we can speak for the fans when we say we’re really hoping this happens, and that a dvd is joined by a simultaneous blu-ray release to really take advantage of the glorious visual canvas Noel & Nigel Coan crafted for the series.

With plans for series two starting to take shape (more on those in due course, but don’t think you’re just getting more of the same!) – it does make logical sense for the first series to be released in tandem with its launch, but if you’re desperate to have Luxury Comedy in your Christmas stocking, let us know in the comments on this article.

In the meantime, check out our behind the scenes documentary which provided peelers with an exclusive insight into the making of a cult classic, below.

 

Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy is released on dvd in Australia on August 22nd.

Behind Many Scenes: A Profile of Dave Lambert

8 Jul

One of the things that distinguishes The Velvet Onion from other entertainment websites is that the artists we write about are in some way connected to one another. And some are more connected than most. Dave Lambert, of Baby Cow productions, is one such person, although you may only know him for a small fraction of what he’s done.

© Baby Cow/Sky Atlantic

His latest project is the new Alan Partridge shows currently airing on Sky Atlantic. The run kicked off a couple of weeks ago with the critically-acclaimed Welcome to the Places of My Life, and was followed by Open Books With Martyn Bryce last week. From Monday we’ll be able to watch Alan recording his radio show in the first of six half-hour Mid-Morning Matters. Be prepared to laugh and cringe equal amounts!

Dave Lambert produced and directed Welcome to the Places of My Life, produced Open Books With Martyn Bryce and edited the Mid-Morning Matters series. He’s been involved in a number of Steve Coogan projects over the years – his first back in 2003, producing the ‘making of’ documentary for the movie Cruise of the Gods (starring Coogan, Rob Brydon and David Walliams). Trivia fans may also be interested to note that Dave was the clapper loader for the movie itself too.

© Baby Cow/BBC

However, some of you may have first encountered Mr Lambert’s work via The Mighty Boosh. As the man behind the camera for all of the Boosh DVD documentaries, Dave deserves the gratitude of a legion of fans as the man responsible for providing those precious behind-the-scenes glimpses of the making of Series 1-3.

What you may not realise is that Dave also worked on the show itself, as 3rd assistant director for the first series of The Mighty Boosh. He also filmed the Boosh on their trip to the US in 2009, but so far there’s no news of the footage surfacing. We live in hope!

Continue reading →

Forgotten Favourites: The Anniversary Of Booshfest!

6 Jul

Four years ago yesterday, The Mighty Boosh teamed up with Mean Fiddler’s Vince Power to create Booshfest – a whole day of music, comedy, costumes and more at Hop Farm in Kent.

In our recurring Forgotten Favourites strand, Velveteers Mog & Paulyne reminisce about this memorable moment from the peak of Booshmania.

© unknown

It became a significant event for thousands of fans. Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt picked up the phone to their extensive and impressive line-up of talented mates, and managed to bag Gary Numan, Har Mar Superstar and of course a bit of Jazz from Polar Bear (who were a perfect kick-start to the day). Then there was The Charlatans, Robots in Disguise, The Kills, Peaches, plus a DJ set from Jarvis Cocker!

Along with the music, a festival organised by comedians wouldn’t be complete without some comedy, and this was catered to by the popular and over-populated Velvet Onion tent – sadly before TVO itself took the name and ran with it.  Featuring on this bill were TVO favourites Matt Berry, Matthew Holness, Arnab Chanda and Paul Foot, amongst others.

The merchandise and food stands even stuck with the theme; selling ‘Loud Hats’, ponchos, soup, pie & mash and even Eels! It seemed no rock had been left unturned and it certainly gave off the feeling of stepping into a literal Boosh world.  We’re sure if they could have used Euros as currency they would have!

As well as planning the day, we also got to see the Boosh simultaneously promote it all over TV, radio and print. They appeared on the front cover of NME (one of many covers in this period), as well as a slot on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, which also teased at their then forthcoming live tour, Future Sailors.

With The Boosh taking an unexpected turn in their careers with this event, the press were not always going to be complementary.  Of course, the event sparked reviews stating “Punters failed to get a handle on the odd line-up” and “The atmosphere was lacking from the off.” We’re not sure which festival they were at, but from what we saw there wasn’t a fan on Hop Farm that wasn’t glowing with the Boosh spirit!

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The Velvet Onion may have only existed as a comedy tent back at the time of Booshfest, but Velveteers were there in mind, body and spirit. Indeed, Mog’s over-excited review of the day made it into Cheekbone, the Boosh fanzine of the day. Much to her embarrassment we’ve dusted it off in celebration of that glorious day four years ago.

Continue reading →

The Velvet Onion: The Extreme Racists…

29 Jun

Today marks the one month anniversary of our evening of music, comedy and downright madness at TVO Live! So what better way to celebrate the night than to give all of you a taste of what went down in our first trailer!

Take a look below at the first snippets of footage from our film of the whole shebang, and we’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone that made it to the event; the superb comics and musicians that took to the Vandella’s stage, of course to James Wren and Bob Pipe for being amazing support, to Michael Henry Bull, Michael Glynn and Jon Burgess our fantastic camera team, and also extra thanks to Waen Shepherd for letting us use his brilliant track for our trailer.

To read more about TVO Live you can take a look at our previous recap of the evening complete with photos from the night!

TVO Live! The Aftermath of a Vandella Velveting…

2 Jun

You knew it was coming – but Thursday May 31st saw The Velvet Onion put on our very first live night, at the incredible new Shepherd’s Bush venue, The Vandella.

With a smattering of stars in the audience, and a VIP lounge so filled with comedy legends several people’s heads may have exploded, it was always going to be a special night – and the challenge for us was cramming so many fabulous names onto one bill.

Now, we’re a little biased, but we have to admit, it went rather well indeed – and judging by the post-show reaction everyone such a great time by the time Team TVO left the building we’d discussed coming back to do another, several times over!

The night was such an intimate affair that we knew deep down the vast majority of our Peelers would never be able to be there – but rest assured, we recorded the entire show in glorious high definition, multi camera action, and we’ll be cutting it together over the summer for a potential Autumn release – all online, all free, and for a limited period only – so stay peeled to be kept in the loop on that one.

In the meantime, we’ll be bringing you teaser footage as soon as we can, and we have a huge array of photographs of the evening for you to savour too.  The first batch are all included below, so enjoy them safe in the knowledge that, all being well, their teasing nature will be fulfilled later this year.

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We’d like to extend our huge thanks to everyone involved with putting on the night – especially to the sheer wonderment of Bob Pipe for his technical expertise and the living legend that is James Wren for all of his support throughout this whole process.  We’d also like to thank Sian Salsbury and everyone at The Vandella who have been the most accommodating team we could have ever hoped to have worked with – and our very hard working camera crew: Michael Bull, Jon Burgess, Michael Glynn!  Not to mention everyone who helped out on the day as friends of us all.

And of course, we really must thank our glorious guests, who all worked hard, played hard, and made us love them even more than we did before.  In order of appearance, our deepest, and more sincere thanks to: Mike Fielding, Dave Brown, Antony Elvin, Will Summers, Gareth Tunley, Alex Kirk, Dolly Wells, Laura Patch, Richard Glover, Stephen Evans, Holly Jane Shears, Suzy Evelyn-Hall, Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Tom Meeten, David McNeill, Dan Tetsell, Waen Shepherd, Rachel Stubbings, Richard Sandling and James Cook.

We’d also like to extend our thanks to those who couldn’t make it in the end, but we know wanted to be there – in particular Joey Page for trying to the very last moment to get there, and both James Bachman and Lucy Montgomery whose enormous workloads stood in their way.  Extra special thanks must also go to the legendary Rich Fulcher, who was drawn away for a charity event but still found the time to record incredible last minute voice overs to introduce each artist.

Finally, we’d like to thank everyone who came along to support us and the artists on the bill.  You are the reason we’re able to keep doing what we’re doing to help the people you admire, and we’ll go on for as long as you’ll all have us.  Until the next time… keep peeling!

Meet Neil Cole

9 May

© Neil Cole / Dave Brown

The beauty of Booshdom is that it reaches far and wide, though sometimes that reach is so wide that its easy to miss names staring you in the face.

Neil Cole is a new name to The Velvet Onion, but his name has been circling around Booshdom for many years and we thought it was about time you met him, ahead of his latest collaboration.

Neil will be appearing with Rich Fulcher in Rich Fulcher and His Fucked Up Friends, at The Vandella on Thursday 10th May, but this is not his first time on stage with members of The Mighty Boosh.  They worked together in 1998 in Edinburgh when Noel, Julian and Rich were guests on Psycho Vertigo Disco.

Remaining a close friend of the Boosh boys, all these years later, his 2011 Edinburgh show Neil By Mouth was co-directed by none other than Dave Brown, who shot the promotional images for the tour like the one seen here.

Other comedy work includes being a founder member of The Pros From Dover, who he still occasionally performs with.  As well as Richard Glover, he has previously collaborated with the likes of Tom Meeten, Steve Oram, James Bachman, Barunka O’Shaughnessy, Waen Shepherd and The Actor Kevin Eldon, has opened for Russell Brand on tour, and his former comedy partner Tom Hillenbrand appeared in AD/BC.  Truly, a layer of onion worth peeling!

As well as stand up, Neil has wide experience of radio and tv work and has presented many extreme sports programmes, he has even met The Hairy Bikers! In 2009 he interviewed Noel, Dave and Mike at the NME Awards for NME Radio.

There is an interview with Neil at thehumourdor.co.uk where you can find out more about him and his work, and you can also catch up with him on  Facebook, Twitter and on his YouTube channel.  We’ll be speaking to Neil ourselves as soon as we can, so stay peeled – and if you’re off to see him perform with Fulcher this Thursday, tell him t’Onion sent you…

TVO Live: Fresh Layers

30 Apr

Tickets available now!

The Velvet Onion is proud to announce two more names attending The Velvet Onion Live on May 31st at The Vandella, Shepherd’s Bush.

Joining our star-packed line-up are two of the stars of Luxury Comedy – the incredible Dolly Wells and the inimitable Mike Fielding!

Dolly, of course, is best known to Peelers for her role in Luxury Comedy, and she also appeared in two episodes of The IT Crowd, plus 2009 sitcom Free Agents alongside Sharon Horgan and Matt Holness, and prior to that appeared regularly in Star Stories alongside Tom Meeten and Alice Lowe.  She’ll be bringing her unique blend of comedic charm to our incredible line-up at The Vandella, alongside her frequent collaborator - Laura Patch.

We’re also pleased to confirm that Mike Fielding – Naboolio himself – will be spinning the decks with a live DJ set before the show, so get down there early to catch our favourite Shaman in action!

The Velvet Onion Live! takes place on Thursday, May 31st 2012. Tickets are on sale NOW via Ticketweb, priced just £15. Find out more about our amazing line-up RIGHT HERE! Please remember the venue is a licensed bar so it’s 18+ ONLY.

We’ll have a few more surprises tucked away on the night, so you’d be mad not to be there!  The full official line-up, minus said surprises, is as follows:

Alice Lowe ♦ Antony Elvin ♦ Dan Tetsell ♦ David McNeill

DeadDogInBlackBag ♦ Dolly Wells and Laura Patch  ♦ Gareth Tunley

James Bachman ♦ James Cook ♦ Joey Page ♦ Mike Fielding

Rachel Stubbings ♦ Richard Glover ♦ Richard Sandling ♦ Stephen Evans

Steve Oram ♦ Tom Meeten ♦ Waen Shepherd ♦ Will Summers

© BBC Comedy

Sadly, we must also confirm that due to work commitments, the fabulous Lucy Montgomery has had to pull out of her appearance on the night.   Lucy sends her sincerest of apologies and has tried to shift the earth to get there, but sadly these things are sometimes inevitable.

We at The Velvet Onion would like to thank Lucy for being willing to take part, and hope to work with her again soon.  She’ll no doubt be top of our list if we manage to pull off TVO Live 2…

DJ Mike and The Howling

20 Apr

© The Howling

Mike Fielding is returning to his DJ decks!

The disc-spinning Fielding will be supporting rockers The Howling, who we told you about last month, on 10th May at the O2 Academy Islington.

Joining Mike will be bands Ami Carmine and Killa Kella – aka THEM&US – and Peep Show.

Tickets went on sale today, Friday 20th April, and you’ll be able to get them by clicking here. What’s more, if you pre-order your tickets through Ticketweb and email your confirmation code to thehowlingmusic@gmail.com, you’ll receive free music from the band.

Get in there!

Luxury Comedy Reaches Australia

25 Mar

© Secret Peter / Channel 4

Australian Peelers will soon be able to watch Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy on their own televisions!

The first episode airs on Thursday 5th April on ABC2 at 10.30pm, and is repeated later in the week.

If you have somehow missed out on hearing about Luxury Comedy, you can pop over to the E4 site to catch up on the characters and episodes or browse TVO!

To find out more about the show in Australia click here.

Get Loose, Get Loose!

5 Mar

© Loose Tapestries

An album of the music featured on Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy has just been released by Loose Tapestries, the band created by (and made up of) Noel and Kasabian’s Serge Pizzorno.

It’s currently available as a MP3 download on Amazon and iTunes at the bargainful price of £7.49 (£7.99 on iTunes) for 22 tracks. As well as the properly excellent music from the series, the album also features the awesome Jellyfox narrative from episode 2 and other short audio clips from the show.

Thanks to those of you who alerted us to this; if we hear about any further merchandise releases connected to Luxury Comedy, we’ll be sure to let you know.

Stop Press: Non-UK Peelers can buy the Loose Tapestries album here (apparently)!

Do You Have An Eye For Luxury Comedy?

26 Feb

Calling all fans of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy who possess something to draw or paint with and something to draw or paint on!

© E4

To say that Luxury Comedy is a visual feast is something of an understatement. It’s hardly surprising then that the show has inspired many fans to pick up their felt tips and get drawing.

We’ve been seeing all kinds of wonderful fan art based on and inspired by Luxury Comedy, and some of you have been kind enough to tweet us your pictures. We therefore thought it’d be a fitting tribute to the series to host a gallery of Luxury Comedy-related pictures, created by fans.

To coincide with the final show on 8th March we’ll be showing a selection of your art here on The Velvet Onion. So if you, or someone you know, has produced a sketch, painting, collage…in fact anything vaguely creative that’s connected to Luxury Comedy, please send it to us at submit@thevelvetonion.com by midday (GMT) on Wednesday 7th March. And we’ll share it with the world!

Please note that there’s no grand prize as such (beyond your creative output appearing on our hallowed home page, to be seen and admired by TVO acts and fans alike).  So come on then, what are you waiting for – it’s time to dig out the tin of Caran D’Ache!

If you’re in need of some midweek inspiration, then look no further that E4′s Luxury Comedy site, which features tons of (constantly updated) clips and pictures from the show. They’ve recently put up a selection of behind-the-scenes photos, which are well worth a look (like the one below!):

© E4

Luxury Comedy, TVOoh-yeah…

20 Feb

© Channel 4/Secret Peter

We have reminded, teased and shouted about it enough and now the day has finally come – here is our exclusive documentary from set of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy.

Velveteers took cameras, mics and their bodies over to the set and probed the cast & creators of the out-of-this-world E4 show.

Over the past few weeks we have been teasing you with clips, and now at long last, you can see the video below!

Let us know what you think and a huge thank you to Noel and the rest of his team in front of and behind the camera at Secret Peter for supporting us throughout the making of the show, and thanks to all of you amazing peelers for being so patient and loving of what we do.  This one’s for you.

S(no)w Boosh!

8 Feb

© Universal Studios

TVO has been inundated with fans telling us that The Boosh Film is on the way once again, after an interview with Noel Fielding outside the Evening Standard Film Awards appeared online.

In the video posted by The Press Association, which has since been picked up by a variety of news websites, Noel commented: “I saw Julian yesterday [Monday], we went sledging together.  So we were talking about a Boosh where we should get together and do a film, finally!  There’ll definitely be sledging in the Boosh film, there’ll have to be won’t there?”

Naturally, we at The Velvet Onion must stress that talking about a Boosh film, and it actually happening are two very different things.  The film has been in discussion stages for a long time, first drafts have been half-written, and what we do know at present is that The Mighty Boosh are on hiatus whilst Noel & Julian concentrate on their own solo projects.

Whilst any news of the duo getting back together is positive, it’s good to remember that they have not broken up, nor have they fallen out – and of course, when they are together they will discuss the very thing that binds them.

The Boosh will return, but we just wanted to remind you that we may all be waiting a little while longer yet…

Luxury Returns

2 Feb

© Secret Peter / Channel 4

As we begin to round up our Luxury Comedy Takeover week, and put the finishing touches to our behind the scenes documentary, the worst kept secret in all of Booshdom has finally popped out today – Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy is to return next year.

Following ratings success and the majority of critics loving the show’s surreal aesthetic, E4 have ordered a second run for Noel & Nigel Coan’s madcap sketch show.

News outlets have started to pick up on the story, most notably DigitalSpy, who quoted Noel’s hopes to make the second series “more like a Wednesday morning”.  We can’t wait.

Meanwhile you can continue to see the first run of episodes premièring on E4 every Thursday night at 10pm.

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