A new exhibition of Noel Fielding‘s paintings opened today at Gallery Maison Bertaux.
The collection includes artworks which haven’t previously been shown, with part of the show dedicated to Noel’s vibrant studies of Elvis Presley (some of which are included in his book Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton).
You can see the paintings in the basement tea room at Maison Bertaux, 28 Greek Street London. We can recommend spending a lazy afternoon in their company, with a pot of cinnamon tea and a pastry!
The paintings are also available to buy, so if you’re interested in owning an original Noel Fielding artwork visit Hooligan Art Dealer’s site.
As all good NoelFielding fans know, today is his 40th birthday. To mark this auspicious occasion we bring you Part 1 of our exclusive interview with Noel, in which he discusses what this landmark birthday means to him.
A few weeks ago, we asked you all to submit your questions for Noel, about the future of the Boosh, Luxury Comedy, and whatever else you wanted to know. There were so many questions, Noel very kindly spent two hours pouring through them all, so we’ve ended up with our most in-depth interview yet.
Four – yes four - further parts of the interview will follow over the next few weeks (we thought it might be a bit too much to cope with in one go!). We’ll be covering everything from his predilection for cross-dressing to meditating with Russell Brand, with plenty of exclusivesin between.
If you’d like to know how the questions that you submitted were used please see the small print below.
In the meantime, we’d like to wish Noel a very happy birthday and offer heartfelt thanks to him for taking the time to chat to us. We hope you enjoy the video below – and look out for Part 2 coming to TVO soon!
The small print:
Thanks to everyone who sent in questions for the interview; we know you’ll be keen to see if Noel answer yours. We printed out your questions and corresponding names, which were read through by Noel – so he saw them! We tried to include as many of them as we could in the interview itself, but the nature of the conversation made it difficult to stick to a strict approach of question/answer, question/answer, etc. Noel sometimes answered an entire page of questions with a single answer, which meant we couldn’t then go back and ask the questions individually again. We therefore tried to strike a balance between asking as many of your questions as possible and producing an interesting, insightful interview. It just so happens that this week’s video doesn’t include many of the questions that were submitted, but future instalments will contain more. We hope you like the results, and apologies if you’re disappointed that your question isn’t used or your name referenced. Unfortunately, it was impossible to include everything. Thanks again for your support x
When we asked you to submit questions for our interview with Noel Fielding we were blown away by the scope, scale and creativity of what you wanted to ask him. Amazing stuff.
So while we continue to busy ourselves editing the footage, we thought you might appreciate a little taster of what went on…
By the time we’ve finished we hope to have more than one short film to share with you. Look out for the first instalment next Tuesday!
In the wake of a flurry of online rumours last week, Noel Fielding has revealed to The Velvet Onion that he will be appearing in a future episode of QI, the quiz show with brains hosted by Stephen Fry.
He’ll be appearing with fellow panellist Ross Noble, in an episode yet to be filmed. Noble started out in the comedy industry around the same time as Noel, but until now the two have never appeared on TV together.
When asked if he’ll be taking his QI responsibilities terribly seriously or adopting the approach more common to his appearances on Big Fat Quiz of the Year, Noel laughed and said, “I just don’t understand it – I’ll be hopeless at it! But I’m hoping me and Ross (Noble) can build some comedy jazz together… they’ll never ask me back!”
It’s not yet clear when this particular episode of QI will be filmed or televised, but we’ll keep you posted.
At present, there’s no official confirmation as to whether Noel’s TV presence is going to be stretching as far as the special final episode of IT Crowd. Either way, we’ll let you know as soon as we know!
Hosted by Blur’s Alex James, What A Load Of Buzzcocks, which will look back at musical history though Buzzcocks’ critical eye. James has appeared on the show in the past, and has said: “I’ve always been a big fan of the show and I’m looking forward to seeing some of the highlights from the past 16 years.”
Since it started the show has featured two permanent hosts (Mark Lamarr and Simon Amstell), a range of guest hosts, and five team captains: Phill Jupitus, Sean Hughes, Bill Bailey and Noel Fielding.
Although the format of the spin-off show hasn’t been confirmed, we can assume that the Fielding era Buzzcocks will feature somewhere in the series.
As all good Boosh fans will know, there are a number of connections between the boys and Frank Zappa. Well now there’s another one!
Noel Fielding has painted the cover of a new 12″ 45rpm (red vinyl) release of Zappa’s Help I’m a Rock & Who are the Brain Police? Both tracks originally appeared on Freak Out!, the 1966 debut album from The Mothers of Invention.
The record is available to pre-order via Barfko-Swill for $16 by clicking here. Please note that they expect this item to ship the week of 4th July 2013, so if you order the record you won’t receive it straight away. For any of you who aren’t familiar with the featured tracks you can hear Help I’m a Rock here and Who are the Brain Police there.
Frank Zappa’s image has featured a number of times in Noel Fielding’s paintings, so it’s pretty special to see a tie-up between the creative output of the two artists like this.
Graham Linehan has confirmed that IT Crowd will be retirning for a one-off 40 minute special.
Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry are expected to return for the new episode, which will be filmed in three weeks’ time. As yet, there’s no news as to whether Noel Fielding will be joining the cast for the grand finale.
Last year that O’Dowd revealed that he would be interested in reprising the role of Roy, claiming that the show’s stars still “need closure”.
“I’d love to do something more with those characters,” he said. “I don’t think we said goodbye to them properly.”
The script for the special was written over a year ago, but the cast have been too busy with other filming commitments – and in one case a pregnancy – to work on it until now.
As yet there’s no news about when the special will air, but as soon as we hear anything we’ll be sure to let you know!
Teenage Cancer Trust is offering up a night light signed by Noel Fielding as part of its latest fundraising drive.
You can bid for the rabbit-shaped night light on ebay (the co.uk site) for a further 1 day 6 hours at the time of writing. The current highest bid is £30, but given that it gets you a cute night light, a Fielding signature and a warm rosy glow in your belly from donating to a brilliant charity, it’s a veritable bargain!
For more information and to bid on the night light click here.
TCT’s other items for sale can be viewed here, and to find out how else you can help support the charity visit their website.
It’s been a bit quiet on the Noel Fielding front of late. If you’re anything like us, you’ll be missing Noel’s occasional twitter-based intrusions into your life. So wouldn’t it be nice to have the opportunity to find out what he’s been getting up to of late? To ask him what he’s being busy doing? Well now you can!
To mark the occasion of his impending landmark birthday Noel has very kindly agreed to talk exclusively to The Velvet Onion. Given how low-key he’s been lately (give or take the occasional Albert Hall gig), this is a rare treat. What’s more, he’s inviting you to decide what we ask! It’ll be a rare opportunity for fans to find out what really makes him tick.
Please send us your questions for Noel and he’ll answer a selection of the best ones (we’ll credit you if your question gets picked, of course). The more insightful and interesting your question is, the more likely it is to be included. That means marriage proposals and endless questions about his trousers, haircut etc are unlikely to make the grade. Sorry.
Please write your questions in the comments box beneath this post; only those received before midnight (GMT) on Saturday 27th April will be considered and a maximum of 3 questions per person can be entered.
So get your question-posing creative juices flowing and let us know what it is that you’d like to know. If you’re lucky, Noel will be answering your question next week…
Many thanks for your entries – the response has been incredible. You’re an insightful and imaginative bunch! All questions received before the deadline of midnight 27th April will now be reviewed and a selection of the best ones put to Noel. Entries are now closed.
Sorry, but we’re not able to confirm which questions will be included until the interview is edited; unfortunately not all of those asked will make the final cut. We’re aiming to have the interview ready to coincide with Noel’s birthday, but we’ll keep you posted.
Please note that questions which have been asked by multiple people may not be credited to a specific individual.
Please see below for some useful blurb on the terms and conditions of this offer. It’ll hopefully answer any questions that you might have:
Only questions entered into the comments box below this post will be accepted. The Velvet Onion will not accept entries as replies to our Facebook/Twitter pages, comments to any other posts in error or emails to any other email address in our domain, nor any entries received after this time-frame. This is being run entirely by The Velvet Onion and Noel Fielding. A maximum of 3 questions per person. All entries must be received by midnight GMT on Saturday 27th April. Offensive and/or obscene entries will not be included. The questions used in the interview will be selected by The Velvet Onion and Noel Fielding, and their decision is final. The Velvet Onion reserves the right to amend questions and include additional questions. The Velvet Onion reserves the right to withdraw this offer if any overriding issues arise which are outside of their control.
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:
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.
As we wait patiently for further news about Series 2 of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, some kind soul has uncovered some fascinating background info about the show to tide us over.
Richard Martin is the model maker whose creations populated the series’ unique visual world. His models include such seminal props as The Golden Needle, used by Fantasy Man to repair the rift in the barrier between YouTube and YouPorn, Ice Cream Eyes’ ice cream eyes, and the frisbee that doubles up as a Greek dipping platter and also has the face of Brian Eno – plus many more besides!
To see the weird and wonderful models that Martin created for the show and to read his comments about them visit his website here. Wonderful stuff!
Editor’s Note: Thanks to oohyeahboomalackaway and funeral-march on tumblr for spotting this.
Wednesday evening was the comedy night of 2013′s Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. The evening was hosted by Noel Fielding and Russell Brand, and as you’d expect, we were there to take notes. Velveteer Mog reports:
It’s fair to say that I’ve managed to see Noel Fielding live more times than is strictly necessary and/or healthy. But I’d never seen him perform as The Goth Detectives with Russell Brand until now. This alone was reason enough to warrant a ticket to the TCT Comedy Night. That, and it’s for a good cause.
The Albert Hall is a grand, imposing venue and it was fulll to the rafters with people who had paid up to £50 for a ticket: two facts that might influence one’s expectations about the type of entertainment on offer. I wondered how the Goth Detectives’ somewhat haphazard improvised style would come across. I needn’t have worried: from the moment they skipped on stage holding hands to Love Cats by the Cure, through to the interval, the duo crackled and buzzed with mischief and charm. The audience were putty in their hands, and while the majority of people there were clearly already fans, the Goth Detectives genuinely impressed.
Of particular delight was the opening film, animated in the style of Luxury Comedy‘s Joey Ramone sketch, by Nigel Coan. Visually lovely, created for one night only, and very, very funny – a lot of effort had been put into the film and the crowd appreciated it. Russell and Noel’s search for a secretary, complete with a powerpoint-style chart detailing minimum wage levels and a multiple-choice interview, was well thought-through, and rewarding because of it. Russell’s protestations about removing the attractive blond from the stage because otherwise he would be incapable of concentrating on the show felt fresh and spontaneous. And then there was a wonderful film of the Moon at the end of the first half, where he paid respect to the memory of Neil Armstrong. Yes, The Goth Detectives were shambolic, but there were enough pillars of material to hold everything up, and the chemistry between them kept things bubbling along at a cracking pace.
For me, the second half of the show didn’t quite reach the same dizzying heights, however. There seemed to be fewer moments of considered comedic intent, with the result that the improvised content meandered rather more than it had done previously. The dynamic between the pair also subtly shifted to become less of an equal partnership and more focused around Brand, whose ego is perhaps a tad larger than his cohort’s.
The result of this was a harsher, less nuanced and more bullying second half of the show: crank phonecalls were made to audience member’s families, Philip the student had his hair hacked off and the knob/etc gags were never far away.
Noel seemed less able to fully engage with Brand, who by this point only really had eyes for himself. Whilst the energy levels in the room were still sky high, I think the performance suffered as a result; by the end anarchy ruled the Albert Hall to the extent that no one was quite sure that the show had actually finished.
In between all of this two other performers added some well-received texture and focus: Sheann Walsh presented a fresh, London-centric take on observational comedy (his mime of reaching the upper level of a bus only to find there are no available seats was utter genius), and Tony Law simply knocked people’s socks off. I watched him turn a row of people in front of me from confused to bemused, then to rolling in the aisles. Masterful stuff.
Overall it was a fun night, and all involved should be commended for putting on a show of this scale for free. There’s definitely a spark of magic to be seen between the two Goth Detectives, but whether they’re a viable double act beyond the first half hour remains to be seen.
Before you go, take a look at the short film below about the Goth Detectives Comedy Night made by TCT, then why not head on over to their website to see how you can support the brilliant work that they do?
Noel Fielding joined Russell Brand and Noel Gallagher on their XFM radio show last night, Monday 18th March.
The two Noels and Russell joined forces to mark the occasion of their apearance this week at the Teenage Cancer Trust comedy night at the Royal Albert Hall. To listen to the (frequently sexually-tinged) radio madness click on this. Noel (of the Fielding variety) is on from 1:41.
Don’t forget that we’ll be reviewing tomorrow’s TCT gig on these here pages later this week. What’s more, Tony Law is also on the bill! Hopefully we’ll get to see some of you there.
It’s back! The Channel 4 Comedy Gala Live returns for the 4th time on May 18th at The O2 Arena in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.
The all-star line up confirmed for the biggest annual comedy event of the year so far includes Noel Fielding, Adam Hills, Alan Carr, Jack Dee, Jason Byrne, Jo Brand, Jonathan Ross, Josh Widdicombe, Kevin Bridges, Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Paddy McGuinness, Paul Chowdhry, Rhod Gilbert, Rich Hall, Seann Walsh, Tom Stade with many more to be announced!
You can get your tickets now before they go on general sale by being a member of Ents 24, click here for details. If you aren’t a member it’s free and easy to join.
The show is for over 16′s only and prices range from £100 to £40, but you do get a lot of acts for that and it is for charity!
You can stop beating yourself up over the fact that you couldn’t afford to buy tickets for Give It Up for Comic Relief featuring Noel Fielding (amongst others)…because you see it live on your tellybox!
The live show will be broadcast on BBC Three from 10pm tomorrow (Wednesday).
The shape-shifting line up features music from Emeli Sande, Kasabian, Noel Gallagher, Jake Bugg, Paloma Faith, Jessie J, Nicole Scherzinger and Rizzle Kicks. And there’s comedy from Doc Brown, Jack Whitehall, John Bishop, Eddie Izzard, Jason Manford, Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr and Simon Amstell – in addition to Noel.
Plus, the whole event is hosted by Russell Brand, and seeing the Goth Detectives live on stage has got to be worth tuning in for in of itself!
There are still a few tickets left for the show istelf, so head on over here if you fancy being there in person (and helping a great cause while you’re at it).
Regular peelers will be aware that Steve Coogan is starring in two hotly-anticipated new feature films: The Look of Love and the Alan Partridge movie. Well now photos have been released from both productions!
In The Look of Love biopic Coogan plays the role of Soho porn baron, Paul Raymond. Talking about the film, Coogan said: “Like 24 Hour Party People, it’s a very British story about an eccentric character at the centre of pivotal events in British culture…it has that strange combination of comedy and tragedy that Michael Winterbottom (director) manages to pull off with a real deftness of touch. Like very few films these days it’s actually about something without being portentous. Oh and there’s lots of naked ladies in it too!”
If a further TVO link were needed, one of the scenes in the film was shot at Maison Bertaux, the gallery which has hosted both of Noel Fielding‘s two solo art shows. Whooo!
The Look of Love will be released in UK cinemas on Friday 26 April, but to tide you over until then, check out Coogan as the medallioned ‘King of Soho’ in the picture above. For more photos from the film take a look here.
And now back to Alan Partridge, with Shortlist magazine previewing photos from the shoot that’s currently taking place; they show Alan brandishing an air rifle on Cromer Pier. Kevin Loader, a producer on the movie, said, “Alan has finally decided the time is right to make the jump to the big screen…we felt that to do the movement to the big screen justice we needed something that would register properly cinematically and I think Cromer Pier will do that job brilliantly.”
The Alan Partridge movie will be released later this year; in the meantime you can see Coogan brandishing his rifle on Cromer Pier in the picture on the left.
US fans got another chance to see Noel Fielding on Russell Brand’s TV show, Brand X, this week.
In his second appearance on the programme we got to see Noel make amends to the misguided Estonian woman whose hair he and Russell hacked off the previous week. Then, still in a hair-related vein, he explained how his physical strength lies within his own barnet.
US folk can view the epsiode here by all accounts (thanks to Leigh Anna Mullett), and for everyone else you don’t have to look too hard to find the segment on youtube (try “noelsfielding”). Either way, to whett your appetite here’s a short trailer that was released beforehand:
According to sources Noel is now heading back to Blightly, so sadly it looks like next week’s Brand X is going to be Fielding-free.
If you follow Dave Brown on twitter you’ll know that some pretty awesome Luxury Comedy merchandise is on the cards. We managed to extract some further information from everyone’s favourite monkey man about what’s being planned:
Dave has confirmed that the online store is almost ready, and in addition to the rather wonderful Bryan Ferry kite that actually flies (see left), there will also be finger puppets (so you can recreate your own Luxury Comedy promo campaign), along with the more traditional shirts, cards, posters etc. Knowing Dave’s attention to detail and Noel’s predilection for the off-kilter, you can be sure they’ll be something special.
Dave’s promised to keep us posted, so as soon as there’s any more news we’ll be sure to let you know!
Noel was interviewed by the show’s host, Russell Brand, who then joined him in scalping a poor Estonion lady who was foolish enough to volunteer for a haircut.
If you missed Thursday’s programme it is repeated on Saturday on FX at 12/11 EST/CST. And far be it for us to condone illegal recording, but you don’t have to search too hard to find Noel’s appearance on youtube. Shhhhh…
Editor’s note: thanks to azurfemme for letting us know about the repeat details for Brand X.
2013 has only just begun, but already there’s a distinctly Velvet Onion flavour to the UK’s media landscape!
Last night you could watch two TVO-related TV shows on the box: Common Ground is the new series of shorts directed by Baby Cow’s Dave Lambert, which started its run at 9pm on Monday on Sky Atlantic. Sky subscribers can watch the first two episodes (‘Floyd’ and ‘Patricia’) on catch up TV, while the next two episodes (‘Eleanor’ featuring Katy Brand, and ‘Sunshine Simon’) air at 9pm mext Monday 11th February.
Also on yesterday was Richard III: The King in the Car Park, a documentary hosted by Simon Farnaby, which followed the geekily-exciting unearthing of the King’s remains. It was that newsworthy, the programme even trended on twitter! But as Danny Wallace noted : “I think it is great that Simon Farnaby is presenting this historic Richard III doc, but it’s a bit like Rich Fulcher doing the moon landing.” The show is available to watch on 4OD here and is repeated on 4seven over the next few days.
Last night was also notable for another award for Sightseers (yes, another one!), as the film scooped the prestigious Evening Standard Peter Seller’s awards for best comedy. Big congratulations to director Ben Wheatley and writers/stars Alice Lowe and Steve Oram.
Rewind 24 hours to Sunday and you might have caught Colin Hoult in stonking form as Crumb, in the new series of Being Human on BBC3. You can catch up on info about the show, watch clips and see the first episode here.
Then there’s the critical acclaim that’s gathering for Fit, the new CBBC sketch show that features a host of TVO regulars, such as Tony Way,Rufus Jones and Aisling Bea.
Yep, it’s been quite a week for the folk we write about (and it’s only Tuesday); we seem to have infiltrated most media touch points! So here’s to more of the same into February and beyond…
RT @Plynklz: Saw Sightseers at the magnolia in Dallas on Tuesday. Sapphires is going to be playing there too! @thevelvetonion fyi :) peeled 4 hours ago
From next Friday we'll be bringing you weekly footage from the first ever TVO Live. You'll see all of these fine lot: youtube.com/watch?v=R2Rwiq… peeled 4 hours ago
@cyndigullett That's what we're here for. To bring you that access. Loads of ideas floating around for the future... peeled 4 hours ago
When we see some of you loving the work of others on our page beyond the Boosh, we get so excited. It warms our cockles, it really does... peeled 4 hours ago
There's not a single person on our 'roster' of regulars who we don't think is worth your attention, support and yes, we said it, love! peeled 4 hours ago
Of course, all you lovely Boosh fans going into meltdown have so many wonderful Onion layers to check out in their prolonged absence. :-) peeled 4 hours ago
RT @alicelowe: Sightseers at @arenascreen tonight + tomoz. Have put on some fake tan especially. And since you ask, no. No. I'm not jen… peeled 5 hours ago
So very, very true... :-) RT @rikkisixx @thevelvetonion Pretty sure the important lesson here is that it isn't true until it is. peeled 5 hours ago
But unless it comes from Noel, Julian, Rich, Dave or Mike directly, you'll know its happening or not when we post on site. Hope that helps! peeled 5 hours ago
Due to the size of the news *IF* it happened, it might go to somewhere else as an exclusive first. Or the boys might announce themselves. peeled 5 hours ago
If we hear any news we're allowed to report either way, rest assured we will do at the very earliest possibility! peeled 5 hours ago
It might happen. It might not. As far as we are aware a decision has not yet been made, but it's up to the Boosh, and the Boosh alone. peeled 5 hours ago
