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Heard the one about the hedgehog, the hybrid ram-man and the shadow-stealing wolf? No? Welcome to the cryptic world of NOEL FIELDING where woodland creatures unite in a gloriously surreal co- existence. As one half of Perrier Newcomer winning double act the Boosh, Fielding is breaking free from his Mighty, Arctic and Auto shackles to go solo in ‘Voodoo Hedgehog’. And this waif-like comedy provocateur is prowling for hot human love.
Words: Maureen Ellis
What’s the story behind the photos?
I‘ve got a character in my show called Seroovial Brooks and he‘s got rams legs. He lives in the forest and he‘s a bit of a lonely forest beast. He‘s half man. half‘ deer. and he‘s looking fora lady. So he wears a Polo over his eye and a blue cape in the show and sings a song trying to woo a lady from the crowd. It‘s a bit strange. He‘s the garnekeeper of the forest and the audience become the creatures in the forest.
Is he usually successful in wooing a lady? No. his whole thing is that he never finds love and he‘s quite lonely and he‘s just got his animals to comfort him. But he‘s really looking fora lady. He‘s quite a tragic figure. He lives with an otter. actually. so he doesn‘t need to wony about it. But he does want human love. that's the thing.
How are the preparations coming along?
It‘s going great. I don‘t know how it‘s all going to hang together but all the elements are there now. I‘ve got two characters. some animation. and the stand—up that I want to use is done. l‘rn painting just now so I‘ve been running around like a git trying to get that done.
Who’s the other character?
The other character‘s a wolf who steals people‘s shadows and he lives in the forest and he‘s American. Seroovial. the ram man. is very English and folky. but the wolf‘s a New Orleans jazz wolf and he‘s dirty and dark. They‘re like good versus evil and England versus America. They‘re opposites but they come together at the end and go off in a little adventure together.
Which character would you want to hang out with?
The ram leg man is nice; he‘s English and polite and a bit sad in a way. If you went round his house he‘d probably make you Earl Grey tea and make sure that you got food and he‘d organise it so that you had lots to do. But the wolf‘s a bit sleazy. [Laughs] l‘le‘d probably leave you in his house and you wouldn‘t know what was going on and he‘d come back in the middle of the night. Definitely the wolf would be more fun because he‘s really wrong: he‘s quite dirty.
And Seroovial wears a Polo over his eye? It‘s one of those big ones that you get the little ones in: like the mothership of Polos and all the little Polos live inside it. I use it quite a lot in my costume. 1 used it in the Boosh. so it‘s like a trademark now.
Why did you decide to do a solo show?
We [Noel and Boosh‘s other halfJulian Barratt| didn‘t start off as a double act: we saw each other on the circuit and liked each other and then started working together. The Boosh is our main project and we both have other side projects. We‘re writing a TV pilot when I get back from Edinburgh and a Radio 4 series. I had stuff that I wanted to do in Edinburgh and we didn‘t have any need to come back to Edinburgh as the Boosh.
18 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 1 —8 Aug 2002
Was the live peak for the Boosh the festival of 99?
When we did the first show we didn‘t have a clue what we were doing: it was naive but it had something about it. In the second show we got our stuff together and Arctic Boos/r was probably our strongest show. Auto Boos/r didn‘t work as well. but it was good. We had fun but we want to take it in another direction. We had a Radio 4 series and it worked quite well. TV is next. and then film. and then world domination. Hopefully.
You’ve already got a film in the can. What was that like?
I did a short film called Sweet. I play a cheeky mod with an imaginary girlfriend. and then l meet a real girl and there‘s a love triangle going on. Then the two girls — the imaginary one and the real one - leave me. for each other. It‘s a strange film. It won loads of awards and it got nominated for a BAl’l‘A. and then it won some other British film award and it‘s been to Cannes. It‘s great because lots of people see it at film festivals. So you could be in Japan and you‘re not there. obviously. That‘s the beauty of‘ doing a film.
How does it feel preparing for a show on your own?
It‘s a bit scary doing stuff on your own. When you‘re in a double act it‘s half the work. but this year I‘ve had to do everything myself. Also. I don‘t want to get compared to the Boosh because the Boosh is what I do as well. ljust hope that people who come and see it don‘t expect the Boosh and don‘t expect Julian to pop out from the back. Maybe he will. Maybe if he‘s there I‘ll get him to come on and do a cameo. That‘d be quite good.
You have a very out-there style yet you have universal appeal. Why is that?
I think if you do weird stuff it‘s about how you sell it. My stuff is quite weird but I try and make it as accessible as possible. Even in the Boosh we never wanted to be avant garde: we wanted to have popular appeal. That‘s the skill of comedy: to try and sell it to as many people as possible. ()therwise there‘s no point if you just sit there going: ‘Ya. I‘m pretty avant garde.‘ but only two people get it. I can‘t write proper jokes and I‘m not that interested in little observations in life. The things that interest me are quite fantastical and the people that I like are very strange. When I was young and I went to see a show. I wanted to be taken out of myself. I didn‘t want to see something that I could have written myself. Emo Philips I liked because ljust thought: ‘(iod. what are you about‘." You speak funny and you‘ve got funny clothes and you‘ve got this whole world. When I see a comedian and they chat about Jerry Springer or dyslexia. [just switch off. I think the key is to make it quite mainstream even though it‘s quite weird: you trick people into liking you. 1 think comedy‘s always the same: it‘s the content. The jokes still have to be jokes whether they‘re about jellyfish or whether they‘re about lz‘usrlz‘mlt'rs.