which suggests a comfort /one. In a vast field of staid stand-ups. torpid douhle acts and sketch shovv troupes which should have been throttled at birth. Noble and Silver come across as something very different indeed. 'I'heir Zlel shows at the l’leasance were a case in point. As the crowd gathered for their performance. it appeared that the previous show was still finishing: but this was a bunch of N&S extras setting iis all up for a fall. When we trooped out at the end. Silver was on the stairs. mock-arguing with another member of the crew. During the show. things got even odder. While many loved it. others. perhaps understandably. loathed its very being.
'()ne member of the audience told me to hang my'self.‘ recalls Noble. cheerfully. ‘But I'm strong willed. so when someone tells me to jump off a bridge. I‘ll try it out and then get back on. So. I did try to hang myself but the ceiling was too low and l was later found slightly asphyxiated with my pants down and a neck around
FOUND
THROA
my throat.‘ They claim to have been neither hated nor
loved at school. though boys seemed keener on them than girls. Then again. Noble was from Nook and Silver was brought tip in the (ilade.
What is somewhat more believable is that in the mid-90s they met studying art in Sheffield at llallam l‘which is easy to remember because it reads the same forwards as it does backwards~ ). Noble was doing ‘a lot of installation work. And sculpture. ridiculously: photography and performance. And comedy. And theatre.” Silver was more into videos: ‘mainly just recording and playing back: those were my two areas of experimentation. I'd record stuff straight from television and lay it down on videotape.‘
,/
'I WAS LATER
SLIGHTLY ASPHYXIATED WITH MY PANTS DOWN AND A NECK AROUND MY
1 unstayupable hour on ('hannel 4. one
They graduated in 1997. the same year. they insist. that Johnny Ball and Sean Bean were granted honorary degrees. 'We finished with aplomb.‘ recalls Silver. "lliey don‘t give plombs out anymore btit l was quite pleased with it at the time. I‘M—l: that was the year of the gtisto.' lior a while. they went their separate ways; Noble studied in Spain. Silver worked in l-‘rance and. so the story goes. they met halfway in the Pyrenees and made some videos which went down a storm on their return. l'nlikely then. that any of this footage would have made it into their 3002 series on the lledgling li4. (in .IIr‘.’ was six episodes of genre- busting erX‘r‘imental telly including a documentary shot in one take (which included a decidedly surprise guest appearance from Sue (‘ooki. an animation and a bi/ar're sitcom in which every tenet of the mainstream format was set up and chucked out. When the series moved to an
of the episodes was rttissing. No one really knows why.
So. alter doing some ‘guest‘ lecturing at art colleges. having a residency at Beaconsfield gallery in south London. handing out leaflets for a popular photography shop. making a very brief pair of cameo appearances on pal (fart/i .IIurwrg/rr".v Dar/(place l'the food was really great' ). the duo are back preparing for a hi-tech ‘happening‘ (not their word) later in the year and a lower key but no less ambitious comedy/theatr'e/art thing at l’od l)eco. "l‘his year we are returning to the womb.‘ adds Noble. helpfully. "l‘his one is quite a simple game.‘ ‘A simple game performed by retardsf
adds Silver. just as helpfully. Noble offers: ‘Because of
the six and half seconds we've got to set up the gig. there‘ll be just the 25 screens.’ Silver: ‘We're not pushing the technological envelope. because that costs an awful lot to buy. And you need to have been paid in the interim three years which is not the case.'
Here's a fact: A Man is this year‘s show. 01‘ is it‘.’ "I‘o be fair. the title is a sticking point.' reckons Noble. ‘There are eight titles and we haven’t quite decided
l which one is best: the title which appears on the posters
' different from the one that appears in the press which
different froin our title which is different from most . er titles we've come up with.‘ Silver: '11 depends on "Mich day.‘ Noble: ‘But there is a man in it.’ Silver:
‘Though it‘s not an integral part of the show; to be fair. the Show is barely part of the content.‘ See what I mean. Drivel. Whether it's entertaining
. drive] is tip to you. The weird thing is that having now \ met them and seen them perform. they‘re actually much
funnier in person than they‘ve ever been on stage. Like Reeves and Mortimer and the Boosh boys. get them in a room and they will riff off each other. finishing one another‘s sentences. laughing at the other’s jokes and gently mocking all the while (Noble calls Silver ‘Ait': Silver calls Noble. well. ‘Kim‘ l.
When Noble disappears to try and track down the missing ecclesiast. Silver answers a question about the duo‘s aim of not setting out to irritate people and he seems almost lost without his partner. With his head firmly down. he discusses his subject with great seriousness. only pausing for a comedy breath when mispronouncing the word ‘tangential‘. Like all the double acts who really mattered down the years. it seems impossible to picture them on solo projects. And if Noble and Silver were ever to give up on the comedy game. those who admire artists who stretch the limits. prod the boundaries and push that over-priced envelope would feel more than a little let down.
Pod Deco, 08707 557 705, 21-29 Aug, 3.45pm, £12.50—£14 (£8.50).
Brian Donaldson chats to MARK WATSON, a man who aims to keep it up all night. The laughter. that is.
ll volt can in‘agtiiio a v'oss ltolv‘mon Jack Hanoi. llaml lilillllt" and Holt Elation, ,otr'l. understand that this is a unvar‘ journalistic lltrrw Comparison llllllvl llat Mark Watson doos have a littlo llll in common with that ‘un tiilod l'lt‘i I or this soar, tho \"v’olsli ‘ll‘lt ithat's tho Brvdon l)Ill l“. 'tr illltj a toat ot onduranrto that no t‘tlll‘ill' has ovror achiovod ta Blaino Iiko (:laini thoroi ll‘, stavinq up tr ll jfil hours llll. Jacki and tollinq joktes.
Sounds liko tho riiost (flet‘llTHYt: show on tho l-ringto'.” Nopo, it's just 8‘3 and you (:an usr: your l|(ZI<(3l to pop iii and out any: llllltr you liko. "I'd always tanmod doinq soinothinq a hit unusual. soriiothinq that liroko tho inould,' ho oxplains in liotwoon r;atnaps to storo up his onorrjy. "As soon as I'd r2oiiio up Wllll tho idoal Just had to do ll. hooauso I would havo hoon inor‘titiod it sonioono olso did it hotoro ino' As woll as simply standing around and tolling jokos. ho has plans to havo satollito links to otlior shows. throw a l)|flll(l£l‘, part; for S )nioono (:ololrratinq on that day. plus skotchos, doliatos and conlossionals.
It would ho irnpr' :ssivo onouqh if that was tho only show ho was domg this August but ho's also appearing at tho Book F(:‘ill‘.’éil With Nick Walkor to talk about their comic lltlllOll and ho is ono half of the Storoocomics. alongside follow Wolshiiian Rhod Gillrort. Which brings him to a dilemma. 'Tho orin slight complication is that I've still got to do my show With Rhod as well; that's a clerical error by inn. So. either hell come to llt/ ‘Jonuo Or I'll take the audience ovor to the Tron. I might need the trosh air at that pOint.'
I Mark Watson '3 Overarnbitrouz; 24-Hour Show. Cowqate Central 225 9744, 22 Aug, 7 7.55pm, {13; Rnod Gilbert and Mark Watsoo Are Stereocomics. Edinburgh Comedy Room, 226 0000. Ullll/ 30 Aug. 9pm, [8—89 (E6437); Hick Walker 8 Mark Watson. Char/otte Souare Gardens. 624 5050. 20 Aug, 7. 30pm, £5 023/.
THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 25