Noel Fielding
Born (1973-05-21) May 21, 1973 (age 44)
Westminster, London
England
Medium Stand-up, television, radio
Nationality England English
Years active 1997 – 2007
Notable works and roles The Mighty Boosh

Noel Fielding (born 21 May, 1973 in Westminster, London) is an English comedian and actor, best known for his role as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh.

Contents

Career[edit]

The Mighty Boosh[edit]

Fielding is best known for playing Vince Noir opposite Julian Barratt (Howard Moon) and Michael Fielding (Naboo) in the cult comedy series The Mighty Boosh. Fielding met Julian Baratt, the other half to his comedian act in The Mighty Boosh, when Julian was performing a gig - and Julian offered Noel a place to perform. Julian was impressed by Noel's skill, and the two formed a partnership. They often compare their relationship to a marriage.

His character as well as fashion icon and would-be musician ("Vince Noir - rock 'n' roll star!") is a kind, somewhat naive and loyal friend to Howard Moon. He can talk to animals, earning him the nickname "Mowgli in Flares". Vince has a 'run-between-the-raindrops' quality about him, giving him the ability to land on his feet in the most difficult of situations. He is somewhat of a golden boy, largely popular with most of the other characters (and comically, almost all of the characters played by Rich Fulcher), much to the annoyance of Howard.

Fielding trained as a visual artist and is responsible for much of Boosh's distinctive sets and characters, including the Polo mint theme that occurs in many episodes (e.g. The Hitcher's eye, the background of the main titles, the Ape of Death's costume).

Vince has a strong feminine aspect to his attire, often being confused as Howard Moon's "ugly wife" by supporting characters. This is due to his androgynous dress sense, which commonly includes drainpipe jeans, boots with heels, a mirror-ball suit, faux-fur leopard skin jackets, sparkly accessories or clothes from high-street store Topshop. Noel sympathises, and frequently refers to himself as a woman.[1]

Other[edit]

Outside of his work on The Mighty Boosh, Fielding has also had bit parts in many of Channel 4's somewhat off beat comedy programmes, including Nathan Barley, The IT Crowd and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, more often than not appearing alongside Mighty Boosh partner Julian Barratt. He also appeared in 1998 sketch show Unnatural Acts. In February 2007, Fielding appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, where he mentioned an anecdote involving English pop-rock band The Kooks, who wanted him to provide The Mighty Boosh T-shirts for them to wear on Top of the Pops. He arranged to meet their tour manager at 3 AM in Camden, but the tour manager never showed. When asked how long he waited, Fielding laughed and said, "..Oh, about... four minutes." Fielding has also made a short appearance in the film 'Plunkett & Macleane' as a bystander to Robert Carlyle's scuffle in a brothel. He is replacing Bill Bailey as team captain for three episodes in the latest series of Never Mind The Buzzcocks at Bill's request. According to Neil Gaiman's blog, Fielding was scheduled to appear in the film Stardust, but was forced to drop out due to ill health.

Radio[edit]

Fielding starred in the 2001 Mighty Boosh radio series as Vince Noir, and other characters. It was broadcast on BBC London Live. He also appeared on The Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 2 on 26 May 2007 and 13 Oct 2007, and Team Disgusting's show on Life fm as a co-host for one episode along with fellow members of Team Disgusting Melvis and Birdy.

In November 2007 a new series began on BBC Radio 2, Vic Reeves' House Arrest. Fielding stars in all four episodes as a local vagrant. [2]

Music[edit]

Fielding has appeared in several music videos, including Robots in Disguise's "Girl", alongside Chris Corner, Mint Royale's "Blue Song", alongside Julian Barratt, and Razorlight's "In the Morning". Fielding is friends with the members of Razorlight, and involved them in the "The Priest and the Beast" episode of The Mighty Boosh. Fielding also appeared at one of their concerts, dressed as The Mighty Boosh character, The Hitcher, to introduce the band; This was not well received and he was heckled by several members of the audience. Noel has since decided that his request to appear ahead of the show was a mistake "I don't know what I was thinking, there were all these teenage girls excited to see Razorlight and there's this ponce dressed in green dancing round the stage like a plum, they didn't know what to make of it" [3]. Fielding lent his voice to the Midfield General song "Midfielding". Fielding also sometimes acts as a live bass player for Robots in Disguise and IAMX. He has also been known to DJ, often playing at The Barfly in London with the rest of The Mighty Boosh or with his DJ collective known as Team Disgusting along with six girls and the Rev from Towers of London.

Indecent Public Behaviour Controversy[edit]

On the night of November 26 2005 Noel was caught and subsequently arrested in London's East End after publicly flailing elderly pedestrians with a large imitation penis and declaring that it was "his friend". He later dismissed the incident as a joke and retorted "Fuck off. I'm an artist. What kind of world do we live in when a man can't publicly express his love for that particular part of the male human anatomy?"

After a lengthy court battle charged with "deeply offending many of the local residents" he was fined a total of £193.79, which he is said to have paid in cash with a distasteful gesture known as "crotch-grabbing". The incident was condemned by the local community.

Goth Detectives[edit]

In December 2006, Fielding appeared alongside Russell Brand in the yearly panel show The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, hosted by Jimmy Carr. The pair won with 39 points thanks to the 22 points they got for one question (a joke that Carr offered, assuming that they would not know). Due to much joking on the show, involving Bob Skeleton ("Indie Detective"), which led to Fielding and Brand describing a fictional scenario in which they were "Goth Detectives", this led to the decision to perform a Goth Detectives themed show for the Teenage Cancer Trust event at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 March 2007. When Fielding appeared on Brand's Radio 2 show, the pair admitted that they were going to appear in the 2007 version of Big Fat Quiz of the Year in a bid to defend their title.

Personal life[edit]

Fielding currently resides in Kentish Town, London with longterm girlfriend, Dee Plume. Dee and Noel have been speculated to have been dating for a minimum of 5-6 years. This is because the CD cover for the Robots in Disguise single; Boys, features both Noel and Chris Corner (partner of band mate Sue), in their briefs, and was released in 2002. Notably, Noel's help in Dee's live performances, playing as the bassist, and often assisting with DJing. (Search YouTube)

Noel's parents are named Diane and Ray Fielding. He also revealed on Russell Brand's radio show (13 October 2007) that he has a French Grandmother.

On 26 May 2007 Fielding appeared on The Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 2, where he inadvertently dismissed rumours[4] that he and Plume had split up.[5]

In recent years he has become something of a regular on the London celebrity social scene, often photographed out and about at gigs, clubs, pubs and events with various celebrity friends (his Mighty Boosh co-stars, actor Rhys Ifans, Razorlight, The Horrors and fellow party girls such as Courtney Love and members of Robots In Disguise, IAMX, and Dirty Pretty Things.)

Fielding has stated that he was never baptised, has no middle name and does not follow a religion.[6]

Has a penchant for collecting celebrity clothing, owning Johnny Depp's hat and Freddie Mercury's coat.

Filmography[edit]

Acting roles[edit]

Television appearances[edit]

  • Episode 2x02 (2007)
  • 21x02-21x04 (2007) Temporarily Team Captain
  • Episode 20x02 (2007)
  • Episode 11x10 (2006)
  • Episode 1x04 (2000)
  • Episode 1x07

Awards[edit]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2193898,00.html
  2. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/comedy/vicreeves.shtml
  3. ^ Noel Fielding interviews Gary Numan for the Times Podcast (2006)
  4. ^ The People article
  5. ^ BBC Radio 2 – Russell Brand: 26 May 07.
  6. ^ Life FM – Team Disgusting Show 1 June 2007