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Video Interview with Noel Fielding

November 15, 2015 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment

91DcyrLnXyL._SY550_Noel Fielding has embarked on the second UK leg of his massive stand up comedy tour, An Evening With Noel Fielding, this week and he is celebrating with the release of his tour DVD, which was recorded live in Melbourne.

MoodyComedy was invited by the British Comedy Guide to send a few questions for Noel to answer, and the following BCG article includes the resultant videos of his answers, where he discusses why he enjoys working so much and what he plans to do in the future.

Noel tries to explain his show…

An Evening With Noel Fielding is hard to describe. It’s a tough ask, but we asked him to try and explain what people can expect:

[Read more…]

Posted in: Comedians, Interviews Tagged: British Comedy, British Comedy Guide, Comedy, Noel Fielding

Review: Noel Fielding – An Evening With Noel Fielding

November 22, 2014 by Becca Moody 2 Comments

Symphony Hall is a beautiful venue in itself, but walking into the room last Thursday evening meant stepping into a fantastical world that I never wanted to leave.

Symphony HallAn Evening With Noel Fielding is an incredibly diverse spectacle, beginning with an announcement from The Moon, quickly followed by around forty minutes of intelligent yet ridiculous stand up from the secret king of observation himself. Noel is a natural performer; confident enough to be comfortable doing an impression of a herbal teabag in front of 2000 people. In other words: when this man starts a sentence with “I had a dream I was a teabag,” you know it’s going to be an interesting night.

The stories were far-fetched to say the least, but it was surprisingly easy for the audience to get on board with any zany idea that the group presented to us and the atmosphere was remarkable. Both Tom Meeten and Mike Fielding had multiple hysterically funny roles that were all superbly acted (give or take a few giggles here and there, but I think they made the show even better).

Judging by the shouts and cheers, the crowd was clearly delighted to see the abundance of plenty of well-loved Luxury Comedy favourites, particularly Fantasy Man, Joey Ramone and New York Cop. We were also introduced to many new characters, played by Tom and Mike, that are already so intricately well-developed and brilliant that they may as well have been around since the The Mighty Boosh.

A striking aspect of this variety-style show was the impressive animation and fluency of its integration into the evening, to the point where I began to believe that a giant plasticine Joey Ramone could actually walk straight out of his plasticine world and onto the stage. I guess a horrifically creepy and violent human version would have to suffice. Everything about An Evening With Noel Fielding has been made with stunning quality, from the efficiency of New York Cop’s audience interrogation (minus a nearly broken toe) to the fantastic music and choreography throughout the proceedings.

Noel Fielding

Thanks to Noel’s lovely managers, Anna and Sean, I was reserved a backstage pass which meant I actually got to meet Noel, Tom and Mike after the show, and it was truly an honour to be able to speak to these lovely people. Anyone who knows me will know that Noel is my absolute hero, so this was a massive deal for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

It’s strange to look back over events and realise the vast expanse between the show’s humble, low-key beginnings with just Fielding on stage, to a mission in a plasticine world with a couple of deluded nitwits riding on a unicorn. But we didn’t even notice the transformation as it happened; that is how skilled these comedians, and everyone working behind the scenes, have been in creating this absolutely wonderful evening of quality entertainment and madness.

Information and tickets are available here

NOEL FIELDING’S MOODYCOMEDY INTERVIEW

Tom
Mike
Noel

Posted in: Comedians, Live Comedy Tagged: An Evening With Noel Fielding, British Comedy, Comedy, Live Comedy, Mike Fielding, Noel Fielding, Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, Tom Meeten

Noel Fielding Interview, Part Two: Luxury Comedy

November 10, 2014 by Becca Moody 1 Comment
In the first part of my interview with Noel Fielding, we talked about how he has found performing the first few dates of his tour, An Evening With Noel Fielding. But that’s not all we talked about… During our chat, Noel gave me great insight into the workings behind the second series of Luxury Comedy and how he feels about how people reacted to the show.
© Dave Brown / Channel 4

© Dave Brown / Channel 4

Were you pleased with how the second series of Luxury Comedy was received?

It’s difficult because you want to be free and experiment but a part of you still wants to be accepted. The response to the first series was shocking: people either loved it or hated it and the people that didn’t like it were really hostile. But when you think about it, the Internet didn’t really exist when I did the Boosh and me and Julian weren’t really into that sort of stuff, so we didn’t really get involved in it. But now, the Internet is difficult to ignore and I like to be a bit more involved, a bit more a part of society…

Someone called Luxury Comedy ‘the second 9/11’ which I thought was amazing; I wanted to put that on the DVD cover. But we were never really coming at it from anything other than just an experiment and trying some stuff out.

Some elements I thought were really good, like Serge, from Kasabian, doing the music with me, and we had characters, a story and I thought the animation was amazing. We had loads of people working on the show who were doing an amazing job and I just felt it had potential, so had it set in one place, made the main four characters a family and made it a bit more like a sitcom.

For Series 2, I just used the most successful characters: Fantasy Man, New York Cop, Joey Ramone and we just worked very hard to make the second one more accessible and people seemed to like it.

Fantasy Man

© Dave Brown / Channel 4

We loved all the characters in different ways, but it’s just that there was too many for that first series, it was like a bombardment of characters. Those shows are quite concentrated, even I can only watch about two of them and I have to go “alright, I’ve had enough now”. They’re like undiluted orange juice.

We wanted to make something very different and to try and do something that no one had done before. I think we managed that, but people just want to get the idea and move on; they don’t want to have to watch it two or three times. I think that first series was a bit like a difficult album. You have to watch it two or three times to get into it as it’s quite layered. And television’s quite a disposable medium so it doesn’t get repeated very much so it’s tricky to make television like that. But we did it and I’m proud of it.

Is there still space for the show to change again?

Yeah, but I don’t know, I’d like to do another series. I could just do another one of those, or I could do something different. I’d quite like to do a Fantasy Man series. That could work really well with the juxtaposition between real life, somewhere urban and gritty like Hackney or something, and then this pink fantasy world.

I always talk of a Boosh film too but I sort of got to a point where I really wanted to do something live again and connect with an audience. I’m really enjoying this and I just want to take this as far as I can now.

© Dave Brown / Channel 4

© Dave Brown / Channel 4

Important question here, is Daddy Push ever coming back?

Ah Daddy Push, I love Daddy Push! Do you know what, he was really difficult to get into the series because he’s set in real life. We almost got him in though, we had a joke where we tried to leave the show for a bit because nobody watches this show anyway, and Andy Warhol was going to say ‘but what about the people watching at home?’ and I would say to him ‘what people?’ and then we were going to cut to a family watching our show and it was going be Daddy Push’s family…

Daddy Push and his wife, she was going to have a shell for a head, and the kids, and they had shells for heads, then the dog would have a shell for it’s head. So Daddy Push would be watching our show but it was just for that one moment, and it was too difficult. We’d have had to make a whole like a set; it would have been a nightmare so in the end we didn’t make it but we so wanted to do it.

Me and Nigel love him as well. He was a one off, he’s like Mr Bean, really frightening, horrifying. I’ll have to make a Daddy Push film with him just milling about. I love the fact that you like Daddy Push.

Information regarding Noel’s recently added tour dates for 2015 are here.

CLICK HERE TO READ PART ONE OF MY INTERVIEW WITH NOEL, WHERE WE TALKED ABOUT HIS 2014-15 TOUR.

Posted in: Comedians, Interviews, Television Shows Tagged: British Comedy, Comedy, Noel Fielding, Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy

Noel Fielding Interview, Part One: An Evening With Noel Fielding

November 3, 2014 by Becca Moody 1 Comment

An Evening With Noel Fielding

Noel Fielding has recently embarked on his first live tour since the second Mighty Boosh tour over five years ago, and this time he’s got a whole new agenda. Noel is my comedy hero, and I was honoured to be invited to talk to him about his tour, An Evening With Noel Fielding.

How’s the tour going so far?

It’s going well. Well, it’s alright. It started off well and then I got a bug so I was really sick… but you can’t really stop, that’s the problem. You’ve got to keep going; got to keep doing the gigs! The tour won’t stop so you just have to sort of get on with it.

But it’s going well. The best one, so far, was Halifax.

You’ve added more dates recently as well.

Yeah, tonnes more, I think there may be another thirty or forty, and then twenty after Christmas. I think we’re going to Australia and maybe America, even some parts of Europe or New Zealand, we don’t know yet.

I’d love to do something in America at some point; something completely different. But this is going to be quite a big tour. We’re only at the beginning of it really.

Artistically speaking, what were your aims for this tour?

Well, I wanted to try and make something good, and have it be interactive and have animation so I could make a show that showed all aspects of what I do. But something you’d still be able to enjoy without you having to have seen the Boosh or Luxury Comedy or my stand-up.

I wanted it to be funny for people that hadn’t seen me before and have some audience interaction as well as stand-up, some music and a narrative. We’ve been working on it religiously all year. My brother’s in it, Mike, from The Mighty Boosh and Tom Meeten, who’s a really great comedian.

What kind of ages have your audience members been this time?

I think it was pretty broad even with the Boosh. There were lots of young screaming teenagers but that’s okay, and there were lots of older people in the audience as well. This tour has been quite mixed. There’s a bit where I go into the crowd as a character called New York Cop and I have to interrogate the audience and I chat to them. It’s much more mixed than I thought it would be, which really pleases me.

How have you found the process of writing for a tour compared to writing for television?

It’s a different thing really to writing a TV show; I wrote TV shows back to back so I was getting stir crazy.

I like working with an audience and I love the energy of live gigs so when you’re making TV shows, you don’t really get much feedback other than on the Internet and a few reviews. It’s a bit like working in the dark or in a tunnel so when you come out and do live stuff it’s great to get a reaction straight away.

I had a lot of ideas for the tour show already because I hadn’t toured for a while and I just sort of brought them all together to make one show and made sure it wasn’t too lumpy or too much like a collage of different ideas. I wanted to try and make it flow.

Are there any comedians that you’d like to work with in the future?

I love Tony Law, Paul Foot and James Acaster. Being on Buzzcocks means you get to work with them, but, yeah, I’d love to do stuff with Paul Foot. He’s brilliant and so underrated. He should be a household name.

Russell Brand’s just written a book and I’d quite like to do something with him as well; an improvised show, something unplanned. I like working with Russell. He’s very brave.

What else would you like to do?

I’ve fallen in love with stand-up again whilst doing this tour. There’s about forty minutes of stand-up in the show, and I was very scared because I hadn’t done stand-up for a while, but I managed to do it and I was really enjoying it much more than I thought I would be.

I would like to do a pure stand-up show now as well. And with the Loose Tapestries, Serge and I are always talking about going on tour so that would be fun. I’d like to write children’s books too, so maybe I could do that. I want to do everything!

Information regarding Noel’s recently added tour dates for 2015 are here.

COME BACK NEXT WEEK TO READ PART TWO OF MY INTERVIEW WITH NOEL, FOR EXCLUSIVE INSIGHT INTO THE WRITING AND RECEPTION OF LUXURY COMEDY SERIES TWO.

Posted in: Comedians, Interviews Tagged: An Evening With Noel Fielding, British Comedy, Comedy, Interview, Mike Fielding, Noel Fielding, Tom Meeten

TV Review: Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, Series 2

September 11, 2014 by Becca Moody 5 Comments

I wrote a post towards the end of July reflecting on the first episode of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy: Tales from Painted Hawaii (series two) but this series has been so dense with artistic talent and clear passion, that I couldn’t possibly not revisit it after all five episodes.

It’s no secret that I am a massive fan of Noel Fielding and his work, so was obviously hugely excited that the long-anticipated second series had finally arrived. These episodes have taken a long time to produce because they are one of a kind; the process of making them seems to be more rigorous than that of various other Sitcom style shows. Love Luxury Comedy or hate it, it is impossible to deny that the makers of this show have presented their audience with great innovation: with the bright and complex animation from Nigel Coan; an eccentric soundtrack from Fielding and Kasabian‘s Serge Pizzorno; along with brilliantly intricate set and costume design from James Dillon and Ameena Kara Callender.

As well as the obvious beauty and detail involved in the visuals of Luxury Comedy, the stories are also packed full of references to art and literary culture such as Andy Warhol (of course), George Orwell and Yoko Ono. This alone is proof for me that the makers of Luxury Comedy have not been lazy during the creative process: every scene is punchy, a little bit mad, but also intelligent.

Reality Man

© MoodyComedy

Watchers of series one who weren’t impressed may be pleased to know that this series is a lot more relatable for audiences, with occasional cynical statements that can catch you off guard.

Smooth: “What do you do to escape?”

Reality Man: “Panel shows. What’s funnier than five men in shiny shirts taking a side-ways look at the week’s news?”

In this way, I think this series is a lot more self-aware, in fact, one episode even focuses on the idea of the show only having one viewer (a Brummie named Terry, played by Steve Oram) and the fact that they must save him from certain death.

In addition to the lovely Noel, the show is full of immense comedic talents such as his Mighty Boosh co-stars (Dave Brown, Rich Fulcher, Richard Ayoade, Simon Farnaby and Tom Meeten) and of course, the delightful star of Doll & Em: Dolly Wells and Tom Meeten’s partner-in-crime: Steve Oram (Sightseers).

I would have to say that this programme is probably one of my favourites to ever appear on television, particularly this new series. It appeals to all of my interests: comedy, music and art (and Noel Fielding of course) but most importantly of all: Luxury Comedy is a source of inspiration to me. Every aspect screams quality and I sincerely hope the show and its creators flourish in the coming months as a result.

The whole of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy: Tales From Painted Hawaii is available on 4OD.

Posted in: Comedians, Television Shows Tagged: British Comedy, Comedy, Dave Brown, Dolly Wells, Mike Fielding, Noel Fielding, Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, Rich Fulcher, Richard Ayoade, Serge Pizzorno, Sitcom, Tom Meeten

TV Review: Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy: Tales From Painted Hawaii

July 25, 2014 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment

Yesterday, on the 24th of July, 4OD previewed the first episode of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy: Tales of Painted Hawaii, which was, of course, greeted with open arms by the Fielding community. Noel has previously said that this series took a lot longer to write than the first, and that audiences should be prepared for a very different show format. This is down to the fact that the making of series one of Luxury Comedy was a chance for Fielding and the other creative minds behind the show to throw lots of ideas into the mix, as well as there being an obvious need to establish a few core characters and concepts, and as a result, the show’s debut was a colourful combination of the insane and the psychedelic.

Although this first series was adored by fans all over the world, it also received a fair amount of criticism from people who thought it was a step too far and many suggested it was self-indulgent. I can’t say I disagree with the latter, but I wouldn’t say it was a bad thing: it is important that creators of content are in love with what they are producing, and I think Fielding’s passion for both art and comedy shone through. From what has been shown of series two, however, Luxury Comedy has evolved into a wonderful sitcom, rather than the fast-paced sketch show it was previously. By approaching the format in this way, Noel and Nigel Coan (who co-wrote the show) have been able to add a great deal of depth to all the characters, which is evident from the first episode alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmND4XGw0zE

There is a fresh new energy within the cast, that is made up of Noel Fielding, Mike Fielding, Tom Meeten and Dolly Wells, but still has the same feelings of warmth and familiarity of previous episodes. Actually, there are many subtle changes as well, such as the way Noel is much more self-depreciating and, therefore, more ‘human’. That is a definite theme I picked up on: the show has suddenly become a lot more human. This is made clear in the dialogue where characters often refer to the audience, or the fact that the show didn’t have many viewers (though it did, of course).

With the immense talent that is Serge Pizzorno (Kasabian) working with Noel to create the show’s music and the famously gifted Dave Brown putting together the unique and recognisable animation, the programme is absolutely seamless. Subsequently, right at the start of this first episode, with the title sequence that features efforts from both sides, there really is a lot to sing and dance about.

I cannot wait to see the rest of the new series of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy and will probably write up a full post about it when it finishes as I just can’t help myself; Noel is my idol.

Posted in: Television Shows Tagged: British Comedy, Comedy, Dolly Wells, Mike Fielding, Nigel Coan, Noel Fielding, Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, Tom Meeten

Top 5 Moments… The Fielding Edition

May 20, 2015 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment

Yes, I am well aware that we all have a birthday every single year, and though it may not seem it sometimes, Noel Fielding is no exception. Tomorrow, May 21st, marks the 42nd birthday of one of my all time favourite comedians and it seemed only fair to dedicate a post to one of the creative minds that inspired this website altogether, so here are my favourite elements of Fielding’s biggest projects…

5) Luxury Comedy

Dave Brown/Channel 4

© Dave Brown/Channel 4

Luxury Comedy has its fair share of insane moments, with particular favourites of mine including human-shell hybrid, Daddy Push, and that cruel piece of French toast. Series two (which was shown in summer 2014) saw the move of the zany group from their tree-house to a coffee shop on the edge of a volcano in Hawaii, and though many characters also made the transition, various new faces appeared too. For examples, audiences were introduced to the show’s biggest (and apparently only) fan, a Brummie called Terry, played by Steve Oram. Fielding has confirmed that he doesn’t intend write a third series of Luxury Comedy, but many characters have found their way into his new live show, so all hope is not lost.

4)The Mighty Boosh

I think everyone’s favourite Mighty Boosh character has to be Old Gregg (played by Fielding), and it’s not surprising. With his creepy mannerisms (did you see what happened to Curly Jefferson?), yet prevalent sense of neediness (“do you love me?”), its only natural to be wary of this guy, but maybe we all relate to him a bit. Other magical Boosh moments included the arrival of the Crack Fox, Howard Moon’s coconut friend named Milky Joe, and Nanageddon, a pensioner from hell. The Boosh crowd always talk about creating a film, and releasing an album, so we can all cling on to the hope that we haven’t seen the last of this whimsical universe either.

3) Never Mind The Buzzcocks

One of the funniest moments from the whole 28 series of Never Mind The Buzzcocks so far was undoubtedly that time Noel Fielding ripped apart Dappy from N-Dubz. The rap singer apparently seemed to confuse a lampshade with a hair style. Easy to do, I suppose. As it was pointed out by Noel, it’s “not very difficult” to outsmart Dappy, it seems. This may have happened years ago, and I’m sure he’s a reformed character now, but I still reminisce of that encounter on a regular basis. However, the teams on Buzzcocks usually get along very well, particularly when slightly strange guests are present, such as the likes of comedians Adam Buxton, Tony Law, Paul Foot and James Acaster.

2) A Fielding Phonecall

In October of last year, I was given the opportunity to interview my idol for the British Comedy Guide. Noel and I talked about the first few shows of his first live tour in five years, An Evening With Noel Fielding, as well as the reaction to both series of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy. I also found time to ask the question that not enough people have been asking: what on earth happened to Daddy Push? As it stands, I am a very inexperienced interviewer, but Noel made our chat stress-free and we had a laugh, as well as giving lots of insight into the workings behind the comedy and his plans for the future.

MoodyComedy1) An Evening With Noel Fielding

I went to see An Evening With Noel Fielding in November 2014 at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. This show is unlike any other; it’s a remarkable spectacle. It’s strange to look back over events and realise the vast expanse between the show’s humble, low-key beginnings with just Fielding on stage, to a mission in a plasticine world with a couple of deluded nitwits riding on a unicorn. I even got to meet Noel, Mike and Tom after the show, which topped off the whole fantastical dream that was this insane evening.

Feel free to join me in wishing Noel Fielding a very happy birthday; here’s to another year of absurdity and childishness, we look forward to it.

Posted in: Comedians, Television Shows, Top 5 Moments Tagged: British Comedy, Comedy, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Noel Fielding, The Mighty Boosh

Noel’s Art Club

May 7, 2014 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment
‘Broken Pony’ by @likeabeachball
‘Horse Addict’ by @zackstewart
‘Horse and Tortoise Music Club’ by @moodybecca

‘Collagey Goodness’ by @TheRainbowGoth
‘Horsey Triptych Part 1’ by @noelfielding11
‘Horsey Triptych Part 2’ by @noelfieldng11

Twitter is often used by young and old people alike to stalk their favourite celebrities, express mundane facts and controversial opinions or to sell products to the public. Noel Fielding, however, has recently decided to use the social networking site in a new way- he has made a brave attempt at trying to spread some creativity throughout the world of Twitter and encourage people to revive their artistic side.

I love art and thought it was a brilliant idea which was picked up by hundreds of bright and adoring fans. Noel gave himself and his followers half an hour on two separate occasions to create an artistic response to a given theme (first, horses and secondly, Elvis Presley). When the time was up, he would post his creations (always absolutely wonderful) then retweet a load of other peoples’ that were his favourites. After all this, he reposted his third, second and first place.

The competition was open to everyone: artistic genius to quirky doodler and everything in between which gained an awesome response from the people of Twitter. I think Twitter should have more of this stuff going on as it is refreshing, inspiring and original. Hats off to you Mr Fielding! Now let’s have another Art Club soon yeah.

The galleries above and below feature some of my favourite responses to both themes.

‘Sad Elvis’ by @g0thxjuice
‘The Pelvis’ by @markbiglin
‘Elvis Presley’s Parsley Afterlife’ by @moodybecca

by @mikefielding9
by @stewlikesmoosic
‘My Elvis’ by @noelfielding11

Posted in: Comedians Tagged: Art, Noel Fielding

MoodyComedy’s 4th Birthday Top 10

October 11, 2017 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment
Today is MoodyComedy’s 4th birthday, so in order to celebrate we will be taking a trip down memory lane, revisiting the top 10 most-visited articles of all time on MoodyComedy, to serve as a reminder of all the fantastic creatives that the website has championed over the years.

10) Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast – 6th December 2014

‘When Richard Herring shouts “RHLSTP!” to his audience at the Leicester Square Theatre, they holler it back instantaneously, and at twice the volume. It immediately becomes clear that I’ve stumbled across a society, a cult, and something that I want to be a part of…’

9) Romesh Ranganathan: Asian Provocateur – 28th October 2015

‘Self-confessed ‘coconut’ Romesh Ranganathan has recently embarked on a traditional tour of the country of his heritage, Sri Lanka. Spending each episode with a different distant relative, Romesh has been introduced to various elements of the culture he feels he has been ignoring up until now, and the time has come to share those experiences with the public…’

8) Katherine Ryan: Kathbum – 8th June 2016

‘Katherine Ryan has blossomed over the past year and this is clear from the moment she walks on stage, greeted by bellowing cheers of excitement and endearment. She appears surprisingly relaxed, but humble, explaining her reasons for always bringing a support act with her on tour before progressing towards the heart of the show…’

© Idil Sukan

7) Sara Pascoe and John Robins, Edinburgh Previews – 12th July 2014

‘What I loved most about Pascoe’s show was that she talked very openly regarding her feminist views without leaving a resentful feel in the air: she spoke of liberation and change…’

6) Martin Pilgrim: Why I Quit Comedy – 10th February 2016

‘What was the catalyst for your decision to quit comedy?’

‘I just stopped enjoying it really. I’ve got a fairly tiring day job and I was less and less willing to travel in the evenings. I realised that I’d begun to feel relieved when a gig got cancelled, which is not a good sign. I also realised that I didn’t have anything particularly new or interesting to say…’

5) Top 5 Moments… Shooting Stars – 22nd October 2014

‘Shooting Stars is without doubt the greatest panel show ever made, with it lasting for a healthy six series and spanning from 1993 to 2011. It remains a source of frustration for me that the programme was cancelled in 2011 as it definitely hadn’t exhausted itself in any way…’

© BBC

4) Noel’s Art Club – 7th May 2014

‘Twitter is often used by young and old people alike to stalk their favourite celebrities, express mundane facts and controversial opinions or to sell products to the public. Noel Fielding, however, has recently decided to use the social networking site in a new way…’

3) Seven Questions With… Gus the Fox – 15th February 2015

‘Do you believe there is an afterlife?’

‘Religion’s a funny one. It sort of feels like the whole thing would be redundant by now and everyone would just grow up and stop talking shit but even in this age of enlightenment it feels like there’s still a wave of resurgence and it never goes away…’

2) Seven Questions With… Roisin Conaty – 20th March 2015

‘What makes you laugh?’

‘Everything. Eventually. Life is pretty ridiculous really, I mean, we are spinning in a ball in space. Any part of it slowed down, held up and examined is equally beautiful, tedious, painful and funny…’

1) Seven Questions With… Aisling Bea – 26th June 2015

‘Are you a pleasure to be around?’

‘I am an utter delight when I’ve had a few drinks, but when I’m sober people wonder if I’m drunk or what exactly is happening here…’

© Aisling Bea

It’s been another busy, wonderful year for MoodyComedy. With lots of things happening behind the scenes (I’ve been writing for other publications including Fest and Cardiff’s Quench Magazine, which gives me the opportunity to get articles printed and distributed all across the UK), there are countless opportunities up ahead that I hope to make the most of in the coming months.
Thanks for sticking with me! Here’s to another year.
Becca x
Posted in: Uncategorized Tagged: Birthday, General

Edinburgh Preview: Elf Lyons – Swan

March 9, 2017 by Becca Moody Leave a Comment

Elf Lyons

Fresh out of Gaulier, Elf Lyons is embarking on an experimental new hour of stand up, inspired by her fascination with ballet.

Lyons is critical of various ballet productions, including Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, and this leads her to attempt to recreate Swan Lake as a one-woman production, in French. These extravagant intentions are realised within a small theatre room above the Old Joint Stock pub in Birmingham. It’s the first outing of Elf’s new material but the confidence of her delivery doesn’t give the audience this impression.

Timeless in a way that is reminiscent Noel Fielding’s performance in The Mighty Boosh, Elf is a wide-eyed, theatrical whirlwind of a performer. She is uncompromising but likeable, with a cheeky glint in her eye like that of a naughty school girl. And I’m sure that’s what she must have been, underneath the shy, awkward exterior of her youth that she describes.

In her efforts to create ‘something out of nothing’, Lyons gets swept up in the fantasy of ballet narratives whilst remaining astutely self-aware. Her comedy is obscure, often relying on visuals, utilising costume, dance and mime, and she teeters on the border between long-limbed elegance and charming clumsiness. Elf is an endless cultivator of energy on stage. And with a style of comedy that is predominantly child-friendly due to its clownish nature, alongside an abundance of fresh ideas that will be refined through further stage time, Lyons’ comedy is generally accessible if you are willing to leave your inhibitions at the door.

Whereas this performance had Elf detail her plans for her new rendition of Swan Lake, it also jumped around to explore lots of other areas including her time spent in France over the past year with a 45 year old lover, her relationship with her mother growing up and time spent at the Priory as a child. It will be interesting to see which elements make it to the final show, or whether the ambition of a full production of Swan Lake performed in under an hour will come to fruition.

Either way, it was a nice change to sit down with a ‘double wine’ and enjoy an hour of escapism. Keep an eye out for Elf Lyons as she puts together this new show, as no doubt it will develop a great deal over the coming months.
ELF LYONS INTERVIEW
Posted in: Comedians, Live Comedy, Previews, Reviews Tagged: British Comedy, Comedy, Elf Lyons
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