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Noel Fielding

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Noel Fielding
Fielding in 2006
Born (1973-05-21) 21 May 1973 (age 51)
EducationCroydon College of Art
Buckinghamshire New University (BA)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • artist
  • comedian
  • musician
  • presenter
Years active1996–present
PartnerLliana Bird (c. 2010–present)
Children2
RelativesMichael Fielding (half-brother)
Comedy career
Medium
  • Film
  • radio
  • stand-up
  • television
Genres
Websitenoelfielding.co.uk Edit this at Wikidata

Noel Fielding (/ˈnəʊəl/; born 21 May 1973) is an English comedian and actor. He was part of The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongside Julian Barratt in the 2000s, and has been a co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off since 2017. He is known for his dark and surreal comedic style.

Fielding began performing stand up comedy when he graduated from art school in 1995[1] and in 1997 he first met Mighty Boosh collaborator Julian Barratt when they both appeared on the same comedy bill at a pub in north London.[2] Sometime in around 1998[3] they then performed their first comedy show together in London[3] which was a mix of both stand up and sketch comedy and then later on in 1998 they took the show, The Mighty Boosh, to the Edinburgh fringe festival and returned again in 1999 with Arctic Boosh and in 2000 with Autoboosh.[3] In 2001 The Mighty Boosh became a six-part[4] radio show on BBC London Live, called The Boosh later transferring to BBC radio 4.[4] In 2004 the Mighty Boosh became a Television show The Mighty Boosh, which ran for three series on BBC Three from 2004 to 2007.[3][5][4] The show generated a cult following and won a variety of awards. From February to April 2006 they went on tour around the UK with the stage show The Mighty Boosh Live[4] and then toured the UK for a second time from September 2008 to January 2009 with The Mighty Boosh Live: Future Sailors Tour.

During the 2000s, Fielding also had smaller roles in a number of comedy shows for Channel 4 including Nathan Barley, The IT Crowd, AD/BC: A Rock Opera, and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. After The Mighty Boosh, he wrote and starred in two series of a solo show for Channel 4 called Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, which ran between 2012 and 2014. He has also appeared as himself as a team captain on the BBC Two comedy panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, originally from 2009 to 2015, and again since 2021, and as a guest on Richard Ayoade's Travel Man series.

Fielding has also exhibited his paintings in London[6][7][8] and collaborated with Fendi for their autumn/winter 2021 menswear collection.

Fielding along with Sergio Pizzorno from the band Kasabian formed the band Loose Tapestries as an alternative music project that was formed in 2012 to provide music for Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy.[9][10][11]

Early life

[edit]
The cast of the Mighty Boosh at comic-con; from left to right Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown. 2009
Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt as Vince Noir and Howard Moon in the stageshow The Mighty Boosh Live at the Brighton Dome. February 2006
A performance of the stageshow The Mighty Boosh Live at the Brighton Dome. From left to right; Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt, Dave Brown. February 2006

Fielding was born in the Westminster area of London on 21 May 1973,[12] the son of Royal Mail manager Ray Fielding (born 1953) and Yvonne Fagan. He is of French descent through his grandmother.[13][8] He grew up in Mitcham, Southwest London[14] and on his upbringing Fielding commented in 2013 that "My dad was so young, you know when I was 10 he was only 28, 29, so, thats mind blowing. When i was 20 he was only in his late 30s, he was my age now, so I've sort of had some brilliant years out of my mum and dad you know like, and also they were quite young and tolerant and easy going and up for doing stuff."[1] When Fielding was three years old, his father remarried, and Fielding was mostly raised by his grandmother. He describes his grandmother as someone he had a lot of respect for, saying "My grandma is really strong. I like strong women. That's what I respond to."[8] His father and stepmother Diane would later become more involved in parenting during Fielding's mother's illness in the 1980s. His mother had two more children before dying in 1990 aged 37 years old, from complications caused by liver damage.[15]

Michael Fielding, his younger paternal half-brother, later played various characters in The Mighty Boosh TV show and live stage shows as well as Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy. His father Ray Fielding as well as his stepmother both appeared in the Mighty Boosh TV show with his father Ray Fielding having several cameos as Chris de Burgh.[16] Julian Barrat's father also made an appearance in the first series of the Mighty Boosh TV show and both his parents appeared in the second series.[16]

Julian Barratt has described Fielding's upbringing as "feral"[8] with Fielding also commenting that "I was like a feral child. I was like 'I'm not eating dinner.' 'Yeah whatever cook your own at midnight.' 'Mum it's midnight should i go to bed?' 'Wa, whatever you want to do.' It was quite bohemian... ...I think with my brother they were like... '...we probably shouldn't let him cook his own dinner of mash potato on toast at four in the morning. He's like six.'... ...Yeah my mum 'n' dad were pretty liberal about stuff."[17]

Fielding has also commented that "My parents had lots of parties... ...They were hopelessly bohemian. ...They were just 18 when they had me... ...they let me stay up. They had their mates there all the time. They just let me eat when I wanted. I didn’t have to eat at the table."[18] and further that "I think they had a lot of parties when i was a kid.... ...I remember my mum and dad having parties where you know someone would turn up and bring the taxi driver in and he would stay for two days.... ...on the sofa."[17] It was also commented that "...they would party through the night and he [Fielding] would have to step over the bodies of their sleeping friends en route to breakfast."[8]

Fielding has also commented on interests he had when he was younger "Growing up I was quite funny, like a cheeky scamp. But I had no interest in being funny. I wanted to be an artist. When our teacher left, she wrote a poem about all her students and she said, ‘Noel is really funny and can make the class laugh.’ And then she said that my best friend Paul was a good artist... ...When you’re a kid the idea that you’re funny means nothing to you. You’re like ‘What’s that, what am I going to use that for?'... ...I wanted to be Picasso."[19] At the age of 15, Fielding became a goth and had goth girlfriends. At this time he first tried using makeup and said he loved being dressed up by his girlfriends.[20]

On his time as an art student Fielding has commented "I did a foundation course at Croydon Art College in fine art. It was actually my teacher, Dextor Dalwood, who was the one who told me I should go into comedy. I was 19 when I was studying there, I had quite a good time actually...".[21] Whilst studying at Croydon Art College[8][7] Fielding met Mighty Boosh collaborator Dave Brown.[8] Then from 1992 to 1995 Fielding studied for a BA in Graphic Design and Advertising at Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education in High Wycombe,[22][23][7] graduating in 1995.[22] In 2011 Fielding received an honorary master's from Buckinghamshire College now known as Buckinghamshire New University.[23][22] Whilst at Buckinghamshire College both Dave Brown and Nigel Coan were studying the same course as Fielding[24] and all three shared a student house together.[24] Nigel Coan also collaborated with Fielding on the Mighty Boosh.[24] After they had live together in student housing whilst at Buckinghamshire College, Fielding, Brown and Coan also later lived together in a flat in Hackney, London.[1]

Career

[edit]

Stand-up comedy

[edit]
Fielding in 2006

Fielding began performing stand up comedy when he graduated from art school in 1995[1] and in 2013 he commented "I went to art school and stuff and by the time I came out I started doing stand up. I spose I've probably been doing this now for about 17 years, 18 years... ...I've been doing it for a long time, me and Julian [Julian Barratt] were talking about it, it's weird. That's why it's sort of hilarious when, you know in a funny kind of way, you know, you spend twenty years of your life trying to make people laugh and it's quite a hard thing to do."[1]

In 1997 he first met Mighty Boosh collaborator Julian Barratt when they both appeared on the same comedy bill at a pub in north London.[2] In 2006 Fielding commented that "We were doing stand-up and were on the same bill together. I was on first and usually you can only have about one weird comedian on a line-up. He’d been doing it a bit longer than me... [Barratt was like] '...Let’s write together'. I’ve been stuck with him ever since and that was about eight years ago or something."[25] Whilst Barratt and Fielding were on The Jonathan Ross Show, Ross asked them "And did you perform as solo acts ever, did you do like stand up..." with Barratt responding "yeah, yeah, that's how we sort of met really on the circuit, doing stand up, yeah.", with Ross responding "But, but was it similar to the Boosh stuff, 'cos the Boosh stuff it seems to be so much of a partnership I can't imagine it being taken apart and being served up separately.", with Barratt responding that "We were both doing quite surreal stuff, eh...", with Fielding adding "It was quite weird wasn't it, alot weirder than the show in a way...", with Barratt continuing "...but we sort of, when we first met we kind of liked each other's comedy but we didn't know that it would work, we didn't know whether it was gonna cancel each other out and make....", with Fielding responding "Yeah, too weird to make sort of, straight...", with Barratt continuing "...might just become geography or something else or... this sort of thing, but it worked for some reason...", with Fielding adding "We had quite a good chemistry straight away."[26]

The magic carpet finale of the Mighty Boosh Live stageshow. From Left to right;Noel Fielding as Vince Noir, Rich Fulcher as Bob Fossil, Michael Fielding as Naboo, Dave Brown as Bollo and Julian Barratt as Howard Moon. Performing in the stageshow the Mighty Boosh Live. March 2006

On the day they met they both went back to Julian's place that night where Barratt played music on his Akai sampler whilst Fielding used a ping-pong ball to make an eye patch.[2] Fielding has commented on their shared interest in music that "I was sort of a bit more rock n roll and pop and he [Julian Barratt] was a bit more jazz but then we sort of met in the middle with electro... but Julian was... I think he left university to join a band, we were both in bands before we were in the Boosh, so we sort of came from that background. Lot of our friends were in bands."[17] It has also been commented that Barratt "...had dropped out of an American studies course at Reading University"[2] and Barratt has also commented that when he was seventeen "We went to stay with a friend of a friend’s uncle but we came back after three days. We thought we’d make inroads into the jazz scene in London – we’d read biographies about guys who got gigs at Ronnie Scott’s and got spotted and immediately taken into someone’s band. So we told our parents we were leaving home. They gave us two days and we lasted three...".[27] It has also been commented that "...both [Fielding and Barratt] had fathers who loved Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, and who encouraged their sons to avoid getting proper jobs."[2] They also found they both shared common interests in comedy including Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.[5][2]

In 2010, Fielding was supposed to perform a solo tour across the country. It was cancelled so he could concentrate on writing The Mighty Boosh film with Julian Barratt and creating an album. Fielding announced via Twitter that he was too busy to do the tour.[28] From 2014 to 2015 Fielding toured the UK and Australia with a new comedy show An Evening With Noel Fielding that included both stand up comedy and sketch comedy and along with Fielding included performances from his brother Michael Fielding and long term collaborator Tom Meeten. Mighty Boosh collaborator Nigel Coan created the animation for the animated sequences that occurred in the show.[29]

Montreal's Just For Laughs comedy festival had to be moved online, during the COVID-19 Pandemic. On 20 October 2020 Fielding and Jimmy Carr live streamed a conversation, from their respective homes.[30]

The Mighty Boosh

[edit]
A performance of the stageshow The Mighty Boosh Live at the Brighton Dome. From left to right; Rich Fulcher, Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt, Dave Brown. February 2006

Barratt and Fielding have commented on the beginning of the Mighty Boosh, with Barratt commenting that "We performed together for the first time in... ... was it in that show by Stuart Lee?", with Fielding replying "yeah, Stuart Lees show, Moby Dick and King Dong (At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 1997)... ...Julian played King Dong's penis...", with Barratt replying "...an enormous penis...", and then with Fielding replying "...a perfect King Dong... ...then we thought lets do a show together."[3]

Sometime around 1998[3] they then put on their first comedy show and it was commented that "They did their first gig at Oranje Boom Boom which is sort of in Chinatown in London, and ah, which was ridiculous, I mean it was really, like, ridiculous costumes and um, they didn't know what... they really [didn't] know what they were doing... ...It was very raw, but it was, it was hilarious... ...They thought lets do a show, an Edinburgh show. I think they started to think about doing that. So they got a gig at Hen and Chickens...".[3] Dave Brown commented further on their time at the Hen and Chickens, a theatre bar in Islington, London, "They would use the Hen and Chickens as this kind of... place to, a platform to just try stuff out and it was just a great little place they could do a regular spot... ...where they would probably write and have ideas in the week, try stuff out for half of that and then for the rest of it, it would just be improv and mucking about. Then they took the, um, took the The Mighty Boosh up to Edinburgh and then two more shows Arctic Boosh (1999), Autoboosh (2000)...".[3] Both Michael Fielding and Richard Ayoade appeared in a performance of the Mighty Boosh at the Hen and Chickens in 2002[3] during a live run through of a Mighty Boosh pilot.[3]

Fielding and Barratt have commented on their time at the Hen and Chickens, with Fielding commenting that "...cos it'd be stand up and people would come on and do straight stand up. And then we used to put potted plants all around the gig and music on... ...to try and make it into a sort of play... people couldn't believe the audacity. It got some sort of reputation as being sort of enigmatic but we're just really unprofessional. We didn't know anything about theatre or what you did."[3] with Barratt responding to Fielding "Speak for yourself, I was in a Sartre play at university I'll have you know. Huis Clos."[3] Fielding has commented further on their first live show, The Mighty Boosh, “Julian had a song about a mammoth that he wanted to sing to a girl in the audience, and I had a few ideas for some weird sketches... ...We started working on our ideas together... ...We were zookeepers and we got sucked through our bosses’ eyes and into a magic forest..."[31]

In 2001 The Mighty Boosh became a six-part[4] radio show on BBC London Live, later transferring to BBC radio 4[4] and Barratt has humorously commented that "...so we did a radio show, we did, we sort of recorded it in a sort of old railway sort of arch...", with Fielding adding "in Shoreditch..." with Barratt continuing "....built our studio out of weird... ...little children's toys...".[3] Barratt and Fielding have also commented on the process of moving the show from the stage to TV, with Barratt commenting "...we wanted to get on TV but it'd been a lot of trouble because they thought it was eh, the scripts we sort of gave them were sort of like massive epic adventures that sounded like it would cost them a million pounds to make so they said this isn't, I don't know how this is going to work on stage, well actually what happened is...' with Fielding adding "...'We wrote it for Channel 4 originally'" and Barratt replying "[we spoke to them]...before we'd done a stage show and they said how is this going to work on TV cos it is ridiculous. So we wrote, we did a stage show and then they said how's that going to work on TV because its really good live, so, perhaps we should've done it inside a television set."[3]

The Mighty Boosh Live stage show. From left to right: Rich Fulcher, Julian Barratt, Michael Fielding, Dave Brown and Noel Fielding. March 2006
Julian Barratt as Howard Moon sending the audience into "...a jazz trance." at the Mighty Boosh Live stage show. Brighton Dome. February 2006

In 2004 it became an 8 part TV show which aired on BBC Three with a second series airing in 2005 and a third airing in 2007 with there being 20 episodes created over three series. In each series the setting changes, with the first series set in a zoo operated by Bob Fossil, the second in a flat and the third in a secondhand shop in Dalston called Nabootique.[32][21]

In 2006 Fielding and Barratt went on tour with a new theatre show The Mighty Boosh Live.[4] Fielding has commented in relation to touring that "The touring lifestyle is quite hard... ...In the boosh tour we did a 100 day tour and we had one day off a week to travel and we were playing arenas and we partied every single night and we got up for sound check at six o'clock. So we were like Dracula. I was like Dracula. So I'd wake up at six, do a sound check, wake up, do the show, go to a party, stay up till five in the morning, sleep all day, every day for a hundred... ."[17] Fielding has further commented about the Mighty Boosh that "It was crazy cos we were just going.... ...it was never mean't to be, we were never mean't to be playing the O2 and Wembley and being on the cover of Time Out and... ...being on Jonathan Ross I don't think we ever thought that would happen... ...We always sort of just made it in our bedroom and then brought it out and stuff happened. We were as surprised as anyone when we won the Perrier and we were surprised when it got put on telly. We were like 'Wow this is great' we weren't ever sort of planning it. Like... ..we didn't even know if we could make a living from it."[33] Fielding has commented further that “We always thought we’d make one show and that’d be the end of it. But after we won the Perrier, everyone was telling us that we had to do another, which we did and brought it to Melbourne and won the Barry, and then we made a radio show that won the Douglas Adams Award. We won loads. It was manic. We always thought we’d do a couple of years together and go our separate ways. We went from stages to the radio show to television to live shows. It went on and on.”[31] Barratt has also commented that “Me and Noel went to HBO once and pitched this really ludicrous idea about us driving around in a haunted car and they just stared at us. Literally stared at us!... ...Luckily, we were together so we could laugh about it..."[5]

Fielding commented in 2015 that a film was something he talked about writing with Barratt[34] and he also commented in 2013 that "I would love to do a Boosh film I really would. I hope we do cos I feel like thats what we started out wanting to do. We really wanted to do a film, really,... ...we wanted to do a film, and then we thought alright we'll do a live show. We didn't really know how to do a live show we thought we'd just learn, and then we sort of... ...we did a radio show, we did a TV show, we never quite got around to doing a film..."[33] In 2008 it was also commented that "A film is the first thing we ever wanted to do, so we've always come up with ideas and stuck them in a drawer."[35] and in 2014 it was commented that "The pair have written two film scripts in the past, though neither made it to production. One was a "Rocky Horror Picture Show type thing," according to Fielding, in which Barratt played a character who has woken up believing himself to be the last man on earth. The other was an Arctic adventure – 'because we always liked the Arctic'."[35]

It was also commented that the Mighty Boosh "... almost didn't make it to television. Around 2000, Barratt and Fielding disappeared into development hell. They had done a sketch show for Radio 4, but no one was sure how to translate their act on to TV. That's until Steve Coogan, who had seen them in Edinburgh in 1999 when they were performing as Arctic Boosh, moved things along. His production company... ...sold the concept to the BBC simply by saying: 'If we were young, we'd want to be them.'"[2] The style of humour in the Mighty Boosh is often described as being surreal,[36][37][2][19][26] as well as being escapist[36][2] and new wave comedy.[37]

The name "Mighty Boosh" was originally a phrase used by a friend of Michael Fielding's to describe the hair that Michael had as a child.[32][38] From August 2008 to January 2009 they went on tour for a second time with a new stage show of the Mighty Boosh.[35]

Fielding has further commented that "I think our show is magical and fantastical. We tell very intricate, weird stories. Vince Noir is quite modern, a bit of an indie kid; Howard Moon is... ...eccentric... ...and we rely heavily on Julian's music and my animation... ...It's such a weird shambles of stuff."[2] Fielding designed the costumes for the Mighty Boosh TV Show.[16] Fielding also formed "Secret Peter Productions"[11] with Nigel Coan who, along with Fielding helped to animate series 1 and 2 of the Mighty Boosh TV show as well as helping to animate the live stage show An evening with Noel Fielding and Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy.[39] Coan also directed Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy as well as helping to write it along with Fielding.[24] Dave Brown also contributed to graphics for the Mighty Boosh[22] including the DVD cover art for the Mighty Boosh Live 2006 stage show.[40][22] Brown also "...designed and compiled The Mighty Book of Boosh..."[22] as well as all the publishing output for the Mighty Boosh.[22] It has been commented that Barratt "...composed all the music for The Mighty Boosh."[41][2] with Barratt also commenting that "I write the music, eh, but we both sort of write, we both write the lyrics, and we, I do the music mostly..." with Fielding replying to Barratt that "I have a go at the melodies then he goes away and makes it..." and then with Barratt replying "...tweaks, tweaks it a bit".[16] Regular Boosh collaborators include Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher, Dave Brown,[24] Nigel Coan,[24] Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry. In 2002[3] during a live run through of a Mighty Boosh pilot[3] Richard Ayoade played adventurer Dixon Bainbridge, but Matt Berry replaced him in the first television series, since Ayoade was under contract with Channel 4.[42]

The Mighty Boosh won the Shockwaves NME Best TV Award three times in 2007, 2008 and 2010.[43]

Television

[edit]
From left to right; Noel Fielding, Victoria Wicks and Julian Barratt. On the set of series one of The Mighty Boosh television series. 2004

At Bill Bailey's request, Fielding stood in as a team captain for three episodes during series 21 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He also achieved a record for the highest team score ever on the show. When Bailey returned, presenter Simon Amstell made various jokes about Fielding's departure. In 2009, Bailey left the show and Fielding became one of the regular team captains. According to Neil Gaiman's blog, Fielding was scheduled to appear in the film Stardust, but had to drop out due to ill health.[44] He also participated twice with Russell Brand in 2006 and 2007 on the annual quiz show The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. He participated again in 2010, 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019, with Richard Ayoade.[45][46][47]

In 2011, he took part in Catherine Tate's TV movie Laughing at the Noughties in which he and other British comedians discussed the comedy highlights of the noughties.[48]

A scene from the television series. At right is Noel Fielding as Tony Harrison with Richard Ayoade as Saboo

Fielding produced his first solo series for Channel 4 network's E4 channel in 2011,[49] as the broadcaster invested an additional £5 million in its comedy budget following the cancellation of reality show Big Brother.[50] Fielding said of the project, tentatively titled Noel Fielding: Boopus: "I want to make something in the spirit of Spike Milligan or the Kenny Everett Show but using modern techniques. Blending filmed comedy with animation. Television needs a madman! I want the show to be psychedelic and beautiful but have charm and personality. If Dalí made a show hopefully it would look like this."[49][51] The show began broadcasting in January 2012, titled Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy. The show's second series, titled Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy 2: Tales From Painted Hawaii, was first broadcast on E4 in 2014.[52]

Julian Barratt playing Howard Moon in the stageshow The Mighty Boosh Live. March 2006

Also in 2011, Fielding performed Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" dance routine for Series 3 of Let's Dance for Comic Relief, and reached the grand final.[53][54]

In 2010 and 2014, he took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.[55]

In March 2017, it was revealed that Fielding would co-host the upcoming series of The Great British Bake Off alongside Sandi Toksvig.[56]

Fielding appeared as a contestant on Series 4 of the Dave comedy panel game Taskmaster in 2017, hosted by Greg Davies and Alex Horne: he was the overall series winner.[57][58]

In January 2018, he was a panellist on QI alongside Russell Brand and Aisling Bea.[59]

In 2024, Fielding will play as Dick Turpin in an upcoming Apple TV+ comedy series, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.[60][61]

Radio

[edit]
The pre-show curtain for the Mighty Boosh Live stage show. Both Fielding and long term collaborator Nigel Coan helped to create the animation that was used in the Mighty Boosh TV show.[2][39] Dave Brown also contributed to graphics for the Mighty Boosh including the DVD cover art for the Mighty Boosh Live 2006 stage show.[40][22] Barratt also "...composed all the music for The Mighty Boosh."[41][2] with Fielding contributing to the melodies.[16] Both Barratt and Fielding wrote the lyrics for the music together.[16] 2006

In November 2007, Fielding starred in five episodes of BBC Radio 2 show Vic Reeves' House Arrest as a local vagrant who knocks on Reeves' door once a week to ask for work.[62]

Music

[edit]

Fielding has appeared in several music videos, including Mint Royale's "Blue Song", alongside Julian Barratt, Nick Frost and Michael Smiley. The video was directed by Edgar Wright and served as the inspiration for the opening sequence of his film Baby Driver (2017).[63] He also made a brief appearance in the video for Razorlight's "In the Morning". He appeared in music videos for the Robots in Disguise songs "Girl" (alongside Chris Corner who was, at the time, boyfriend to Sue Denim), "The Tears", and "Turn It Up". In 2009, Noel was involved in the Kasabian video "Vlad the Impaler", in which he plays the titular character,[64] and reprised the role at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival.[65]

The music video was directed by Richard Ayoade. He was referenced in Kasabian's "La Fée Verte", a track on their Velociraptor! album (his friend Sergio Pizzorno said "The line, 'I met Dalí in the street.' Dalí is Noel Fielding. And he is the modern-day Dalí"). Fielding also makes a brief appearance as Vlad in the video for another Kasabian song, "Re-Wired", riding a five-seater bicycle with the band, and appears as a patient in a psychiatric hospital in "You're In Love With a Psycho", in which he re-enacts the broken mirror routine from the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup with Pizzorno and Tom Meighan.[66] He has also appeared in Kate Bush's music video "Deeper Understanding" as a means of thanks for the Let's Dance For Comic Relief performance.[67]

Fielding paired up with Sergio Pizzorno (Kasabian) to form a band, Loose Tapestries, and released two albums and a Christmas single.[68][69]

Art

[edit]

He held his first exhibition of his paintings, entitled Psychedelic Dreams of the Jelly Fox,[7] in a gallery above the patisserie Maison Bertaux,[70][7] in Greek Street, Soho in December 2007.[7] There Fielding listed some of his inspirations as Henri Rousseau, René Magritte, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Dexter Dalwood, a former tutor of his from the Croydon School of Art[70] and Fielding has also cited Salvador Dalí as an inspiration.[70] A second exhibition of his paintings entitled Bryan Ferry vs the Jelly Fox also took place at Maison Bertaux, from 5 July 2010 through to 5 January 2011.[70][71]

On 6 September 2011, Fielding received an honorary master's degree from Buckinghamshire New University for his ongoing interest in the graphics area and support for many art organisations.[22]

In October 2011, Fielding released an art book called Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton, which he produced along with The Mighty Boosh cast member Dave Brown. It features many of his old and new paintings, drawings and photography.[72]

Fielding's video installation of The Jelly Fox was shown at the Saatchi Gallery, and in 2012 he created a unique piece inspired by The Beatles for Liverpool Love at the Museum of Liverpool. In March 2015, his exhibition He Wore Dreams Around Unkind Faces was shown at the Royal Albert Hall.[73] In January 2021, the luxury fashion house Fendi unveiled a collection featuring abstract takes on the brand's logo, created by Fielding.[74]

Personal life

[edit]

Fielding was formerly in a relationship with Robots in Disguise lead vocalist Dee Plume, who made minor appearances in The Mighty Boosh and in its live adaptations.[8] He began dating radio DJ Lliana Bird sometime around 2010. They reside in the Highgate area of London. Their first child, a daughter named Dali (after artist Salvador Dalí), was born in 2018.[75][76] The couple's second daughter, Iggy (after Iggy Pop), was born in August 2020.[77]

During his time at art college, Fielding developed alcohol-induced hepatitis.[18][1] Nigel Coan, who studied the same course as Fielding at art college[24] and also shared a flat with him during this time, [1] helped Fielding during this period, [1] with Fielding saying that "...we were really good friends and he [Nigel Coan] got me through a lot of bad things. When I first left art college and I was a bit ill I actually got hepatitis and I was ill for a year, I was on the sofa for a year. I got quite depressed and he was the one who really helped me through that. We lived together in Hackney... ...With a lot... a lot of us, with Dave Brown and lots of people."[1] It was also commented that "After university, he caught hepatitis, was ill and exhausted for a year, and couldn't drink alcohol for the next five."[20] Fielding also commented that "I just carried on not drinking for years. I used to be able to enjoy myself with just nothing. I'd stay up till four in the morning, with everyone else being drunk. Just make a bit of effort and you can get used to it. It's good actually. But what's quite good about drinking is that it gives you some mood swings. Breaks things up a bit. I have to replace that with exercise."[18]

Fielding was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed British men in 2015.[78]

Filmography

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1999 Plunkett & Macleane Brothel Gent
2001 Sweet Pete Sweet Short
2009 Bunny and the Bull Javier
2010 Come on Eileen Rex
2011 Horrid Henry: The Movie Ed Banger
2015 Aaaaaaaah! Carl
Set the Thames on Fire Dickie
2016 Brakes Daniel
The Wonderful World of Death Jones
2018 The Festival Hammerhead
2019 The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part[79] Balthazar Voice

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1997–1998 Gas Himself Episodes: Series 1 (8), Series 2 (2, 4, 6)
1998 Unnatural Acts Various
Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round Various Episode #1.2
1999 Comedy Cafe Himself Episode #1.7
2000 The Big Schmooze Himself – Arctic Boosh Episode #1.4
2002 Surrealissimo: The Scandalous Success of Salvador Dali Bauer TV movie
Brain Candy Himself TV movie
2003 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala Himself TV movie
2004 The British Comedy Awards 2004 Himself TV special
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace Monkey Man
AD/BC: A Rock Opera Shepherd TV movie
2004–2007 The Mighty Boosh Vince Noir / Various
2005 Nathan Barley Jones
28 Acts in 28 Minutes Himself TV special
Breakfast Himself
2006 The Secret Policeman's Ball Himself / Vince Noir
The British Comedy Awards 2006 Live Himself TV special
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year Himself TV special
2006–2008 Friday Night with Jonathan Ross Himself Three Episodes
2006–2013 The IT Crowd Richmond
2007 Dawn French's Boys Who Do Comedy Himself Episodes #1, #2, #3
Comic Relief 2007: The Big One Himself / Various TV special
Deadline Himself Episode #1.2
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year Himself TV special
The Charlotte Church Show Himself Episode #2.2
Never Mind the Buzzcocks Himself Guest panellist, 3 episodes
2008 Shooting Stars: The Inside Story Himself TV movie
2009 Shockwaves NME Awards 2009 Himself TV special
Comic Relief 2009 Himself TV special
Comic-Con '09 Live Himself TV movie
Shooting Stars Himself Episode #6.5
2009–2010 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Himself Two Episodes
2009–2014 Alan Carr: Chatty Man Himself Two Episodes
2009–2015 Never Mind the Buzzcocks Himself Team Captain
2010 How Not to Live Your Life Marcus Episode "Don's New Job"
Shockwaves NME Awards 2010 Himself TV special
Teenage Cancer Trust Concerts 2010 Himself TV movie
Channel 4's Comedy Gala Himself TV special
Just for Laughs Himself Episode "Cheech & Chong"
Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow Himself Episode "Bristol"
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year Himself TV special
2011 Let's Dance for Sport Relief Himself Two Episodes
24 Hour Panel People Himself Episode #1.5
Dynamo: Magician Impossible Himself Episode "England"
Horrid Henry's Movie Mayhem Himself TV movie
Catherine Tate: Laughing at the Noughties Himself TV movie
The Rob Brydon Show Himself Episode #2.8
2012 The Jonathan Ross Show Himself Episode #2.3
The Secret Policeman's Ball Himself TV special
Perspectives Himself Episode "John Sergeant: Sergeant on Spike"
The Project Himself
The Big Fat Quiz of the 00s Himself
2012–2014 Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy Himself / Various
2013 Doll & Em Noel Episode "Six"
Brand X with Russell Brand Himself Episode #2.1
Gadget Man Himself Episode "Summer Holiday"
Staying in with Greg and Russell Himself
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year Himself TV special
2013–2018 QI Himself Eight episodes
2014 Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled Himself Episode "Cupped by a Shammy Hand"
The Last Leg Himself Episode #5.2
2015 The Big Fat Anniversary Quiz Himself TV special
Backchat Himself Episode #2.2
Live at the Apollo Himself Episode #11.3
2016 Trailer Park Boys: Out of the Park Lord Pumpwhistle / Himself Episode "Europe – London"
The Big Fat Quiz of Everything Himself TV special
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Himself
The Entire Universe Einstein TV movie
Travel Man Himself Episode "48 Hours in Copenhagen"
Conan Himself
Room 101 Himself
The Big Fat Quiz of Everything Himself Two Episodes
@midnight Himself
2017 Taskmaster Himself Series Four, Champion of Champions (special)
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Himself Episode #12.1
The One Show Himself
Upstart Crow Thomas Morley Episode #2.4 "Food of Love"
2017–present The Great British Bake Off Co-presenter Alongside Alison Hammond (2023–present) and formerly Matt Lucas (2020–2022) and Sandi Toksvig (2017–2020), replacing Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins
2018 Urban Myths Alice Cooper Episode "The Dali and the Cooper"
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2018 Himself TV special
2018–2023 Disenchantment Stan the Executioner Voice
2019 Twelve Forever Guy Pleasant Voice
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2019 Himself TV special
2020 Close Enough Snail Voice
2021–present Never Mind the Buzzcocks Himself Team Captain
2024 The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin Dick Turpin Main role. TV series

Music videos

[edit]
Year Artist Song Title Notes
2000 Midfield General "Midfielding"
2003 Mint Royale "Blue Song"
2006 Razorlight "In the Morning"
2007 Robots in Disguise "Girl"
2008 Robots in Disguise "The Tears"
2009 Kasabian "Vlad the Impaler" Played the titular character
2011 Kate Bush "Deeper Understanding"[80] Played a computer junkie
Kasabian "Re-Wired" Played the aforementioned Vlad the Impaler.
2016 The Claypool Lennon Delirium "Bubbles Burst"
2017 Kasabian "You're in Love with a Psycho"

References

[edit]
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[edit]
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