Review: An evening with Noel Fielding

Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline

Teddy Jamieson

"What have these two fish come as?" Neil Fielding asks the auditorium pointing to two of his more - shall we say - flamboyant fans in the stalls at the Alhambra. To enjoy Fielding's whimsical, pop surreal comedy there has to be some level of audience buy-in. Quite how much the Mighty Boosh member can rely on was all too apparent in Fife. On the second night of Fielding's tour the mixture of whimsy, self-referential quips and at times out-and-out silliness was lapped up, even though the comedy sometimes ebbed and flowed.

The most endearing thing about Fielding is how true he remains to his comedy universe. It's a vision that takes in - deep breath - a Plasticine Joey Ramone, a lobotomised monkey called Ravi, MasterChef's Gregg Wallace as a reverse minotaur, Antonio Banderas, an angry triangle called Gordon who's been sleeping with Noel's wife (who is, by the way, being played by Noel's brother Michael), an appearance of the dark side of the moon and a half-decent Andy Murray impersonation. And that's only a partial list.

The first half was the funnier but also a little messy, a mixture of stand-up that strives (at times a bit too hard) for the strange, while laying down the beginning of an overarching plot.

Part two - based around the idea that Noel has been kidnapped - shows that he is more than capable of making the most of audience interaction, before wrapping things up with a slice of hipster pantomime.

Credit here for the thoughtful presentation - most obviously in the way it manages to make animated film and live action interact quite brilliantly. And there's a Crispy Nan/Naan joke that shows Fielding knows a good punchline when he writes it.