New Morris radio / audio project

[James Christopher]

Surprised this hasn't been picked up here yet. Richard Bacon interviewed Noel Feilding (maybe that's why it hasn't been picked up here yet) on his R5 show. Noel let slip about a radio project he's worked on with Chris Morris and Richard Ayoade. I remember this being mentioned in some Nathan Barley promo interview (I seem to remember it also featured Rich Fulcher at the time?) Feilding said something along the lines that they'd meet every Wednesday afternoon to work on a project, but they'd no idea what would happen with it, and if it'd ever be released.

It's at about 19 mins. Bacon presses Feilding for details and he seems reluctant to talk about it. Seems they've been working on it for five years, on and off.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011y5yh/Wimbledon_Richard_Bacon_20_06_2011/

[Old Nehamkin]

Great find, but it actually starts about 3.57

[Jemble Fred]

THE GREAT AUDIO COMEDY LEGACY

Peter Cook -> Chris Morris

Chris Morris -> Noel Fielding

cHris Maurice is a WANKR!

[PaulTMA]

Is Noel Fielding not liked around here or something?

[Neil]

Thanks, James, just cutting out a clip now.

Well, what a mixed bunch of emotions this news provokes!

[Neil]

I haven't got to that bit, I'm struggling, to be honest.

'How are you...are you a pop star, Noel?'
'Yeah sort of.'

On his new project with Kasabian:
'It's pretty out there, it makes The Boosh look main-stream!'

Ugh.

[Ignatius_S]

Thanks for the heads-up - will listen later!

I haven't got to that bit, I'm struggling, to be honest....Ugh.

I think the only interview I've seen/heard with Fielding was with Barrett on Jonathan Ross' old BBC 1 chat show – on that, he came across as vacuous, particularly whenever he spoke. Barrett looked rather embarrassed and as if he would have rather have been somewhere else.

[Neil]

'Tell me about your book.'
'It's a pop-up book...


NOT REALLY!!'

God, he's so fucking creative.  Breath-takingly wacky and surreal. 

Thanks for the heads-up - will listen later!
I think the only interview I've seen/heard with Fielding was with Barrett on Jonathan Ross' old BBC 1 chat show – on that, he came across as vacuous, particularly whenever he spoke. Barrett looked rather embarrassed and as if he would have rather have been somewhere else.

He's not much better here, by the sounds of it.  They take him round the crowd, and stereotypes fly as the women coo over Noel, and the blokes go 'who is he?  I don't like his shoes.'  This then causes Fielding to say, as they walk off, that chavs don't like him.  He later calls the boy a goblin.  Doesn't bother to say anything to their faces, of course.

[Neil]

Here's the clip.

Edit:  [noembed]YouTube too[/noembed]

I'm also going to move this to Comedy Chat.  People don't come in here as often, so I've been toying with the idea of having the Chris Morris sub-forum as an archive, where threads will be moved when they drop.  So I'll move this into CC and see how that goes.

[danyulx]

First Kate Bush, now Morris. What could these two giant talents possibly see in Fielding, to deem him worthy of any form of collaboration? (A pairing with Kasasbian I completely understand). I'm at a loss.. He's awful, both as a comedian and as a human being (first hand, I've met him and conversed with him at some length, twice, he's horrible). Though I thought his casting in Nathan Barley made perfect sense, for obvious reasons.. He did a cracking job playing himself.

My only hope is the format of this radio show doesn't resemble 'Why Bother? in anyway whatsoever, what a sad state of affairs that'd be, i.e. with Morris interviewing Fielding "in a series of surreal chats". Good luck on mining any comic gold out of that then, unless Morris does fuck all but rip the piss out of him, savagely.

Give Simon Amstall a gold medal for this -

Amstell vs Fielding

[alan nagsworth]

Good luck on mining any comic gold out of that then, unless Morris does fuck all but rip the piss out of him, savagely.

Yeah, that's what we[nb]I[/nb] are all hoping. I'm also holding out for a similar approach with Larry David and Ricky Gervais in the new series of Curb, but I think I'm out on a limb there.

[Ignatius_S]

I wasn't quite sure whether it was best to post here or in the last Site Update post, as there were points in each that I wanted to respond to - for convenience, I decided to just stick to here....

...It now seems likely that this 'radio pet' is a collaboration between Chris Morris, Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade....

When the Fielding interview was first flagged,  I assumed that the two projects were going to be one and the same. However, I've been wondering if that's just a coincidence - although I have absolutely nothing to go on, I increasingly think it is.

However, if there is just the one project, Morris said he would know in about a month whether he would be doing it in the Irish interview. If this turned out to be the case, it might be why Fielding felt comfortable enough to mention that it's in the pipeline.

...To be frank, I can't stand the comedy of Noel Fielding.  He thinks he's incredibly surreal and wacky, yet peddles nothing but pedestrian, by-numbers whimsy about, y'know, spiders and monkeys and that.  He can't even manage to keep a straight face when he performs, so assured is he of his own manic, rock star craziness.  Richard Ayoade has never been a popular figure on the Comedy Chat forum either, given his lack of range.  Like Fielding, he lacks gravitas, and is hard to believe as a performer....

Although I can't say that I was rubbing my hands with glee when I heard the news (well, not honestly anyway), the more I think of it, the more interesting I think this could be.

At the moment, we have so little to go on - if what Fielding says is correct, I think it sounds like this should be perhaps be thinking this as an audio project, which could be done in the format of a radio series. Although Ayoade's idea of delivery via cassette tapes may be tongue in cheek, it might reflect that the three are considering a more esoteric approach. No one has said that this is purely 'comedy' project  (indeed, no one has even mentioned comedy) - could this be a relatively arty project? Perhaps we shouldn't be (just) considering what Ayoade and Fielding are like as performers?

Both Ayoade and Fielding haven't restricted themselves to comedy - e.g. Ayoade's recent feature film directorial debut and the latter's latest art exhibition, last year - and it might be that kind of attitude, which is appealing to Morris.

Just as an aside, I thought The Mighty Boosh worked far better than as a radio programme than a TV one - although Barrett edited the series, in some ways, I think it's easier to picture Fielding as a aural collaborator.

....He's not much better here, by the sounds of it.  They take him round the crowd, and stereotypes fly as the women coo over Noel, and the blokes go 'who is he?  I don't like his shoes.'...

Well, I was certainly getting a sense of déjà vu when reading your earlier post!

....(A pairing with Kasasbian I completely understand)....

Absolutley - Fielding's appeared on stage with them and also did a video installation with Serge Pizzorno.

....My only hope is the format of this radio show doesn't resemble 'Why Bother? in anyway whatsoever, what a sad state of affairs that'd be, i.e. with Morris interviewing Fielding "in a series of surreal chats"....

Morris doesn't really rehash projects, so I can't see him doing that. Also, what would Ayoade's role be?

....
Give Simon Amstall a gold medal for this...

It's interesting to see the look of fear in Fielding's eyes towards the end, but then he saves the day with the last line. If Amstall had just continued on with the show, rather than keeping the attentions onto Fielding by repeating the same joke (which works best the first time, in any case), it would have been harder for Fielding to come back.

[klaus]

From an interview with Noel Fielding in the Telegraph in the past few days:

"He also tantalisingly reveals that he has almost finished making a radio show with The IT Crowd's Richard Ayoade – who also stars in Luxury Comedy – and Chris Morris of Brass Eye."

[Neil]

Thanks, someone tweeted me a similar article, but it dropped off my mentions feed before I could retweet the bloody thing.

Now being called a radio show, then, which I guess we figured.

[klaus]

Description of the show:

Now Noel is returning to radio, with a project he's been working on with Chris Morris and Richard Ayoade. At the time of writing it consists of six ten minute programmes which have been written by all three, performed by Noel and Ayoade, and produced by Morris (still in progress). The series has been five years in the making due to the trio's busy schedules and Noel is "very proud" of them. He says, "We did it for ourselves and we really enjoyed it. Working with those two has been really good – even just the experience on its own has been so nourishing and fulfilling it almost doesn't matter if we put it out or not." (via Noel Fielding: Radio Past and Future « The Velvet Onion)

[Old Nehamkin]

^ Cheers for that! The entire article is here for those interested:

http://thevelvetonion.com/2011/11/03/radio-past-and-future/

There's a further paragraph about the show as well:

The problem that they're currently tussling with is exactly how to put the series out to ensure that people can fully enjoy it. A one-off live performance, cassettes and other offbeat suggestions are proffered. Noel explains, "If you put it out on the radio it'll be on youtube the next day and that would be the end of it. You want the fans to be able to get it in a way that's more special than just looking at it on youtube – to give them something nice to keep." He looks slightly wistful for a moment and adds, "But maybe people aren't bothered with that anymore – they just want everything virtual."

[The Boston Crab]

Haha.

The Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade revisionist history begins here.

[Ignatius_S]

...There's a further paragraph about the show as well:

If I remember rightly, the delivery format had been discussed previously - cassettes had certainly been mentioned.

[Mr Ventham]

What's off-beat about a casette? You stick it in the machine. You press play. It plays. It feels real and comprehensible.

It's downloading that's freaky. It makes me feel like I'm an actor participating in a science fiction drama, rather than me living my life.

Now I'm writing this on my phone and in a moment it will be read by people all over the world. I feel like I'm dead and communicating with the living in some sort of global seance. Am showing my age here?

[eluc55]

Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade are performing it? Quite literally the two worst comic performers of the last 15 years?[nb]This isn't hyperbole; I literally can't think of two worse comic actors[/nb] And Chris Morris, one of the best comic performers of the last 20 years, is working entirely behind the scenes? Total madness.

[NaCl]

NOEL FIELDING FARTS INTO A MICROPHONE.AVI

[AphexDeuce]

Ayoade & Fielding are epic imo. I don't get the hate.

[Entropy Balsmalch]

This isn't hyperbole; I literally can't think of two worse comic actors

Marc Wooton, the bloke from the old BT adverts who was in My Family, Iain Lee, Ricky Gervais in everything other than The Office, Mike Myers in everything since Austin Powers, a hundred others who've appeared in things we've all forgotten.

[eluc55]

Can't really comment on Wooton or Iain Lee, but Kris Marshall and Ricky Gervias are certainly better in my opinion. As for the "hundred others" - maybe there are occasional bad performers, but they're not widely adored and working with people like Morris or Linehan - whereas Ayoade and Fielding are both respected, successful comics.