The first series of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy in 2012 received such bad write-ups you’d have thought the Mighty Boosh star was killing babies live on TV. His psychedelic sense of humour just seemed too out there for a lot of critics and viewers. I read recently that Fielding purposely chose to do something knowingly inaccessible as a response to Booshmania. I guess in a way it was his Kid A after Creep.
This time round the second series, subtitled Tales From Painted Hawaii, seems more accessible. “Apparently last time a couple of people were confused,” says Fielding in a moment of sublime self-referential understatement early in the first episode. Compared to the freeform tomfoolery of series one the setting just about has a toehold in reality here. Fielding is running a cafe forever hanging off the edge of a Hawaiian volcano. As you do.
It could almost be a conventional sitcom, except that his butler Smooth (played by Michael Fielding, aka Naboo) is half-man, half anteater, Andy Warhol (Tom Meeten) keeps popping in and Fielding’s uber-cool Germanic friend Dolly (Dolly Wells) sounds like a dead ringer for the Velvet Underground’s occasional chanteuse Nico. The result is a trippy, lysergic journey inside the twisted mind of Fielding (and co-writer Nigel Coan) punctuated by animated flights of fancy and lovely, dazzling colours.
There is even an actual plot if you pay attention. Due to reasons too surreal to bore you with, the cast of Magnum needs to sacrifice Fielding. Can he be saved in time? And there is a subplot involving a pair of talking puppets and a frankly disturbing cult character called Paul Panfer who likes nothing better than licking his own nipples when not remaking Elvis Presley movies very badly indeed.
Fielding himself plays a number of characters from the first series, including larger-than-life dayglo cop, Sgt Raymond Boombox and Roy Circles, who is a chocolate finger. Oh, and he is also Tony Reason, a manta ray music producer who lives in a fish tank under the tree house (and could be a distant cousin of the Boosh’s Moon).
We wouldn’t dream of spoiling things and revealing how the plot pans out and if Noel survives, but the fact that there are five episodes is probably a hefty clue. Needless to say you have to buy into the madness to enjoy Luxury Comedy. But if you liked the most wigged-out moments of early Reeves and Mortimer then you ought to be able to tune into Fielding's wavelength pretty quickly.
One word of warning though, The colours are very bright. This may be the first comedy where wearing sunglasses is advised. “What, we got another series?” says Warhol at one point. Well, amazingly, yes, and I’m glad they did.
Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy is on E4 at 10pm from Thursday July 31.
