Fans of The Mighty Boosh may just about recognise Eleanor. The American character comic Rich Fulcher is best known – from that surreal television sitcom – for playing Bob Fossil, the insanely incompetent zoo manager who bemuses Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding with fits of wanton disco-dancing. However, Fulcher has squeezed himself into a frock for his current spate of live solo gigs, obviously being keen to raise the profile of his drag alter ego (who has also popped up on MTV).
Eleanor, the tour whore, is a wine-glugging, ageing slapper and rock-band groupie. Last night at the Udderbelly, she was looking vaguely like a cross between Joan Collins and Vicky from Little Britain. Half-glam, half-grotesque, she plumps herself down on a chaise longue, dolled up in dark glossy wig and zebra-print dress. The face is almost pretty, with kittenish 1960s eyeliner and pearly lipstick, but then there's that big wobbly paunch jutting over the fishnets.
Fulcher seems to be straining to make Eleanor come into sharp focus, to turn her into a household name with an instantly recognisable catchphrase: "Helloooo". The evening begins with that greeting boomed out over the loudspeakers. Eleanor then dashes on stage and encourages the audience to repeat the salutation en masse, before she settles down to read extracts from her soon-to-be-published autobiography, "My Highs and Helloooos".
The trouble is she's only half-formed as a persona, still all too clearly a project-in-progress. Fulcher hasn't even settled on a definite look. A large publicity photo of Eleanor is projected above the stage, featuring a different wig and more thrusting bust. Think Hattie Jacques-cum-Diana Rigg in The Avengers.
Also, the material is mostly a shambles, bits and bobs loosely tied together by the idea that Eleanor has been shagging around and trying to make it, professionally, for decades. So, one moment she can be fronting a chatshow, "Taking the Mick", of which she makes a dog's dinner. She petulantly attempts to interview her supposed ex-lover, Mick Jagger (a deliberately rubbish impersonation), while he can't even hear her questions. The next minute, she's presenting a clueless cookery programme, preparing to fry a cheese grater and clashing saucepan lids like castanets. In another skit, she establishes a groupie academy, teaching a course that she turns into a pop song: "You start out with the drummer/Yeah, I know it's a bit of a bummer", etc.
Much of this is disappointingly feeble. Fulcher’s one-liners and wordplay certainly aren’t sidesplitting ("In the Seventies, I made Neil young again… In the Nineties, I gave Radio head"). Nevertheless, his suddenly flurries of madcap nonsense – particularly the imaginary guru gurgling in Eleanor's kitchen sink – can be delightful.
Punters who prefer their comedians strictly PC might bridle at his dodgy portrait of female sexuality: Eleanor is a rampant tart who, as soon as she's compelled a bloke from the front row to touch her embonpoint, cries "Rape!" To get outraged about that, however, would be to ignore the fact that she is, patently, an outré transvestite. His flamboyantly salacious anecdotes often merrily allude to fisting.
Moreover, this show's lack of politic restraint is actually what generates the most explosive laughs – not least an X-ray of his mother's vagina dentata. By not censoring his fantasies, Fulcher gains credit for daring frankness. There’s also a twinkle in his eye, when he’s enjoying himself, which is quite charming – like Pam Ayres gone wildly ribald.
PS: An update on the Udderbelly’s impractical combo of comedy gigs and World Cup screenings. The start of Fulcher's show was delayed for 20 minutes last night, so no hollering England fans drowned out Eleanor’s jokes.
- Rich Fulcher: An Evening with Eleanor is at the Udderbelly, SE1 tonight, and in Edinburgh 21-30 August
- Check out what's on at the Udderbelly in London and Edinburgh
