Rich Fulcher – Eleanor, The Tour Whore

E4 Udderbelly
21-30 August, 23:30

Fans of the British sketch comedy series The Mighty Boosh will know American Rich Fulcher from his Boosh alter-egos such as Bob Fossil and Kodiak Jack. Flying solo here at the festival, Fulcher gives us his latest character creation, Eleanor, the Tour Whore.

Just seeing the hirsute and generously proportioned Fulcher dolled up in provocative tramp mode – skin-tight minidress, fishnets, boots and denim jacket are rock chick de rigeur – raises the first guffaws. Eleanor then proceeds to regale us with salacious tales from her groupie exploits over the decades – she put the wood in Woodstock in the Sixties, made Neil ‘young’ again in the Seventies, Axeled Rose in the Eighties, gave Radio head in the Nineties and so on.

Eleanor reads excerpts from her tell-all memoir, shows clips from her Taking the Mick documentary (featuring interviews with Micks Hucknall and Jagger), gives step-by-step instruction on the “evolution of fuck” for groupies (drummer, bassist, lead guitar, singer), prances and gyrates all about the stage in eye-popping fashion.

It’s all good, vulgar fun, though – for me, at least – the material feels more suited to a shorter sketch than an hour-long show. And Eleanor’s final wrestling bout with her life-long nemesis Susan Boyle doesn’t really fit with the rocker image she’s spent so long building up.