Rich Fulcher has had enough. Yessirree Bob. Enough of taking it. Enough of doing the right thing. Tiny Acts Of Rebellion is the result of years of biting his lip. So sit back and enjoy the ride as Katherine MacAlister finds out what on earth’s going on with The Mighty Boosh funnyman.
From putting cheddar cheese in your handbag to decanting your own urine into Ryanair seat pouches, Rich Fulcher is unleashing his own private revolution on an unsuspecting UK.
Years in the making, his book Tiny Acts Of Rebellion releases the wrath of a frustrated rebel and teaches the public how to fight back and feel good in the process without breaking the law. So why the mission, Rich? “Well I’ve done everything in the book. I wouldn’t have written it all down without test-driving it first. So it is a condensed version of my life,” he sniggers. “And I had quite a lot of things I needed to get off my chest which I thought needed conveying to other people.”
But why drag us all down with him? “We all need to rebel to maintain our own sanity, especially nowadays, otherwise we’d just suddenly snap. People need encouragement to break out and I think the book does that,” he says.
But will giving motorists the wrong directions or blocking the camera lens with your finger when taking pics for tourists really make you feel better?
“Oh yes, it’s a first step at least and most of the population is on my side, so although I might upset a few people in the service industry there is a disclaimer in the book absolving me of all responsibility,” he laughs.
It is this ridiculous and deliciously juvenile sense of humour that landed him a part in the hit TV series The Mighty Boosh, which he helps craft and write. And while the Brits love him, the Yanks don’t quite know what to make of him.
So does this loud American mind?
“No I always think of it as a litmus test because I have a British sense of humour. And yet you can’t generalise about an American sense of humour because the US is so vast. I grew up in Nebraska and Monty Python was a real awakening for me.”
Meanwhile Rich was plotting his revenge even then. “I was quite a bad teenager,” he admits. “When my father was late and my mother wondered where he was, I always told her ‘he’s dead’ which caused a few problems,” he laughs.
“But I didn’t get up to pranks, because anyone can do those and they can be mean-spirited, while writing ‘I feel trapped’ on your girlfriend’s bathroom mirror might even spark up a decent conversation.”
So was it easy to recall all the misdemeanours he wanted to redress? “Every time I get bad service, I flick it to the waiter under the table. So there are things in the book for every situation, social and work.
“And I think it’s going to be big because people are already putting their own Tiny Acts Of Rebellion on YouTube. We could be creating a revolution here. But then Edgar Allen Poe said ‘there is an imp in all of us but it’s buried deeper in some than others’. And that’s the thing that makes life fun – the inappropriate. If I see someone sitting in a car on their own I wonder what they’d do if I just went and sat down next to them and did nothing.”
There must be something this 40-year-old feels bad about though? “I do remember when I lived in Washington DC and a tourist asked where the Washington Monument was. It was right behind her so I pointed her in completely the opposite direction,” he smiles. “Being on tour with The Mighty Boosh was a great arena for Tiny Acts of Rebellion.
“In fact, when we were at the Oxford Union, Obama got in and it was the first time I have ever shouted out ‘I’m an American’,” he laughs. “And I’ve been out in Oxford a few times and nearly been thrown out of a few hotels for drunken behaviour.”
Rich Fulcher will be at Borders on Thursday to read extracts from Tiny Acts Of Rebellion, answer questions and sign copies of the book. For more information call 01865 203901.
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