Human Connection and Shitting in Churches: The Moving, Surreal Comedy of Kim Noble

This post originally appeared on VICE UK.

Kim Noble isn't one to do things by half. For his new stage show You're Not Alone—in which Kim narrates as a collage of candid video footage plays behind him—he filmed himself taking a shit in a church, pretending to be a woman online to catfish truck drivers, and drilling a hole in his wall to record the sound of his neighbors having sex.

The whole thing falls somewhere between surreally comedic and moving, contemplative and actually quite sad, with all of that outlandish stuff having its roots planted firmly in a sense of loneliness and a desire for human connection.

Mind you, that duality is hardly a surprise: Kim used to be one half of the award-winning comedy duo Noble and Silver, and his struggle with manic depression is well documented; after the run of his popular yet divisive last show, Kim Noble Must Die, he had a nervous breakdown and vowed he'd never take the stage again (there was a fair bit of controversy after that one: Kim's ex-girlfriend tried to sue him after he gave out her number to audience members, and he also gave out vials of his semen to selected guests).

I caught up with him after a recent performance of You're Not Alone to talk about what the fuck he's doing with his life.

VICE: Hi Kim. What is it that you do?
Kim Noble: Shit. What do I do? I suppose I class myself as an artist?

You've got a background in comedy though, right?
Yeah. Even when I was studying fine art it was comedic. But I would never describe myself as a comedian. If you asked 50 percent of the audience they probably wouldn't think it was comedy at all.

Tell me a bit about the show You're Not Alone.
Well, I didn't set out to do a show about loneliness. I do my life and record it. I make individual projects, and I don't know what they're for or where they're going. When it came together, loneliness seems to be the main thing that people get from it. It came from me not knowing what the fuck I was doing. At one point it could've been a durational piece or art installment because there's so much stuff that spirals off everywhere. This is basically a condensed version of the small projects I've done.

How long have you been unknowingly making it?
The earliest footage is from five years ago. I didn't want to make another theater show after my last one. It's the last thing I wanted to do.

Why's that?
I'm no good at writing; I'm better at doing stuff. So I just went out and did these projects, or whatever they are, and filmed them. I was given the opportunity to do an hour show, so I did.

There's some footage that could be deemed as controversial in the show. Is it a shock piece?
Definitely not. Some people might think it's shocking, but then again a friend of mine came along last night and thought it was really tame compared to my last show. He thought I'd mellowed out [laughs]. But there are different emotions that you might get from the show that do jar and are juxtaposing, and some could be deemed as confrontational.

Have there been any legal repercussions from this show like there were with your last?
[Laughs] Yes, of course! But I can't talk about it. Sorry.

You use a lot of footage of people without them knowing. What are your views on privacy?
It wasn't my intention to show people up, and I really try not to. I'm the one that looks ridiculous in it; I'm the focus of it. I don't believe there's anything too damaging for people in it. There are many things that I chose not to put in and people I didn't include because I thought it would portray them badly.

Did you ever wonder if you'd gone too far?
I'm a bit crap like that because I just rarely think I have [laughs]. I think it's for other people to decide whether I've gone too far. It's just me and a video camera just trying to work out life. "What the hell am I doing with my life?" was the question. "Nothing" was the answer. Then I realized that there are all these people around me, my neighbors, that I knew nothing about.

Is that why you drilled through your bedroom wall and recorded the sounds of your neighbors having sex?
It's morally ambiguous at times, but I definitely have lines. Maybe my lines stretch a bit further than other people's. There are people I want to protect, and I don't want to hurt people. The footage goes in if it's right for the show. If you isolate something then it doesn't look good, but as a whole I hope it all fits together.

The one thing that seemed a little out of place was the footage of you shitting in the church. What happened there?
I was on holiday on my own in Devon. I was wandering around and started to think, as always, "What the fuck am I doing?" I was really fucking miserable, just walking around the countryside. I found a church, had a look round it, and needed a shit. So I did, and I filmed it. Wow. Taken out of context, it seems… actually, even in context that's pretty bad, isn't it? I don't know where it comes from, but my instinct was to get my camera and film myself doing it, as opposed to just doing it.

I don't know when the work happens, or stops, or starts. Like the dead pigeon on the street outside my house—I didn't know that was going to be there. But it was there, so I got my camera and filmed it. That's my art, I think, taking everyday stuff and pushing it or adding an absurdist twist to it.

So your show's very organic in some ways, just footage of you living your life.
Yeah, and maybe it gives me a reason to do things if I document it, rather than just a lone man doing these weird acts. When I document it and show it to people it maybe adds a bit of worth to it? Filming stuff changes me. I'm quite a quiet person; I'm not very outgoing and most situations scare me. But with a camera I feel more empowered.

I once filmed a shot by the sea. It was the middle of winter. I took all my clothes off, waded into the water and swam as far as I could. It was fucking cold, but I didn't feel it because all I kept thinking about was whether I was still in shot or not. It's the same as when I was filming somebody that was self-harming for a project and I thought it was going to be very difficult. But because I was filming it, my head was in a slightly different space, and I was a bit removed from the act.

What do you want people to take away from the show?
It changes every night. Some nights the audience are really vocal and engaged; other nights they're quiet. Sometimes there might be a feeling of awkwardness and even hatred towards me. I intended for there to be an element of juxtaposition—some parts I hope are quite funny, some are sad, tragic, some are ludicrous. I think that's what a theatrical experience should be.

I laughed throughout, but I left feeling quite sad and contemplative.
But that's just life, isn't it? Life is pretty crap and you have to laugh at it. Life isn't just one emotion. I condensed my emotions into an hour. Oh God, that sounds a bit wanky, doesn't it?

Do you still speak to those who you've built relationships with online, the ones you catfish who believe you're a woman?
Yes, I still speak to a lot of them. I find it strange that I still speak to them, actually. When I get home, I'll go and speak to Trevor on Facebook. On a deep level, maybe it's a want for a connection and linked to my loneliness. On a frivolous level, they only want sex and they think I'm a woman. It's funny.

What motivates you to do all this?
There's a crap need for attention, I guess. It's quite nice. There's a need to share it, to justify my existence, maybe? We all need something to do in life, right? The show at the minute gives my life purpose and meaning.

You're Not Alone is on untilMarch 7 at Soho Theatre in London.

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