The Mighty Boosh are Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, and this series is their first foray into television. Previously Perrier Award winners for their Mighty Boosh stage show, these veterans of the Edinburgh Festival have practised their moves on the BBC Radio 4 crowd before being unleashed on BBC Three.
The show focuses on two zoo keepers: Howard Moon (Barratt) - a slightly unsure, self-deluded (supposedly) intelligent individual, Britain's leading Cream Poet and jazz multi-instrumentalist; and Vince Noir (Fielding) who, despite his stupidity and confusing face, seems to survive adventures and peril without ruining his hair do. He is king of the mods, mates with Gary Newman, was brought up by Brian Ferry (or possibly Terry Wogan), is obsessed with Mick Jagger and can talk to the animals (he's like Mowgli - the Retro version).
Howard and Vince work in the Zooniverse - a dilapidated zoo with a decreasing animal population and a brash, yet damaged manager, Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher). Each episode sees them off on a different adventure, whether to the Arctic Tundra or to Monkey Hell (and back).
The series works on many levels, is wonderfully postmodern with characters talking directly to camera, silly songs and dances and completely bizarre situations. Unlike some of the more recent comedy offerings, this seems rather innocent in comparison, with no boundaries being broken, and no taboos being stomped on, having said that, it is an acquired taste. Its one of those programmes that you will either love, and become obsessed with (or is that just me?) or loathe. Endlessly quotable, you will notice new details each time you watch, (keep your eyes on the background,) and become more and more impatient for the second series to be released on DVD!
As for the DVD, menus are nicely animated, easy to use and stylistically in keeping with the show. The main downside is the lack of commentaries, with only 4 out of the 8 shows with commentary. As with all the good comedy commentaries though, they are amusing and informative, even when they do get a bit off-topic. The two featurettes are a big lengthy, yet informative throughout, and I found that I enjoyed the show in a different way the next time I watched it, having seen behind the scenes and the history of the comedy duo. The out-takes are average, but the photo gallery is amusing. At first, the option to view the music tracks as separate entities seemed like a space-filler to me, but having watched them, its a nice way to get a Boosh-dose if you've only a couple of minutes to spare!
If you like the recent offerings from BBC Three, or you think that you can cope with a touch of coherent surrealism, give this DVD a go, you can always dance along to the songs if you don't like anything else!
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Come with us now on a journey through time and space... to the world of The Mighty ... more
Boosh... Written by and starring Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt The Mighty Boosh is an off-the-wall adventure based on their Perrier Award-winning comedy show. Howa...
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Come with us now on a journey through time and space to the world of the Mighty Boosh. ... more
Visit Bob Fossil's Zooniverse where you'll meet Howard Moon (Jazz Maverick), Vince Noir (King Of The Mods), Naboo (The Enigma) and Dixon Bainbridge (Man Of Action). ...
Advantages: Very funny, clever, surreal, quotable,some cool costumes, more true-to-life than other series. Disadvantages: Has a big indie fanbase, feels a little bit last-year.