"Hip, sexy and magical" says The Times. "Morecomb and Wise reinvented by Lewis Carroll" says The Independent. These two reviews can only be describing the fantastic Mighty Boosh, written by and starring Julien Barratt and Noel Fielding. It's one of the funniest, most bizarre and original comedies on TV at the moment, and I love it! I could talk about it for days but I'll try and keep this review (fairly) concise.

Basically, for those who don't know, The Mighty Boosh is a kind of surreal sit-com, which revolves around the adventures of two zookeepers: Vince Noir, King of the Mods (Fielding, the one with the long hair) and Howard Moon, Jazz Maverick (Barratt, who you may recognise from Nathan Barley). The "Zooniverse" at which they work is not your regular zoo, as it is home to a Shaman called Naboo (played by Noel's brother, Michael) and a semi-talking gorilla called Bollo; and run by the downright bonkers Bob Fossil (played by Rich Fulcher). Each of the eight episodes of this first series contains a different wacky adventure that they find themselves on, and to add to all this madness, each episode also has a musical interlude! So come with us now on a journey through time and space, to the world of the Mighty Boosh…(if you're wondering, apparently it's named after Noel Fielding's hairstyle!)

The first episode on this two disc DVD is KILLEROO, which at first I didn't really like, but has some hilarious moments. Howard Moon is blackmailed into having a boxing match with a Kangaroo (unless he wants naked pictures of his deformed body spread around the zoo), and so it is up to Vince to train him up. The thing that I find funniest about The Mighty Boosh is the banter between the two characters. They're just such funny and completely opposite characters, and Julien Barratt and Noel Fielding are such a great comic double act that even the tiniest little thing can leave you in stitches.

Episode 2 is MUTANTS, and it involves a sinister operation by Bob Fossil and the owner of the zoo, Dixon Bainbridge, to take all the animals in the zoo, mix them together to form weird mutant creatures, and sell them for loads of money. You may be thinking that the stories don't sound that funny, and they are sometimes quite dark and bizarre (the pictures on the back cover are pretty scary). But trust me, you can't watch an episode of The Mighty Boosh without laughing at least once. (Unless perhaps the second series, which was a little disappointing to say the least.)

Episode 3, BOLLO, is about Howard's trip to monkey hell, after he poses as the gorilla, accidentally dies and is taken away by the grim reaper. It's up to Vince to rescue him, if he can find his way out of the land of mirrors and away from Mr Susan, a man with glitter ball balls who is made up of bits of cloth. Not the greatest episode, and the musical part is just annoying, but still quite funny. It also features a great introduction about Vince's hair (each episode has a funny little introduction by the duo).

Episode 4, TUNDRA, is one of my favourites, as it contains the immortal line "Howard Moon: explorer" "Colon explorer?". Oh well, you have to hear it. Anyway, Howard and Vince go off to the icy tundra in search of the Egg of Mantumbi, and along the way find the frozen last words of Biggy Shackleton, the evil Black Frost, and Vince makes friends with a polar bear. This has the legendary "human coke can" outfit (Vince does tend to dress up in some hilarious costumes) and one of the best musical bits of the series. I'm not sure if the music is such a great idea to be honest, as most of it isn't funny and just makes me cringe. I suppose it's something unique.

Episode 5 is another great one: JUNGLE. To prevent the Zooniverse being closed down and a road being built over it, they go into the "jungle enclosure" in search of Howard's hero, Tommy Nooka, who has since turned into a piece of cheese, because he's the one man who can save the zoo. Whilst lost in the jungle they have to escape the clutches of wolves, although these wolves are different: they're mod wolves, cue some funny dancing and Vince in some mod-style suits.

Episode 6 is CHARLIE and it's all about Howard's attempt to write a book in order to impress Mrs Gideon (the woman he fancies at the zoo) and Simon McFarnaby (with a head like a conker), who is looking for a novel to publish. However, rather than finding his fame and fortune, it is Vince whose books get all the praise, with his "scribblings of a retard" about a guy called Charlie who is made up of chewing gum. I think this episode is my favourite, as it has some of the best dialogue, a completely bizarre and hilarious animated section and the pair dancing around in ponchos and Mexican hats. These first six episodes are all on the first disc.

The second disc comprises of the last two episodes and all the bonus material, which I will come onto later. Episode 7 is ELECTRO, and Vince joins an electro-punk band, much to the dismay of Howard, who thinks he should show more loyalty to the zoo. Howard is also haunted by the spirit of jazz (Noel Fielding in some scary black and white make-up), who invades his body whenever he plays an instrument. This episode isn't one of the best, but practically every episode has some genuinely funny moments.

The last episode of Series 1 is HITCHER, and is a fitting way to finish. They get trapped in the ambiguously-titled Forest of Death whilst taking a sick animal to the doctor, and come across a crazy hitcher with a giant thumb (comes in handy, you see), green skin, a black hat with polo mints on it and a big polo on his eye. As if this isn't bad enough, they can't decide whether to listen to jazz-funk of the entire Gary Newman back catalogue in the car, and they get trapped in a box. Just like the show as a whole, it's very strange, but very funny.

So there we have a little flavour of all the episodes and what I like about the Boosh. After watching all of these over and over I decided to take a look at the extras on disc 2. We have two special documentaries called INSIDE THE ZOONIVERSE and HISTORY OF THE BOOSH, plus a montage of the all BOOSH MUSIC, some OUT-TAKES and a PICTURE GALLERY. To be honest, these extras were disappointing. The documentaries are the sort of thing you could only watch once or twice before getting bored, the boosh music is only good if you're a particular fan of the musical bits (which on the whole aren't that special anyway), the out-takes are the usual clips of people forgetting lines and laughing uncontrollably in the middle of the scene, and the picture gallery contains pictures that you've either seen before or aren't that interesting.

The only extras I really like are the COMMENTARIES, which are available on half of the episodes (Bollo, Tundra, Electro and Hitcher). These are really quite funny, as they're just the two main guys plus Rich Fulcher messing about and saying random stuff (Rich Fulcher is seriously crazy). They also give you some bits of interesting information in between the laughter.

So there we have it, The Mighty Boosh. I suppose it's a bit of an acquired taste, but I really can't recommend it enough. If you're looking for an alternative to the mainstream success of Little Britain; something which is a bit studenty, kind of indie, and really surreal, then you won't find anything better than the Mighty Boosh. Despite the lack of decent extras, the fantastic first series more than makes up for it, and I would definitely recommend it!

The Mighty Boosh Series 1 two disc DVD is available online for the fantastic price of £11.99 from www.dvd.co.uk.

It stars:
Noel Fielding (Vince Noir)
Julien Barratt (Howard Moon)
Rich Fulcher (Bob Fossil)
Michael Fielding (Naboo)
Matt Berry (Dixon Bainbridge)
Victoria Wicks (Mrs Gideon)

It's rated 15 due to strong language on the extras (main feature is a 12)

Oh and they're about to start a UK tour, but you'll have to be quick because they're selling out fast. More details about the show are available on www.themightyboosh.co.uk.