Having seen copies of the Mighty Boosh in HMV for months on end, and growing annoyed by not knowing what it was exactly, I decided to rent the Mighty Boosh series 1 about 3 months ago, and bought the series shortly afterwards, and now I will attempt to try and explain what the Boosh is.
-So, What is The Mighty Boosh?-
The Mighty Boosh is a British sit-com, created by the stand-up double act, Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. The Mighty Boosh is something of an experience. It's pretty much impossible to liken it to any other sitcom around. If anything, it's more like a children's light-hearted adventure cartoon mixed with off-beat, no-punchline humour and the odd song and dance routine.
The Mighty Boosh takes place on a magical planet, inside a Zoo called the Zooniverse. The two main characters, a wannabe pop star with brilliant hair, Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) and a refined and self important jazz fan, Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) work as zoo keepers. Their duties at the Zoo often get ignored as the pair set out on unwitting adventures each episode, ranging from an expedition to the Arctic Tundra to a Trek through the jungle.
The characters are never aware of how strange their lives are, with no emphasis placed on characters' relationships with anyone outside the Zooniverse, or other mundane topics.
-Style of the Show-
The show has a fantastical and theatrical feel to it: none of the scenes are filmed on location, every setting, from the Zooniverse itself to the Jungle are very obviously sets built inside a studio. The characters' designs, created by Noel, are also theatrical, bright and colourful, such as the bright-green faced, hook nosed baddy "The Hitcher".
Julian and Noel each play several characters within the show, which adds to the surreal and silly feel of the Boosh.
Music is used a great deal within the show, written by Julian, with at least one song or rap performed by characters each episode, with no explanation offered as to why.
-Characters-
Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) is the younger of the duo, a South Londoner with a relaxed, happy go lucky outlook on life and fantastic hair. His ability to talk to animals and his sheer luck often wind up helping him save himself and Howard from whatever trouble they find themselves in.
Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) however, is overly self-satisfied without any good cause. He spends most of his time trying to seduce Mrs Gideon, a fellow zoo keeper who rarely remember his name, or trying to write. While Howard tries hard to impress people and reach his goals, Vince often steals his limelight without any effort.
Dixon Bainbridge (Matt Berry) owns the Zooniverse but appears to spend much of his time away from the Zoo, working on shady schemes.
He leaves the Zoo in the incapable hands of American Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher), who has trouble naming the animals, and makes up for it by dancing and talking loudly to the staff.
Naboo (Mike Fielding, Noel Fielding's little brother) is the Zoo's resident Shaman, a 5 foot South Londoner with a lisp, who helps Vince and Howard from time to time during their adventures, and spends the rest of his time listening to Fleetwood Mac and sharing a hookah with his friend who works at Dixons.
Bollo the ape is a wise old monkey with the gift of speech. He gets on well with Vince but finds Howard to be a fool.
- Episodes-
Episode 1 - Killer-roo
Bob Fossil reveals a perfect plan to draw in the crowds to the Zoo - a shady underground boxing match between Howard and "one of those guys with the version of themselves in the front pocket", otherwise known as a kangaroo. It's up to Vince and his supposed street-wise know-how to save Howard from certain disembowelment.
Episode 2 - Mutants
The Zooniverse is rapidly running out of animals, and Vince and Howard find out why: Dixon Bainbridge, owner of the Zoo is splicing animals together in order to make things a little more interesting, and he's keen on the idea of splicing Howard's head to the body of a snake.
Episode 3 - Bollo
It seems the end is approaching for old Bollo the ape, so Bob Fossil suggests that Howard dress up as an ape to insure that the woman who sponsors Bollo keeps on paying. Unluckily, this means that Howard is taken by the Grim Reaper to Monkey Hell, rather than Bollo.
Episode 4 - Tundra - Key Episode
To gain some overdue respect, Howard decides to set out on a mission to the Arctic Tundra to recover the legendary sapphire, the Egg of Mantumbi. The sailing is far from smooth as Howard wakes to find Vince disappeared, presumably eaten by a polar bear (actually, they're just playing badminton together) and mysterious figures in parkas approaching.
Episode 5 - Jungle
Ten years ago, Tommy Nooka, Howard's mentor at the Zooniverse "died" under suspicious circumstances inside the most dangerous part of the Zoo, the Jungle Room. When the Zoo begins to fall into disrepair, Howard decides its time to venture inside and find out the truth. Vince meanwhile has set his fashion sights upon becoming King of the Mods, which winds up coming in handy.
Though Howard dreams of becoming an author and winning over Mrs Gideon with his success, Vince ends up getting a publishing deal with his crayon comic book series on a bubblegum monster called Charlie, who he insists is real. Naboo helps Howard work through his jealousy toward Vince with a calming photo of two kittens in a barrel.
Episode 7 - Electro
Vince finds himself in a band at 10am, and without a guitarist (who programmed the drums, wrote the bass synth parts and updated the website) by lunch. It's up to him find a replacement by evening or the bassist and drummer with "knife him up". Meanwhile, Howard tries to tell him the story of why he cannot play music without the Spirit of Jazz taking over his body and making him do embarrassing things.
Episode 8 - Hitcher - Key Episode
Whilst transporting a dangerous bear to a Zoo for Animal Offenders, Howard and Vince become lost in the Forest of Death, which, luckily for Vince happens to be his childhood home, where he was raised by Brian Ferry (Julian Barratt). Unluckily for Howard, the Forest contains an evil green witch-man, The Hitcher (Noel Fielding), who he picks up at the side of the road. After being told a terrifying story by the mysterious green cockney, The Hitcher proceeds to imprison him in a box, along with Vince. It's up to Naboo, Bob Fossil and Bryan Ferry to rescue them.
- Quotes -
*After work one night, Howard is trying to write his novel* Vince: Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard? Howard: This better be good. Vince: You know the black bits in bananas, are they tarantulas' eggs? Howard: Please don't speak to me ever again in your life.
*The pair are on a road trip* Vince: You hungry? Howard: I am quite actually, what do you have? Vince: I've got it all in here: ultra-violets, flying saucers, strawberry bootlace, c'mon, get involved. Howard: Have you got any food? Vince: Yeah, Saturn zingers Howard: No, real food Vince: Neptune fizz? Howard: Have you ever heard of rice? Vince: I've heard of Rice Crispies.
- DVD packaging-
The DVD comes in a simple but eye pleasing bright blue box with the colourful Boosh logo and a picture of Julian and Noel in costume. The discs are equally attractive, featuring more of Noel's distinctive artwork.
DVD extras
The Mighty Boosh Series 1 is a 2 disc set, with episodes 1-6 on the first disc, and episodes 7-8 on the second, along with relatively amusing documentaries on the making of Series 1 and the history of the Mighty Boosh, an unnecessary section of photos and music from the series, some funny outtakes and episode commentary.
- Overall Opinion -
It is incredibly hard to explain just how and why the Mighty Boosh is good. On paper, it doesn't look like it should be funny, and I imagine that many will keep from watching it for that reason.
However, the BBC's website for the series, http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/mightyboosh/series1/, features several snippets with which you can whet your appetite.
Many argue that The Mighty Boosh is experimental, but I disagree. The series is silly, childish fun and serves as a great antidote to the standard modern sitcom with its refreshing adventures for plots, as well as being very funny thanks to the manic line delivery of Rich Fulcher (Bob Fossil) and the fluid, humorous straight-faced banter of Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt.
The comedy will certainly not appeal to everyone, particularly those who like their comedies dark and grounded in reality, but also those who are searching for big belly laughs will be disappointed. The Mighty Boosh wisely does not have a laugh track, because different people will find different aspects and characters funny, and overall, it is the kind of subtle comedy that is more likely to make you snigger and leave you with a grin on your face for hours after.
The DVD is rated 15 for the language used in the episode commentary, but 12 for the feature, though I suspect some of the humour will miss 12-15 year olds. Anyone young-at-heart is bound to enjoy the Boosh, but it will particularly appeal to teenagers and students for its silliness.
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