Vince Noir's best friend, constantly attempting, in vain to make a better life for himself but always failing due to his High Opinion of himself and general insufferability. He worked at the Zooniverse with Vince, Naboo, Bollo and Bob Fossil in series 1, then moved into an apartment in series 2 and later worked at Naboo's antique store in season 3.
Berserk Button: Howard is liable to fall into either a deep depression or a violent rage if you insult his work
Butt Monkey: Howard just can't catch a break, in anything; even music, which he does have a genuine talent for, often doesn't work out for him, even though a lot of thisis his own making.
Small Name, Big Ego: At any given moment, Howard might call himself an artistic visionary, a nature photographer, a genius salesman, an inventor, or an undiscovered acting talent with "willowy" legs and an impressive mustache. He's usually proven wrong.
Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist. On the outside, Howard is a complete Jerkass; however it's sometimes hinted that Howard acts the way he does because he's socially inept, not a bad person
Vague Age: Continuity is totally ignored in the series, so Howard's true age is never revealed. Howard once stated he was 32, Ten years older than Vince, yet he's also claimed to be 50 years old, and in other episodes he despairs at the fact that he looks like an old man, even though he's the same age- sometimes it's implied that he's known Vince since they were babies, other times it's hinted that he took Vince out of school to be his apprentice at the Zooniverse
Vince is Howard's vain, shallow, flighty and impossibly attractive best friend. Exceptionally Low on IQ, but makes up for it by possessing the social skills and large eyes that Howard so conspicuously lacks.
Closet Key: Arguable; Howard claims this about him because Vince was the first person to kiss him, although he seems to change his mind when he sees the pencil case girl again.
Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Whenever Vince does something sweet for Howard, such as in the episode 'The Power of The Crimp' when he hysterically declares himself unable to live without him
Hooked Up Afterwards: His prolonged make out session with Howard came after the party was done. Didn't last very long.
Ho Yay: With Howard. So much so that the word subtext simply doesn't describe it
It's All About Me: Vince is rather selfish, and although he has the brain of a child, he has none of the innocence of one. Usually Howard is the only person he'll put himself in danger for.
YMMV. At least in the very first series; Vince is rather naive and innocent, at one point being in denial that his gorilla friend is dying, despite Howard's attempts to prepare him for the worst. Also in "The Strange Tale of the Crack Fox" Vince is simply too trusting and sympathetic to an evil fox and a tramp who was planning on raping him.
Popular Is Dumb: Vince is.. not very bright, and enjoys 'simple' tasks such as playing with toy cars; and expressly states at one point that he is confused by sentences that don't relate to fashion in some way
What Beautiful Eyes: Vince has very large, beautiful blue-grey eyes, which are frequently referred to
Naboo The Enigma (Mike Fielding)
A long suffering and cynical shaman who attempts to live a peaceful life with his best friend and familiar, Bollo the Ape, but finds his life constantly dirupted by his two colleagues and later roommates, Howard and Vince. Naboo is almost always high; he does not get along with the other Shamans, especially Saboo.Naboo is technically an alien, and posseses no genitals.
Tropes associated with Naboo:
Affably Evil: Naboo is a drug dealer, yet he's the only sane character and gains much of the audiences sympathy
Badass Bookworm: Tries to be this but.. most of the time it doesn't work
Based on a Great Big Lie: Naboo was only sent to earth by mistake. He doesn't seem to resent this.
Beta Couple: One half (the other being Bollo) of a platonic beta couple to Howard and Vince's UST filled, stormy relationship.
Naboo's Ax Crazy best friend and familiar; an ape who is strong physically but hugely dim otherwise. Bollo is very fond of Vince but hates Howard, frequently mocking him or forgetting his name.
Tropes associated with Bollo:
Ax Crazy: Do not annoy Bollo. He is implied to have killed numerous people, including children, his best friend and others. This is Played for Laughs.
Dumb Muscle: Bollo is an idiot. He behaves quite childishly at times, becoming attatched to objects like clocks.
Furry Denial: Bollo is treated the same way as every human on the show. This is, naturally lampshaded several times:
Saboo: (to Naboo) You live with a couple of dossbags and an ape!
(Bollo Growls)
Saboo: What? You are an ape!
Bollo: Oh.
Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher)
The extremly odd manager of The Zooniverse, originally a sort of Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain but after the Re Tool became a sort of strange ally to Vince, although he always hated Howard. Fossil ran a zoo but didn't know the names of any of the animals, and sometimes vented his frustration by throwing small children into cages. He had an enormous crush on Dixon Bainbridge and is shown to be almost kind without his presence.
And that's why you should never bring a cricket bat to Greece
And that's why I don't like Cricket!
What, go in your pick up truck and beat up midgets like last time?
Out of Focus: He was only seen once in the last season, running away after Bollo threatened to murder him
The Ditz: Fossil switches from being a Cloud Cuckoolander to a complete freak in a couple of minutes, become obsessed with Howard, Paper Cups and His 'Talk Box' (actually a tape recorder) in which he stores the names of his animals so as not to forget them. He calls the elephant 'The Grey Leg face man' for example.
Affably Evil: the Hitcher can be very charming, and even offers to protect, and seems to have a crush on Howard, but he's mostly doing it for the Lulz.
Pet the Dog: When The Hitcher caught Jack The Ripper (long story) stabbing up a woman, he killed him out of disgust because he 'doesn't hold for that sort of thing'.
Should be taken with a pinch of salt, as he is perfectly willing to do everything else to them.
Informed Flaw: Parodied and played for laughs. Everyone, especially Saboo, treats Kirk as a sort of sleeping monster, claiming he is 'a vehicular menance, mowing down everyone in his path,' or that he is a 'violent and sexually deranged being' whilst none of this is ever shown on screen, and to the audience Kirk simply seems like an adorable little boy.
