Come with us now on a journey through time and space... to the world of the Mighty Boosh.
The Mighty Boosh is a zany British comedy series about two friends, Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) and Vince Noir (Noel Fielding), who have bizarre adventures together. Howard is a humorless braggart with a love for jazz and a penchant for getting into trouble, and Vince — the "King of the Mods", the "Mayor of Camden", and the face of Cheekbone magazine — ends up saving Howard Once an Episode, which tends to involve him talking to animals and wearing silly outfits. They eventually have to fight a Monster of the Week (usually in song) while meeting a range of strange characters, many of whom are also played by Barratt and Fielding.The two live together with the Deadpan Snarker stoner shaman Naboo (played by Michael Fielding, Noel's brother, whose hair the show was incidentally named for) and Bollo, Naboo's gorilla familiar. Most episodes focus on Howard and Vince leaving the zoo (first series), their flat (second series), or their second-hand goods shop (third series), for a number of distant locations (including the Arctic tundra, Monkey Hell, and the planet Xooberon).The humor of the show is based on a combination of non sequiturs, pop culture references, psychedelic visuals, and musical interludes, along with the clearly low budget — but nonetheless very creative — settings and costumes. The humor ranges from the silly to the surreal, but always stays happy and sweet: very much like a children's show, only with balls jokes.Also part of the show's appeal is the home-made feel it has. Fielding designs many of the visual elements (including the artwork featured in the animation) while Barratt composes all of the music (and plays a mean guitar), and many of the extras are Barratt's and Fielding's friends and family.The Mighty Boosh was originally a stage act, and then a radio series, before it became a TV show. It then returned to the stage between series one and two, and another live tour took place between 2008 and 2009.If you've ever wondered what would happen if the characters of Bob Fossil and Dixon Bainbridge got their own show, see Snuff Box.Now has its own Ho Yay page.This show provides examples of:
Attractive Bent Gender: Vince proudly claims this status. While he doesn't usually dress like a woman, he's frequently mistaken for one. Sometimes he's considered attractive, while other times he's called Howard's ugly wife.
Vince Noir: I'm the great confuser! 'Is it a man? Is it a woman? Oh, I don't think I mind...'
Ambiguously Gay: before Vince was outed as a Bisexual, he certainly seemed very.... camp for a straight man. He was never shown to be seriously interested in women, was ludicrously flamboyant and fashion orientated, was once caught licking a picture of his favourite male actor, and seemed to have a suspiciously good idea of what made one gay:
Vince Noir: You can't just go gay. It's not like buying a ladder.
Berserk Button: Don't criticize Howard's work. Also, if you are in the presence of one of Vince's stalkers and attempt to harm him, you will die. Always.
Biting The Hand Humor: A scene from "The Chokes" pokes fun at BBC Three's sister, BBC Four, basically saying it's all documentaries which are boring and intellectualist. And they actually got to use the real BBC Four symbol.
Bi the Way: Vince's bisexuality has never really affected his actions at all
Cloud Cuckoolander: Many characters would qualify, but none as much as the Moon.
"Some people go awwww, look at the moon up there with his milky white face... he's all gentle. And others go UGH, he's a vanilla rapist, get 'im away from my kids."
Cloud Cuckoo Land: The place Howard and Vince live in is supposed to be London, but instead of British currency they use euros, all people everywhere go on bizarre rants without police interference, animals attempt to get busy with humans and no one finds it odd, time travel is as simple as hailing a taxi, and strange, immortal green witches inhabit the streets.
It would seem this extends to the rest of the solar system, as the Moon is something of an Eldritch Abomination (apparently having driven a man who looked up to the Moon to "[Have] a shit on a salad.", is completely and utterly batshit insane, and often mentions other planets as living beings, with Jupiter showing up to eat a fake moon that inexplicably appeared from nowhere.
Continuity Nod: Inverted, in numerous moments in all three series, reference is made to the age difference between Howard and Vince; sometimes they are the same age, sometimes they are up to 10 years apart. These moments are invariably followed with a musical cue and pointed looks into the camera.
Crowd Song: Everybody join in! "Bouncy bouncy/Oh such a good time/Bouncy bouncy/Shoes all in a line..."
Bob Fossil attempts this and fails in the radio series with the "Nicey nicey zoo zoo" song, partly because no-one joins in, partly because, in his excitement, he hurls a small child into the lion enclosure.
Dead Person Conversation: Montgomery Flange in "The Chokes." Could also possible apply to Howard in "Bollo" when he calls Vince from Limbo, though he does quickly get better.
Death Is Cheap: The episode "Bollo" is almost entirely based around the death of the titular gorilla. He becomes a major character in Series 2, and even makes a brief cameo later on in series 1, wherein the fact that he died a few episodes ago is not mentioned. Also, Saboo and (presumably) Tony Harrison die in Series 2 only to return in Series 3. Not to mention the Hitcher, who was liquefied in Series 2 but returned in the next series perfectly intact.
Actually, Howard and Vince just believe the Hitcher melted, but he actually escaped. "I ain't melted, you onion, I'm over here. You'll never catch me, I'm off."
That was a Series 1 episode; in Series 2 he is liquefied when the gang flush the toilet whilst The Hitcher's taking a shower in the Fountain of Youth. He would appear to be dead by the episode's end.
Evil Twin: Played with - the 'Flighty Zeus', consisting of Lance Dior and Harold Boon, who copy Vince and Howard and essentially try to steal their lives.
They also have evil copies of Naboo and Bollo to round out their troupe.
Fake Band: The Black Tubes, Kraftwork Orange, Orange Work-Kraft.
Also Pete Neon, half-flamingo, half-pop star.
And The Ladder Coins from the radio series.
And Terminal Margaret.
The Bongo Brothers from "The Priest and the Beast".
Though many of the fake bands are composed of members of real bands.
Foreshadowing: Howard and Vince's conversations throughout Party set up the episode's little "birthday surprise" and its aftermath in several ways: Howard practically falls in love with a girl he'd only spoke to once and states that if he doesn't get with a woman soon, he's "going gay". Vince tries to explain that it's not that simple and that Howard is the least gay person he knows. Howard also says he doesn't fancy Vince, but Vince egotistically insists that all men do. Later, Howard is revealed to be a virgin who's never even kissed anyone. He declares that when he finally does "make that leap across the physical boundary, it'll be forever".
Fridge Brilliance: In The Hitcher's third appearance he appears to have lost his haggard skin and witch-like nose. At first it may appear to be laziness or forgetfulness on the wardrobe department's behalf. Then you remember that you last saw him being melted in the Fountain of Youth.
Dixon Bainbridge (i.e. Matt Berry) is also the voice of the volcano on the Volvic Revive advert.
The Head Shaman's wife, Methuselah the extreme sports calendar model, is Jill Tyrrell of Nighty Night on the BBC.
Historical In-Joke: In the episode where they get lost in the zoo, Howard's mentor sees Vince and shouts "A Mod! I am a Rocker, he is a Mod. We are mortal enemies!" This is a reference to the two eponymous subcultures which clashed in England during the early to mid 60's.
Ho Yay: between almost all of the characters at one point or another, most prolifically Howard and Vince
Improbable Hairstyle: well, Vince's hair is always improbable, but it's exceptionally so in "The Nightmare of Milky Joe"
Not to mention "Journey to the Centre of the Punk."
Inverted briefly in "The Power of the Crimp", when Vince temporarily has a... er... "probable" haircut, and it's an enormous shock to the system for everyone involved (the audience included).
Then there's a mullet on a 68-year-old sailor.
And a perm on the Ape of Death. Not that there's a specific hairstyle you'd expect the "Ape of Death" to have. But if there were, it probably wouldn't be a perm.
Luke, I Am Your Father: The Spirit of Jazz to Howard in "Journey to the Centre of the Punk". First he's his father, then his uncle, then his second cousin twice removed on his sister's side.
Magical Realism: though your mileage may vary, the Boosh could definitely qualify as magical realism, as it involves elements of magic that the characters generally take in stride and pay little mind to.
Modern Minstrelsy: White dudes in blackface and brownface (and playing very broad racial stereotypes).
Comedian Lenny Henry talked about this in the Boosh documentary. He said he was OK with it, because he found characters like Rudi too crazy to be offensive.
Moment Killer: Many, many times, but (usually) not in a romantic way; Howard and Vince are best friends, but since both are stubborn, they find it very hard to admit their affection for each other and it usually takes a near-death experience for them to say they need one another. Vince's distraught speech to Howard in the episode "The Power of the Crimp" seemed to shock them both. It was probably a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
The Munchausen: Howard makes unbelievable boasts all the time, but they're occasionally shown to be true, like his job offer from Walt Disney, or the sale of his soul to the Spirit of Jazz.
Nice Hat: Howlin' Jimmy Jefferson, a.k.a, the spirit of jazz, and no, the hat being on fire is not part of his look
"OW! Man, my hat's on fire! What's wrong with you, you blind?! Why didn't you tell me?!"
Also, Jonny Two-Hats, named thus because he wears...two hats. When his confidence is rattled, he wears about five.
Saboo's hat is really something else.
The Polynesian feathered headdress Howard gives Vince in The Power of the Crimp. Also, Vince's hair is "virtually a hat", apparently meaning by extension that "all hats suit [him]".
A mugger wants to borrow Dennis the Head Shaman's hat for his mate Ricky. Ricky's got one of those faces...
Ralph Wiggum: Bob Fossil, zoo manager doesn't know the names of any of the animals in the zoo, calling them such things as "grey leg-faced man" (elephant), and "black-and-white chinese person who eats sticks" (panda). Here's his description of a kangaroo:
"Oh. You know those guys, with the little hands? You know, with the big pockets? You know, with the little version of themselves in the front pocket?"
Rape as Comedy: Too many times to mention. Oh, alright, just one: "Pelt The Rabbit in His Big White Face".
I know what you're thinking. The name alone is genius.
It perhaps bears mentioning that Tony Harrison raped Lester Corncrake's still-living severed head after the events of The Party. Onscreen. While vividly describing his Lovecraftian extraterrestrial genitalia. It was an outrage.
Real-Life Relative: Noel Fielding (Vince) and Michael Fielding (Naboo) are brothers, and the cast often uses family and friends as extras.
Relation Ship Upgrade: Temporarily for Howard and Vince in Party. May have happened earlier off screen: Vince states that Howard throws women he's interested in into a wheelbarrow:
Howard: I was drunk
Vince: I know. So was I. I was in the wheelbarrow.
Running Gag: Howard's tiny eyes, Vince being mistaken for Howard's wife.
Anytime someone says "gather round" a person dressed up like an inanimate object gathers around as well.
Selective Obliviousness: done by Howard. His obstinate refusal to understand that Mrs Gideon has no idea he exists, his denying that he is a vain and shallow man (he thinks himself dark and artistic) and he refuses to accept that fact that people find him and his interest/anecdotes/jokes boring. See John Coltrane, the "Pencil Case" story, and everything else Howard enjoys. His way of wooing women? Trumpets and bookmarks.
Which apparently could've worked on Mrs Gideon... if it weren't for that meddling panda... and the fact that Howard had just punched her in the face.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: Sort of, Between Howard and Vince. More like Insult insult impromptu makeout session
Happened at least one on the radio show. In "Jungle", the swelling music behind Howard's dramatic scene cuts out when he stops the cassette tape he was playing it on. May have also happened twice with the mood music in "Mutants."
Show Within a Show: The Pieface Showcase features in the second series, while the Colobos the Crab appears in the radio variation.
Peacock Dreams could also be an example, though the show itself is only described rather than shown.
He peppers his conversations with a variety of Mockney phrases pretty much constantly.
Lampshaded by one of his minions who mutters "Apples and pears and other assorted fruits"
also Colin the Death Cab dispatcher, who mutters at one point, "I'm a Cockney, I'm a Cockney", after a (not-quite) stereotypical round of "How's your old woman?" with the cabbie who brought Howard to Limbo.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Howard and Vince, but considering they'd rather screw coconuts than each other, I'd say it's gonna remain unresolved.
The Look Howard gives Vince at 1:35 sort of says it all.
Unspoken Plan: subverted, in "The Fountain of Youth".
Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: both Howard and Vince — as endearing as they are, Howard's stuffiness and Vince's shallowness are significant.
Vinyl Shatters: On a dare, Vince bites into one of Howard's records and breaks it into pieces.
What Could Have Been: On the Doctor Who special of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Noel offered Bernard Cribbins a writing spot for the show after being impressed with Cribbins' awesome dry sense of humor. This has sadly not panned out.
Noel responded to this by saying the writing process actually takes a lot of thought and drugs would want to make you do anything other than writing, and that he and Julian allegedly tried to write on acid once and just ended up staring at a spider on the floor for six hours.
0 reviews