"Isolation"
In "The Nightmare of Milky Joe", Howard and Vince are off on a ship to America for the Pie Faced Records showcase competition. Due to some very convoluted circumstances, the pair ends up stranded and starving on a deserted island.
After an argument, Vince and Howard divide up the island, and Howard creates a new friend in the form of Milky Joe, a puppet made from a coconut who enjoys talking about poetry, philosophy, and other highbrow topics. Vince retaliates by creating a series of lady puppets that he goes on dates with. Howard gets jealous and eventually mends his relationship with Vince, convincing Vince to set him up with one of the "girls", Precious Lilywhite.
After the passage of time, it's revealed that Howard's long-term relationship with Precious has become abusive, and she's keeping him away from what is now a very complex coconut-based society. After Vince encourages Howard to stand up to her, Howard shoves her and accidentally kills her. Vince and Howard try to hide the evidence, but are captured, tried, and convicted of murder. Just as they are being stoned to death by the villagers, a kindly ship's captain finds them unconscious on the beach. He reveals that the two of them were hallucinating due to eating rancid coconuts, and takes them back home.
The Mighty Boosh episode "The Nightmare of Milky Joe" contains these tropes:
- Accidental Murder: During a dispute in which Howard finally stands up to Precious Lilywhite, he shoves her and she falls over, smashing her head against the ground. Howard and Vince both treat this like a murder they need to cover up.
- A Lady on Each Arm: Vince makes Howard jealous by walking around with his arms around two (coconut, puppet) women at once. Apparently his girl is kinky like that. Howard manages to talk Vince into setting him up with one of the girls, Precious Lilywhite. Throughout the episode, Vince ends up getting a number of (coconut, puppet) girls, while Howard ends up trapped in an unhappy marriage.
- All Just a Dream: Just as Vince and Howard are about to die from their public stoning by the coconut puppets, they are woken by a rescuer who found them asleep on the beach. It turns out that everything involving Milky Joe was just a dream induced by rancid coconuts.
- Bamboo Technology: Howard and Vince make everything out of coconuts and bamboo. This starts off with realistic things like puppets and huts, but eventually progresses to video cameras and cars. Though the cars seem to be operated Flintstones-style, with Howard and Vince simply running inside them.
- The Bore: Milky Joe turns out to be one, as he's only interested in talking about philosophy and lecturing Howard. While Howard bragged about their friendship at first, he quickly gets tired of hanging out with Milky Joe because he's too boring.
- Companion Cube: In order to make Vince jealous, Howard starts talking to a puppet he made out of a coconut shell named Milky Joe, who never talks back or does anything without control. Vince gets back at him, and over the course of the episode they've created a whole society of coconut puppets and lurch into more and more complicated plots with them, all without the puppets speaking or doing anything on their own (until the very end).
- Disposing of a Body: Howard and Vince sneak Precious Lilywhite's body into the jungle in an attempt to hide it, but they are captured by papparazi and made to stand trial for her death.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Zig-zagged. The reveal that Howard is being abused by his wife Precious is treated very seriously and realistically. Howard's personality changes, and it's obvious that she's controlling him and keeping him from his friends in addition to beating him. Vince is seriously concerned by this and tries to help, and it's all played for drama. But the whole scene is also one big joke, as Precious is a puppet made of a coconut that shouldn't be able to do anything to Howard without him willing it.
- "Far Side" Island: A live-action version. Vince and Howard get marooned on a hump-shaped island with only a few palm trees. The actual size varies from scene to scene, but from wide shots the island can't be more than the size of a house.
- French Jerk: Milky Joe is a boring academic who is snobby and standoffish towards Vince and judgemental towards Howard. His Frenchness is hinted at early on with his love of Sartre and a head piece that looks a bit like a beret, and when he speaks at Howard and Vince's trial he has a French accent.
- Genre Shift: Over the course the episode things shift from a story about wilderness survival, to a romantic drama, to a crime and punishment story.
- Homoerotic Subtext: Howard goes on a deranged tangent about how it's only fair that he eat Vince to survive. Vince thinks he's coming on to him.
- Informed Attribute: Everything we know about all the puppet characters' personalities and interests comes from Vince and Howard talking about it second hand, since the puppets never talk (until the very end).
- Meat-O-Vision: Subverted. Howard and Vince are starving, and Howard sees Vince's face turn into breakfast. But then it turns out Vince is standing next to a body double who has bacon and eggs as part of his actual face. The food-faced man runs away and is never seen again.
- No Antagonist: Unlike most episodes, there's no Monster of the Week to be defeated or villain with evil plans.
- Or Was It a Dream?: Once Vince and Howard are safely back at home and satisfied that everything involving Milky Joe was just a nightmare, they see a band on TV fronted by Milky Joe performing a song that Howard wrote and sang on the island, and are both horrified.
- Robinsonade: The episode is about Vince and Howard coping with being marooned on a Deserted Island, trying to survive the harsh conditions, and eventually forging a society based on coconuts.
- Surprise Witness: During Vince and Howard's murder trial, Howard brings in a witness who he thinks will change everything and acquit them — Milky Joe. To their surprise, his testimony is incredibly damning and they are promptly convicted.
- Symbolic Blood: When Howard pushes over Precious (whose head is just a coconut), her head cracks and white coconut milk trickles out, standing in for blood to indicate that she's dead.Vince: What's that on your hands? Is that coconut milk?
- Take Our Word for It: Vince and Howard have a whole complicated adventure involving Vince secretly giving the ship's captain a mullet and the two of them being forced to walk the plank, which is not shown at all and only recapped through dialog.
- This Is My Side: After a dispute, Vince and Howard draw a line in the sand and divide up the island. Vince claims all the good side with trees and food, while Howard just gets bare beach.
- A Threesome Is Hot: Vince is pretty excited for a "coconut threeway" between Ruby and various other female coconuts. Ruby is a bit of a swinger and encourages such encounters. Vince's abundance of riches as far as sex goes contrasts first with Howard's loneliness and then with his abusive, controlling wife.
- Unconventional Vehicle Chase: After Vince and Howard are caught burying the body, they are pursued by the police in a car chase. Except that the cars are nothing more than the outline of a car made from bamboo, and powered by foot.
- Yawn and Reach: On Vince's date with Precious, he yawns and nervously puts his arm around her puppet body, then looks satisfied with himself. In the next scene, they're in a relationship.
