For those of you who read my ramblings about television, you know how much I adore The Mighty Boosh, the British comedy series created by comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Last fall I wrote extensively about all three series of The Mighty Boosh receiving DVD releases. The BBC has now released a beautiful deluxe special edition DVD box set that collects those same three DVD releases (6 DVD’s total) along with a 7th DVD of all new bonus material.
I won’t go into details about the DVD’s with the three series on them because nothing has changed. Series 2 finds the Boosh at the top of their game. Still, watching all three series back to back, as you can with this collection, you get to watch a comedy team evolve from using skits they created on stage to coming up with newer and progressively more surreal material. The packaging of this collection is adorned with Fielding’s colorful artwork and it is housed in a lovely collector’s box.
The 7th disc is not some mere throwaway tacked on to help sell more DVD’s. Instead, the disc of new material has been creatively organized to take you on a journey inside the mind of Barratt and Fielding. Most notable of the special features is “A Journey Through Time and Space,” an interesting and loving account of how the two men came together to form their group. The documentary goes into depth on how Fielding and Barratt evolved their show from performing in clubs, to the radio, to television, and then to large theaters stages. Their story is like that of a rock band, rising to success. Indeed, in their homeland of England, the Boosh are treated like rock stars by their fans. What I found most enjoyable about this documentary is the true affection Fielding and Barratt have for each other, as well as the other members of their troupe, which include Rich Fulcher, Michael Fielding and Dave Brown. The five men, like a great band, seem like a real family both on stage and off. They come across as endearing people (albeit, crude and strange, but still nice) and this made me like The Mighty Boosh even more.
Other features on the bonus DVD are behind the scenes of a live night, footage from the Royal Television Society Awards, outtakes and deleted scenes from the pilot, pre-recorded live night links, a crimping collection and zoo-keeper sketches that Barratt and Fielding wrote and performed for the sketch comedy series, Unnatural Acts. If you have not checked out The Mighty Boosh, I would recommend renting one of the season collections before shelling out money for this wonderful box set. However, if you have been a longtime fan and are itching to have every episode to own, then this is the way to go.
Britain’s comedy circuit. They came together to form a comedy duo, calling themselves “The Mighty Boosh” (apparently after something a childhood friend said about Fielding’s brother’s hair back they were kids), performing bizarre, sometimes surreal sketches in clubs. In the Boosh universe, Barratt plays Howard Moon, a tall, dorky know-it-all who loves free form jazz and scat singing and is the brunt of most everyone else’s jokes. Despite his Tom Selleck mustache and affinity for gaudy floral shirts, Howard’s closet chum is Fielding’s Vince Noir, a hip character who has transformed from the king of the Mods to a glam rock god to a Goth over the course of the Boosh’s time on earth. While Howard and Vince are the main characters, both actors also portray several other characters in the course of the show. In addition, they have three supporting cast mates to pitch in as well: Rich Fulcher, Dave Brown and Michael Fielding, Noel’s brother.
Season 1 finds Howard and Vince as zookeepers in a run-down zoo where strange things happen. Among the cast of characters who carried over from the stage show to the series were Bob Fossil, played by the fearless Rich Fulcheris, who plays the manager of Zooniverse, an inept zoo where the guys work. There’s Naboo, a freelance Shaman and fortuneteller played by Michael Fielding; he’s a recreational drug user and his attitude toward most things is “whatever.” And there’s the talking ape, Bollo, played by show choreographer Dave Brown. Bollo and Vince have a close relationship. Another important character is Lord Dixon Bainbridge, owner of the zoo. He’s a world-traveling adventurer who seems to have some nefarious plots behind the scenes at the zoo. The hilarious Matt Berry, who should be familiar to those of you who know Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, plays Bainbridge.
member, appearing as various crazy characters in every episode) and we find Vince and Howard now living with Naboo and Bollo, who is now referred to as Naboo’s familiar spirit. With more limited resources and fewer episodes, The Mighty Boosh created a series of episodes that stand near the top of English comedy and is some of the most inspired, insane television you’ll see for a long time. Two episodes stand out — the first is “The Priest and the Beast.” Howard and Neil are struggling to find a new musical direction to get a record deal. For inspiration, Naboo tells them the story of the Bongo Brothers, a couple of Hispanic rock stars roaming the desert searching for the “new sound.” Barrett is nearly unrecognizable as the guitar slinging Rudi, under a big Afro wig, fake teeth and brown makeup, while Fielding is hilarious as the salacious bongo player Spider. The music legends wind up in a small village populated by gorgeous women. The village is being tormented by the dreaded Beta beast, a monster composed of old Betamax tapes. Upon defeating the villain (because you knew they would) Rudi and Spider discover that in order to find the new sound, all they had to do was look inside themselves. The final musical number is a psychedelic masterpiece.
season 3 (2007) and I’m not sure if that had an effect on the writing. Season 3 finds Howard and Vince working at Naboo’s second hand shop. This series of six episodes still has plenty of laughs, but the humor is more self referential and less consistent. Still, there are plenty of appearances by Fielding as the Moon, a strange, clueless take on the celestial being, and one episode features the first ever “crimp-off.” Nonetheless, The Mighty Boosh Season 3 is still much better than a lot of the crap that is sold to us as comedy. Moreover, just getting to watch Barrett and Fielding perform together is reason enough to check out these six episodes. The camaraderie and friendship these two men have comes through in their performances and the various facets of the show. The Mighty Boosh may be crude and gross, but beneath it all is a big old heart. This is not a cynical show.
The IT Crowd: The Complete First Season (2009, MPI Home Video)