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The Mighty Boosh follows in an illustrious line of British comics using absurdity, satire and wit to fuel the fires of laughter. Predecessors, some still alive and active, include Spike Milligan and The Goon Show, Peter Sellers, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Ricky Gervais and the idiot savants of Little Britain.
You may not have heard of The Mighty Boosh. Their new-to-North America DVDs may change that. Three two-disc sets were released recently by Warner Bros. Don’t hesitate: Get them all. They represent the first three seasons of The Mighty Boosh series on BBC television.
Each episode has a zinger-filled intro, each is set inside a dilapidated zoo, each trades on insane situations, and each kicks into musical mode when the boys want to sing and dance in a variety of styles, from psychedelic rock to mod pop. Watch at least three episodes — to get into the peculiar rhythm — and you will soon find yourself recommending these guys to friends.
The Boosh is made up of Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, who called Sun Media from their home base in London, England, to talk about their comedy.
“We’ve always had absurd stuff,” Fielding says of the tradition of British humour. “But I think it had gone a little bit out of fashion, which is why it took us so long to get on television.”
Like Sesame Street hurtled into a new surreal dimension, The Mighty Boosh can be enjoyed by children and adults because it is sophisticated and multi-layered. The Boosh, however, had a timing problem when they did their pilot in 2003 and then finally launched their series in 2004.
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“At the beginning, people didn’t really want it because it was all reality TV (on air),” Barratt says. Now their style is more commonly accepted, including in other shows such as Flight of the Conchords, he says.
Barratt, 41, and Fielding, 36, were both standup comics before they got together as the Boosh. Both played in Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival, getting an appreciation for Canadian humour. “You do have some really weird stuff there,” Fielding says in admiration. He cites The Trailer Park Boys as a good example.
Their own influences started with music before comedy, although Milligan, Monty Python and American stars such as Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby played into their sensibilities. “All of that went into a big sort of pot and we just started doing what we do: Surreal humour,” says Barratt.
They weave musical numbers in as part of the culture of the characters, Fielding says. “And we try to make the music good in its own right. Funny but not too jokey.” No matter the style, Fielding adds, “we don’t just take the piss out of it, we try to explore it, in a bit more affectionate way.”
Hair is another object of ridicule. Barratt has limp, stringy hair as zoo worker Howard Moon. Fielding has rock star helmet hair as his sidekick Vince Noir.
Barratt jokes that Fielding’s hairdo is a separate character. “We’re in a three-way relationship, really: Me, Noel and his hair. It’s a difficult thing to sustain over the years because of jealousies. Sometimes his hair is a bit unfaithful. Hair is like that!”
Meanwhile, don’t ask what Boosh means. “It’s really for us,” Fielding says. “The thing we like to do,” Barratt explains, “is to call it something that means something to us but no one else can possibily know. That amuses us every time we hear someone say it. So it’s a secret, really.”
bruce.kirkland@sunmedia.ca