The Mighty Boosh

The Mighty Boosh (2004-2007) was an extremely bizarre comedy series borne from a longstanding partnership of semi-scripted, semi-improv comedy and music live performances by Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. Fielding plays Vince Noir, a cheerful, vain, glam-rock superstar (well, he wants to be) and Barratt plays the intense and pretentious Howard Moon. In the first season, the two of them are zookeepers, and in later seasons they run a magic shop. The framing setting doesn't really matter. Every episode they're drawn into twisted storybook worlds for their adventures. The opening for the show aptly invites you to "come with me now on a journey of imagination."

When I love this show, I really really love it, but it's extremely uneven, so it's easy to pick out the highlights. Actually, this was mostly "Key Episode"d for me. My brother originally found this show late, late at night on BBC America and later DVR'd all eight episodes of season 1 (which were all that existed at the time); of those, he showed me two, promising that these were more amazing than any television he'd ever seen, but that the others were kind of meh. I'm sticking with his judgments here.

Key Episodes

1.4 "Tundra": Howard and Vince adventure to the tundra to seek a priceless gem. Just an enjoyable episode with a lot of highlights (including Vince's glam snowsuit, his friendship with a polar bear, and Howard's dramatic tape-recorded monologues). A good example of what the show is all about.

1.7 "Electro": Vince starts a glam band. Howard refuses to play music because of a mystery in his past which is revealed when he is visited by the Spirit of Jazz. With its focus on music (an important part of the series), a top-notch opening monologue about "Lady Fame," and the demented dream-logic that holds it together, "Electro" is, to me, THE episode of Mighty Boosh.

3.5 "Party": I'm not as big of a fan of seasons 2 and 3 as I am of one (in part because only season 1 had the hilarious, casually riffing opening monologues that I could listen to all day), but this is one of my favorite episodes of all time, and I'll justify making it key by pointing out that it focuses on the central Vince and Howard relationship and the key elements of their characterizations. Howard feels jealous and hurt when Vince takes over Howard's birthday party as an opportunity to show off his new glam jumpsuit, and Howard realizes everyone is there to see Vince instead of him. Complete with awkward revelations, sexual tension, and over-the-top slash, it's like this episode was written for me.

Bonus Episodes

1.6 "Charlie": Howard and Vince write stories. Noel Fielding's casually incoherent way of storytelling is just delightful.

1.8 "Hitcher": Creepiness is a major element in The Mighty Boosh, even if it's not my favorite. This is one of the more nightmarish episodes in which Howard and Vince find themselves lost in a creepy wood and tormented by the evil Cockney monster "The Hitcher". It's important to know about this fan-favorite character, especially if you are going to watch the live show. The monologue is great on this episode--Howard gets pretentious about Acting, and Vince just tosses it off.

2.3 "Nanageddon": Howard and Vince pretend to be goth to get girls, accidentally unleashing a curse on the grandmas of the world. This one is good if only for the incidental characters, a group of shaman called into help control the damage; these include recurring character Naboo (played by Noel Fielding's diminutive brother Michael), exasperated leader Dennis (Julian Barratt), snarky Tony Harrison (a disembodied head played by Noel Fielding), and adventurer Saboo (the always delightful Richard Ayoade, best known as Moss from The I.T. Crowd).

2.5 "The Legend of Old Gregg": Another one of the creepier but mythos-important episodes, this one has Howard captured by a creepy merman who is always talking about his vagina. Not my kind of humor exactly, but another fan favorite.