Writers: Julian Barratt & Noel Fielding
Director: Paul KingCast: Julian Barratt (Howard Moon/Head Of The Shaman Board), Noel Fielding (Vince Noir/Tony Harrison/The Hitcher/The Moon), Richard Ayoade (Saboo), Rich Fulcher (Elanor), Anthony Rossomando (Pete Neon), Dave Brown (Bollo) & Michael Fielding (Naboo)
Howard and Vince are now running a shop and Howard needs to find protection money to keep cockney villain The Hitcher happy...I always dread the third year of a homegrown comedy series. If the first season was a success, the second year either continues that quality, or exceeds expectations because of increased confidence. But then, a third season looms, and the demand to maintain a high quality either causes everything to collapse under the strain, or prompts a misguided attempt to revamp the show. This fear is why The Office closed for business just when it broke into the mainstream.
Of course, there are lots of exceptions to this loose "third year rule" in British comedy, but it does hold particularly true for sitcoms with a more unique approach to humour -- who can forget The League Of Gentlemen's brave, but foolhardy decision to fix what wasn't broken for their disappointing third year?
The Mighty Boosh is similarly poised to fail, following a popular 2001 radio series, two hit seasons on TV since 2004, and a handful of stage shows since 1998. However, judged purely on quantity of output, there seems to be plenty of mileage in the Boosh's comic style, so perhaps its creators know how to avoid things like "third-year banana skins"...
Boosh masterminds Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding have once again chosen to lightly "revamp" their show by moving their characters to a different location. Series 1 was set in a zoo, series 2 a more conventional house, and now series 3 whisks us to the Nabootique second-hand shop...
Eels finds Howard (Barratt) and Vince (Fielding) running the shop for diminutive shaman Naboo (Michael Fielding), who leaves in the opening moments with his gorilla Bollo (Dave Brown) to attend a stag night for the Head Of The Shaman Board (Barratt) -- via a magic carpet carrying a crazy characters that include a pink tentacled head called Tony Harrison (Fielding). But, wait -- it gets even crazier...
Back at the shop, Vince begins to make a fortune using his "Indie Celebrity Radar", which can tell customers the whereabouts of certain tagged celebs, while Howard toils away trying to sell an unpopular elbow patch collection. Later, with Vince frittering away his profits elsewhere, popular Boosh villain The Hitcher (a cross between The Wizard Of Oz's Wicked Witch and Oliver's Fagin) arrives on the scene, and demands protection money from Howard -- or face the wrath of Elsie Queen of Eels...
If you're new to The Mighty Boosh, you're probably now wrinkling your nose and wondering if you're reading things properly. But don't worry; craziness is the name of the game with Barratt and Fielding's comedy brand. The show is joyously in love with its bonkers style and oddball characters, although at heart it's just the classic odd couple set-up -- with hip, stylish, bohemian Vince constantly at loggerheads with awkward, cynical, insecure Howard.
The opening episode was confident and immediately got down to business, by swiftly establishing the new setting and ensuring there were genuinely funny ideas mixed in with the more obvious mad visuals. Unfortunately, a reliance on past glories (particularly the return of The Hitcher), and a wasted shaman stag-night subplot, dragged everything down from being particularly fresh and exciting. It was consistently amusing and there was a cohesion to most of the plot-points (however loose), but it never quite flew into inspired realms.
For me, The Mighty Boosh works best when its flights of fancy have the back-up of an interesting story that's focused on the main characters -- so perhaps that's why Eels click entirely for me. Actually, for a big chunk of the episode, Vince and Howard were separated and the thrust of the story became a little weak as a result. That said, The Mighty Boosh refuses to be predictable, which always helps keep your attention, and the production values of the series constantly impress...
Indeed, along with the aforementioned League Of Gentlemen, The Mighty Boosh have managed to concoct an entire comedy universe to play around in. The sets are wonderful, and the mix of special effects and lighting really brings a sense of "unreality" to proceedings. Visually, I always enjoy seeing Barratt and Fieldings' imaginations brought to life on-screen, and there's a vibrancy about the production in general, courtesy of director Paul King.
Overall, Eels was a confident start to season 3, although future episodes will hopefully branch out into new territory without feeling the need to drag back old favourites (save that for the live shows, guys.) So if you like your comedy unpretentious, imaginative and incredibly zany, you'll love The Mighty Boosh and should check out their past work as an appetizer for this new run of episodes.
But of course, if you're already obsessed with all things Boosh, you'll need no encouragement: the craziest sitcom around is back.
15 November 2007
BBC Three, 10.30 pm
