Writers: Julian Barrett & Noel Fielding
Director: Paul KingCast: Julian Barrett (Howard Moon/Jurgen Haabemaaster), Noel Fielding (Vince Noir/Montgomery Flange), Michael Fielding (Naboo), Dave Brown (Bollo) & Rich Fulcher (Bob Fossil)
Howard takes acting lessons so he can perform with Vince at the Velvet Onion, just to impress a Danish filmmaking legend in the audience...The disappointing third series of The Mighty Boosh drags to its conclusion with The Chokes, another slapdash adventure that doesn't go anywhere particularly interesting or inventive. Indeed, the whole series has been frustratingly tied to the Nabootique and local surroundings, making you yearn for the days when the Boosh boys would genuinely take you on unpredictable adventures. This year? It's all been a bit flat.
Vince (Noel Fielding) hopes to join hip band The Black Tubes, but first has to prove he can get into some drainpipe trousers. The band are due to play at The Velvet Onion club, which prompts Howard (Julian Barratt) to consider performing as an actor, despite having a debilitating case of stage fright (known as "the chokes"). The majority of the episode is based around Howard trying to beat his phobia with the help of acting coach Montgomery Flange (Fielding again), to impress Danish director Jurgen Haabemaaster, who will be in the audience.
The best thing about this episode is the pitch-perfect parody of experimental cinema, in a little piece by Haabemaaster called "The Doctor And The Pencil" from 1972. Montgomery Flange is also quite engaging, if only because he's not quite as ridiculously unbelievable as stereotypical Boosh characters. The scene when Howard is being taught in Flange's "acting dojo" is nicely done and pretty funny.
But, everywhere else, The Chokes is just messy. There's some nonsense about rival actor Sammy The Crab (an actual crustacean) that doesn't seem to really fit in, while Vince's subplot about joining the band is pretty much abandoned until the final few minutes. The Boosh are often guilty of overloading episodes with too much nuttiness, to distract you from the lack of an actual story, but The Chokes is particularly dumb.
There are some smiles to be had from the stage acts on the bill ("The Umpire Of Folk" and "The Blue McEnroe Group"), but these are just throwaway gags in a sea of meandering pap. It's a shame, because Jurgen Haabemaaster promised to be more fun than he was, and earlier moments seemed to indicate this episode would have a stronger plot than usual. But it turned out to be just another example of The Mighty Boosh on autopilot, riffing on a vague idea about conquering stage fright, and throwing in a talking crab for good measure.
By the end, everything is back to the status quo and most fans will be glad to see the back of the Nabootique shop and its restricting influence on the Boosh. If the series does return for a fourth series (and, let's face it, it's still BBC Three's best show -- which isn't saying much), then I hope writers Barratt and Fielding realize they need to take viewers on fun adventures, because smaller-scale character-based comedy isn't their forte... it just shows up their limitations.
20 December 2007
BBC Three, 10.30 pm
