The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows, The Mighty Boosh, Arctic Boosh (1999) and Autoboosh (2000), as well as a six-episode radio series, it has since spanned a total of 20 television episodes for BBC Three which aired from 2004 to 2007, and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the United States. The first television series is set in a zoo operated by Bob Fossil, the second in a flat and the third in a secondhand shop in Dalston called Nabootique.
The style of humour in the Mighty Boosh is often described as being surreal, as well as escapist and new wave comedy.
Various members of The Mighty Boosh have appeared in a number of different comedy series including Nathan Barley, Snuff Box and Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy. Regular Boosh collaborators include Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher, Dave Brown, Nigel Coan, Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry. The troupe is named after a childhood hairstyle of co-star Michael Fielding.
Contents
History
Noel Fielding first met Mighty Boosh collaborator Dave Brown whilst Fielding was studying a foundation course in fine arts at the Croydon School of Art. Then from 1992 to 1995 Fielding studied Graphic Design and Advertising at Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education and whilst there both Dave Brown and Nigel Coan were studying the same course as Fielding and all three shared a student house together. After they had lived together in student housing, Fielding, Brown and Coan then later lived together in a flat in Hackney in London.
While Fielding and Dave Brown were both art students at Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education "They were both regular visitors to the Hellfire Comedy nights next to the Wycombe Swan Theatre in High Wycombe, which is where Noel first met future Boosh co-creator, Julian Barratt". Fielding and Brown both attended one of Barratt's solo stand-up gig's at Hellfire and Fielding then approached Barratt after the gig had finished. After Fielding entered The Daily Telegraph open mic award and attended the final at the Edinburgh comedy festival he was signed to Avalon talent agency and through Avalon began performing on the same comedy bills as Barratt. Whilst performing on the comedy network together on the same bill they realised they liked each other's stuff and began writing and doing gigs together.
In 2006 Fielding said that "We were doing stand-up and were on the same bill together. I was on first and usually you can only have about one weird comedian on a line-up. He’d been doing it a bit longer than me... [Barratt was like]'...Let’s write together'. I’ve been stuck with him ever since and that was about eight years ago or something."
Whilst Barratt and Fielding were on The Jonathan Ross Show, Ross asked them "And did you perform as solo acts ever, did you do like stand up..." with Barratt responding "yeah, yeah, that's how we sort of met really on the circuit, doing stand up, yeah.", with Ross responding "But, but was it similar to the Boosh stuff, 'cos the Boosh stuff it seems to be so much of a partnership I can't imagine it being taken apart and being served up separately.", with Barratt responding that "We were both doing quite surreal stuff, eh...", with Fielding adding "It was quite weird wasn't it, a lot weirder than the show in a way...", with Barratt continuing "...but we sort of, when we first met we kind of liked each others comedy but we didn't know that it would work, we didn't know whether it was gonna cancel each other out and make....", with Fielding responding "Yeah, too weird to make sort of, straight...", with Barratt continuing "...might just become geography or something else or... this sort of thing, but it worked for some reason...", with Fielding adding "We had quite a good chemistry straight away."
Main cast
Julian Barratt as Howard Moon
Noel Fielding as Vince Noir
Michael Fielding as Naboo
Dave Brown as Bollo
Rich Fulcher as Bob Fossil
The cast members also play smaller roles throughout the series, the roles listed above are their most frequently appearing characters.
Theatre
Original stage shows
The Boosh, then consisting of only Barratt and Fielding, conceived The Mighty Boosh whilst working on Stewart Lee's Edinburgh Festival show King Dong vs. Moby Dick in which they played a giant penis and a whale respectively.
In 1998, they took The Mighty Boosh to the Edinburgh Festival, recruiting fellow comedian Rich Fulcher, whom the pair had met while working on Unnatural Acts. The show won the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer. During their residency at North London's Hen and Chickens Theatre the following year, they built up a cult following, introducing new characters whilst developing old ones.
In 1999, the Boosh returned to the Edinburgh Festival with a new show, Arctic Boosh, with Dave Brown acting as choreographer and photographer, as well as playing a variety of characters. Arctic Boosh sold out every night and was nominated for the Perrier Award. The show was directed by Stewart Lee.
In 2000, the Boosh premiered their third stage show, Autoboosh, at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, adding Fielding's younger brother Michael to the cast and it won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award.
Nationwide tours
The Boosh returned to the stage in 2006, touring the UK for the first time. Though drawing heavily from their earlier material, the main story combined these elements into a new narrative. A recording of this show at the Brixton Academy was later released on DVD, before being broadcast on BBC Three on Boxing Day, 2007.
The Boosh toured the UK and Ireland for a second time from September 2008 to February 2009. The show featured characters from all three series as well as the Boosh Band.
They made appearances throughout the UK after their live shows, at after-parties held in different places in each city. The events were called "Outrage", after the catchphrase by Tony Harrison.
Radio
The Boosh (2001)
From the success of Autoboosh, the BBC commissioned a six-part radio series for the Boosh. In October 2001 The Boosh radio series, produced by Danny Wallace, was broadcast on BBC London Live, then BBC Radio 4, and later on BBC 7. The show focuses on the adventures of a pair of zookeepers at "Bob Fossil's Funworld": socially awkward, jazz enthusiast Howard TJ Moon, and ultra-vain, fashion-obsessed Vince Noir. This also included voices from Lee Mack, playing such characters as the Plumber or the Gardener.
Further appearances
The Mighty Boosh returned to radio on 22 October 2004, in a one-off comedy special for The Breezeblock, a show on BBC Radio 1. Instead of the plot driven nature of their own series, this show featured improvised conversational comedy with Barratt, Fielding and Fulcher, combined with the show's usual mix of electronic music.
On 15 November 2007, as part of the publicity for the premier of their third series the same day, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding returned to Radio 1, this time on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge.
On 9 April 2019, it was announced that The Mighty Boosh will be the UK ambassadors for the Record Store Day at 13 April 2019, a show on BBC Radio 1.
Television
The Mighty Boosh (2004–07)
After the success of the 2003 Mighty Boosh pilot Steve Coogan's company, Baby Cow Productions, produced the first television series of The Mighty Boosh for BBC Three which first aired in May 2004, before it moved to BBC Two in November that same year. Though each episode invariably starts and ends in Dixon Bainbridge's dilapidated zoo, the "Zooniverse", the characters of Vince and Howard often depart for other locations, such as the Arctic tundra and limbo.
A second series, shown in July 2005, saw Howard and Vince sharing Naboo's flat in Dalston with previously minor characters Naboo and his familiar, Bollo, a gorilla living at the "Zooniverse". This series had an even looser setting as the four characters leave the confines of the flat in every episode, travelling in their van to a variety of surrealistic environments, including Naboo's home planet "Xooberon".
Series three started in November 2007, still set in Dalston, but this time the foursome are selling 'Bits & Bobs' in their shop, the Nabootique. Their adventures and outings in this series focused more on the involvement of new characters (e.g. Sammy the Crab, or Lester Corncrake etc.) rather than just the two of them.
Although BBC America originally aired only series 1 in the U.S. (all episodes in their entirety), The Mighty Boosh began airing in North America on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block (with up to 6 minutes cut from each episode), starting 29 March 2009 with the third series. In February 2016 series 1 of The Mighty Boosh was made available to watch via the online service BBC iPlayer for six weeks; this included every episode minus the final episode of the first series 'Hitcher'.
The Mighty Boosh Night
On 22 March 2008, BBC Three broadcast a whole night of The Mighty Boosh from 9:05 pm, starting with a new documentary titled The Mighty Boosh: A Journey Through Time and Space, documenting the history of the Boosh from their first amateur performances to their then-upcoming 2008 tour. This was followed by six of Barratt and Fielding's favourite episodes from the three series: "Party", "The Power of the Crimp", "The Nightmare of Milky Joe", "The Priest and the Beast", "The Legend of Old Gregg", and "Tundra". The pair also appeared in live links throughout the night, in a similar style to the openings of Series 1 episodes. On 23 December 2008, BBC3 held a Merry Booshmas Party featuring the entire series 3 as well as a broadcast of The Mighty Boosh Live.
Film
On 8 February 2012, whilst sledging, Noel Fielding said that he and Barratt had discussed plans to make a Mighty Boosh film.
Festival
On 5 July 2008, the Boosh held their own festival in the Hop Farm in Kent. It featured musical acts, Robots in Disguise, The Charlatans, The Kills, Gary Numan, and The Mighty Boosh Band, as well as comedy acts including Frankie Boyle, Josie Long and Ross Noble.
Media
Audio CDs
According to an official MySpace page for PieFace Records (the fictitious music label mentioned throughout the series), Barratt and Fielding are to release an album of music from the show, "along with extras, versions, remixes and rare unreleased stuff all to be released later in the year on their own label—this one". In interviews since, The Mighty Boosh have confirmed they will be releasing an album of their music. On 21 October 2013 episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Fielding stated that the Boosh have recorded an album, but don't know when it will be released.
DVDs
Previously most of the DVDs were only released in Region 2 but as a result of a growing fan base in the U.S., the BBC rereleased in Region 1, Series 1–3 individually on 21 July 2009, and a Special Edition Series 1–3 Boxset on 13 October 2009.
Australian releases
Series One – 11 April 2007
Series Two – 12 April 2007
Series Three – 6 August 2008
Live – 3 December 2008
Special Edition – 6 August 2009
Future Sailors Tour – 10 November 2009
Series One: Episodes 1–3 (Comedy Bites) – 4 March 2010
Books
On 18 September 2008, Canongate Books published The Mighty Book of Boosh, designed and compiled by Dave Brown and written by Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt, Rich Fulcher, Dave Brown, Richard Ayoade and Michael Fielding. The book includes original stories, crimps, concept art, behind-the-scenes photography, comics, and various other things, featuring old and new Mighty Boosh characters. On 1 October 2009, a paperback version was released under the name The Pocket Book of Boosh.
Awards
Particularly popular among followers of the indie and electro music genres catered to by NME magazine, The Mighty Boosh has been recipient of the Shockwaves NME Awards Best TV Show for three consecutive years, even though there were no new episodes broadcast for the latter two of the three years.
Controversy
In 2020, Netflix took The Mighty Boosh TV show, together with The League of Gentlemen, down from their program roster because of concerns about blackface in some episodes. As of 2025, all episodes of the TV show remain available via other streaming services including the BBC iPlayer and Apple TV+.