Once digested Boosh

The most common staple of situation comedy is a group of people bound together, either by love or necessity, but drive each other mad. The potential for this scenario is huge, from very warm comedy such as Father Ted or the Simpsons, to exceptionally bleak, Red Dwarf or Steptoe and Son. This is, more or less, the family dynamic.

Less common, but equally interesting, is the adolescent gang. As far as I can see this is a boy thing, almost certainly down to comparative expectations of girls and boys. For better or worse boys are considered to be clumsier and less developed than girls their age. They have greater license to be crude, to fall short, to be inept.

Comedy revolves around the contrast between a person's inner regard and outer appearance. Characters in said comedies must permanently be on the cusp of achieving something, that or trying to achieve something way beyond their abilities. The Mighty Boosh is this sort of comedy.

Howard and Vince are aspiring artistic intellectuals. Howard (the Genre Spanner) Moon has sky high ambitions, he's a poet, novelist, cyclist, he organises raffles. If you put a boundary round him he'll eat the boundary and wash it down with a cup of hot, steaming rules. The trouble is he's useless. Vince is equally inept, although he gets a lot more credit and esteem than Howard. Vince is almost a better Nathan Barley than Nathan himself. Everything is handed to him, but he loses what's given through a combination of dimwittedness and lack of motivation.

There's nothing more Boosh-y (and adolescent) than the part in the Electro episode where Howard and Vince spot the Electro Girls, Neon and Ultra; they straighten themselves up, head over and try out their best moves. Howard typically overcomplicates things and gets shot down in flames. Vince succeeds with mindless charm and, of course, teases Howard about it.

Though Howard's personal life is dramatically unsuccessful (that said he does win the affection of three different people, Jazz Girl, Eleanor the Whore and Old Gregg) Vince doesn't exactly set the world on fire either. In all such situation comedy the lead characters turn to each other for comfort and affirmation. Vince is continually referred to as Howard's “wife” or “ugly girlfriend”. This relationship is made more explicit in series 2 and 3, example being characters like Old Gregg (Vince's hermaphrodite anima) or scenes like the end of the Party episode.

The last thing to mention is The Mighty Boosh has a relatively young following, evidenced by their live shows. Fantasy is very important in our society. Popular culture is about erecting icons. For better or worse, millions of young people growing up develop their personality through identifying with a pop star or film star etc. The Boosh audience enters into the performance through dressing up as different characters.

Despite never featuring anything approaching sex The Mighty Boosh is all about sexuality.

One last, last thing. It has been three years since the last series. There is apparently a Boosh movie in the making. I wonder if there will be a fourth series. The meta joke in the Boosh is the characters are much younger than the actors. There comes a point where this is so obvious its no longer funny. The Mighty Boosh could branch off into family set-up comedy. The Board of Shamen would make an excellent cast for a spin-off series.