The Mighty Boosh DVD Season Sets 1-3
BBC/Warner Home Video
Release Date: July 21, 2009
$29.98 (SRP)
Creators: Julian Barratt & Noel Fielding
Format: 2-Discs; Widescreen (1.77:1)
Running Time: 224 minutes (Season 1); 167 minutes (Season 2); 168 minutes (Season 3)
ISBN: 1-4198-6979-5
Age Rating: Not Rated
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5)

The Mighty Boosh is surreal slacker comedy at its finest.  The BBC TV series is currently airing on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim where, even though it’s live action, it’s an excellent fit.  Writer/performers Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding combine the anarchic, surreal humor of Monty Python with character-generated slacker humor and hip musical parodies in these tales of two under-achievers, who start in the eight-episode Season 1 as zookeepers in what must be the world’s most dysfunctional animal enclosure.  

Howard Moon (Barratt) is the more embittered member of the duo.  A frustrated novelist who fancies himself a gifted method actor (when portraying a gorilla he actually flings his own pooh at one of the zoo’s old lady benefactresses), Moon, in spite of his pretensions, is largely ignored by everyone save for his best mate, Vince Noir (Fielding), a preening retro “Mod” with feathered Rod Stewart locks, an off-the-charts fascination with hair care products, and a Mowgli-like ability to talk to animals.  

For the Second Season the action moves to a flat in Dalston, which Howard and Vince share with the mysterious shaman Naboo (played by Fielding’s brother Michael) and Bollo the talking ape (Dave Brown).  The second season is the most “far out” of the three with the gang traveling to various bizarre environments in their van.  

In the Third Season, which is the one currently airing on Adult Swim, the gang is still living in Dalston, but much of the action takes place in Naboo’s second-hand store (“The Nabootique”), which is located right below their flat.

Although The Mighty Boosh DVDs have no age ratings, the episodes do contain numerous humorous sexual references, and may not be suitable for younger teens (though there is a lot less of “Topic A” than can be found on Network sitcoms).  The two-disc sets provide lots of excellent extras including behind-the-scenes features on the productions, the history of the Boosh, and on the series’ distinctive musical numbers.

--Tom Flinn (ICv2.com)