Customer Reviews

The Mighty Boosh: The Complete Season 1

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A friend of mine who lives in Wales turned me on to this show a couple years ago. I have seen the Region 2 copies of these discs, and it's about time they make these available stateside.

It's a strange show to try to describe to someone; they love to go off on wild adventures, and they really pack in the surrealism. It's tempting to ask "what were they smoking?", but it's obvious there's much more to the show than meets the eye. I always tell people that if you look beyond the strange characters, music and stories, it's really about the back and forth rapport between the two main characters, Howard Moon & Vince Noir. Kind of a trippy Laurel & Hardy, if you will.

Some of the more memorable characters ("I'm Old Gregg!") come in later seasons, but the first season contains one of my favorite episodes, about an Alice Cooper loving creature made of old bubble gum named Charlie. A Hubba Bubba nightmare indeed.

Sometimes I wonder what they have in the water in England. First they produced "Monty Python," and now they have "The Mighty Boosh."

And while the basic description (two guys have wacky adventures at zoo) sounds like a slightly-out-of-the-ordinary sitcom, the reality is anything but. "The Mighty Boosh: The Complete Season 1" is a sitcom drizzled with acid and punched through with the surreal, where the most mundane activities become freakishly bizarre. Lots of raunchy humor, silly puppets, songs and journeys into other realms -- it's a head-trip, and you'll love every second of it.

It takes place in a mildly run-down zoo called "the Zooniverse," run by the deranged manager Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher) and with the awkward cream-poet Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) and flamboyant wacky Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) working as zookeepers. The bane of Howard and Vince's existence: the evil and sinister owner Bainbridge.

First off, Bob decides to use nude photos of Howard's "freak" body to blackmail him into fighting a kangaroo. Probable result: death by disembowelment, especially since Howard is a pathetic boxer, and Vince's attempts to toughen him up aren't quite enough. Will true love for Mrs. Gideon inspire Howard to victory, or will Vince's magic dust vision (courtesy of the shaman Naboo) reveal the way to kill-a-roo?

And yeah, it gets weirder after that. Way weirder.

Vince and Howard's bizare escapades continue throughout the season: they set out to rescue vanished animals that may have been captured by the evil Bainbridge, venture into the arctic to find the giant sapphire Egg of Mantumbi, seek to save the zoo from destruction by finding the former owner in the Jungle Room, explore the world of authorial fame (involving a wad of bubblegum and a black-magic crocodile), and grapple with the Spirit of Jazz to save an electronica band.

And when the talking ape Bollo is dying, Howard is forced to dress in a gorilla costume to preserve zoo funding -- only to be mistakenly taken when the Grim Reaper comes. Vince is his only hope (if he can stop focusing on his hair). And when the boys have to take Ivan the bear to an animal prison, they run afoul of... the Hitcher.

Few shows revel in the utterly, unapologetically bizarre the way "The Mighty Boosh" does -- the entire first season is awash in surreal twists (a tiny techno club for mice), running gags, random musical interludes (including arctic hip-hop) and freakish sight gags ("As the saying goes, you are what you eat... and I'm freakin' cheese!"). Though it has the external trappings of normalcy, there is not a single scene that is not in some way surreal.

Each episode starts with a seemingly normal sitcom dilemma, but then the plot rapidly mutates into a string of strange occurrences, usually with tongue planted so far in cheek that you'll probably never see it again. Even the incomprehensible jokes (why is Howard dressed like Gandalf?) are hilarious. It's also pretty brilliantly written, with countless quotables ("It's impossible to be unhappy in a poncho"), tasteless jokes, and gloriously tongue-in-cheek dialogue ("Some say he is the devil himself. Others say he is a man pretending to be the devil with green makeup and special lighting").

But the crowning touch is Barrett and Fielding. Howard is rather fuddy-duddy, awkward and considers himself artistic, while Vince is dandyish, arrogant and has the attention span of a gnat -- and both actors are brilliant at bringing these guys to life. And Fulcher is horrendously, disgustingly awesome as the offensive zoo manager, who never knows the animal names ("hairy Russian carpet-guy") and abuses schoolchildren and Howard alike.

Surreal, trippy and utterly bizarre, "The Mighty Boosh: The Complete Season 1" is one of those wonderfully bizarre shows doesn't even need a laugh track. I have to kiss you passionately on the mouth!

The Mighty Boosh has produced some of the funniest stuff I've seen in many years. Their radio show, the television show, their live shows, it's all insane and creative and brilliant. Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding have combined an unlikely duo and plopped them in ridiculous situations with some off-the-wall companions and villains, all backed with beautiful artistic sets and costuming and the kind of music you could listen to on your mp3 player.

Buy this set, and all future releases from these guys. You won't regret it.

Catalog#D56382. Amazon has the best Pre-Order price at $55.99. Official release date of this special collection is Oct. 13 2009. I'm holding out for this one.

Meanwhile there's Adult Swim and Cartoon Network showing regular Boosh episodes and yes, of course You Tube for a Boosh fix whenever necessary.

AND that's not all......the Boosh are coming to the US! They will be making an appearnace at Comic Con in San Diego July 24th, after first touching down in NY with a scheduled appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon July 22nd!!!! They'll be back to US. I'm hoping for an album, a movie on the big screen and a live US tour!!!!!

Boosh Fans are 'alright!

~Windy Blast Fast

This show is twisted and downright odd. The first season isn't as amazing as the later ones, but still worth owning. If you are a fan of irreverent humor and odd musical numbers thrown into the mix, you will enjoy this show.

The Mighty Boosh is perhaps the strangest, wackiest, and funniest TV series ever created. The first episode I saw was "The Legend of Old Gregg", which is THE funniest thing I've ever seen (it's on season 2 of the series). So when I saw the first season DVD in the store the other day, I decided to buy it and see if it was as good as Old Gregg.

It was.

If you like wacky, out-of-nowhere comedy, you'll LOVE The Boosh! My favorite episodes from season 1 were "Killeroo", "Bollo", and "Charlie"

I got hooked on this series last summer and this spring i noticed them on adult swim. I am so glad that a US format is coming out! The series is really random and quirky with insane but funny and catchy tunes. My favorite episode is "Old Gregg". If you have not seen the Mighty Boosh before, look it up on you tube, you will soon find your self on a journey through time and space and will hypnotically be sucked into the world of BOOSH!

Ps. NABOO IS AWESOME! He is a quiet and subtly funny character, very relaxed and charming. Everyone tends to focus on Vince or Howard but Naboo is really one of my favorite characters!!

I got this as a gift for my birthday this month. I love the Mighty Boosh. It comes with some awesome bonuses. I'm pretty happy with the product.

I ordered Mighty Boosh season 1 and received it in less then 5 days.
It arrived new and unopened. I am very happy with my service and am now looking for season 2
Great Service

I don't find the Boosh funny, and I don't find them Mighty. My roommate does and was thrilled to get this gift. Unfortunately I tortured myself in the end as she tries to make me watch with her. Blah!

All I can say is fans like it.