The Mighty Boosh new live show review

Thanks to my Modwolves fan club connections I managed to win exclusive tickets to see the brand new live show from the Mighty Boosh on Saturday. After our (unsuccessful) Thames boat ride we made our way over to 3 Mills TV studios in Bromley on Bow. If you don't want to know what's in the new live show then you'd best not read this as it will spoil the surprise. However if you want to know a summary of how it went then I'll say now, the performance was slightly worrying with only a week to go. There's a lot more mini-sketches and no real story compared to the previous tour. There's some great gags, some surprises but if it wasn't for their natural talent and personality the show would be slightly disappointing. Hopefully they'll put in some practice, improve the sketches that didn't quite work and maybe even come up with some new ideas. So, if you really don't want to know what happens in the show stop reading now, you have been warned.

Mighty Boosh live show review
The stage was basically a huge Mighty Boosh face logo and some staircases around and over it. Later the face rotates to reveal their drummer and bassist for musical numbers. Nice touch with the Kill Bill Crazy 88 gang/Boosh costume look. Behind the stepped stage was a huge video screen used for later scene changes.

The show started with the Future Sailors song and a great opening from the lead characters then some funny banter about costume and props differences as well as an inner monologue joke which worked well. Vince introduced his giant hairdryer prop which worked quite well which was something to do with an advertising job he did for a French fashion designer (can't remember the name). Vince and Howard summarised what the show was going to be with some 'modular' sections for the first half and a set piece on a 'bleak future'. Vince seeded the line that he was not happy with the 'future' story being acted solely by Howard and mentioned some pictures him and Lee-Roy had come across for blackmail.

More introductions continued with Bollo and Naboo. Naboo's new moustache must have been the inspiration for his character's introduction using Snoop Dogg's music and pimped up image. The classic joke of turning his back on Howard was performed this time using a chaise lounge on wheels. There was some joke regarding an ostrich which I'd missed (perhaps there was so much happening on the stage) which was referenced later. I had a minor freak out as Bollo tried pushing the wheeled chaise lounge off the stage to the sound of a car trying to start as Naboo quoted 'you haven't put diesel in it again'. See my blog entry 2-3 weeks earlier to understand why.

Bob Fossil appeared as a stage manager with clipboard to give the boys some time for scene and costume changes. His Lithuanian taxi driver character was okay, it got more laughs for what he was wearing instead of his mock-Eastern Block spiel but generally he went on too long on his own. I would even say he's more suited as a support character in any scene as (controversially) I never liked his Snuff Box show.

A firm show favourite, Tony Harrison made his first live appearance being pushed out on a leather sofa. Noel looked quite uncomfortable inside the chair-on-top-of-a-wheeled-box costume and joked at this to the amusement of everyone. The scene elaborated on Tony's new career as a chat-show host which Bollo was the first guest. Expectedly, 'It's an outrage' catchphrase came out but I expect that due to Noel's comfort levels the scene didn't quite pull off.

It was about time for some Boosh crimping which cleverly led into the Honey Monster appearance which got its comeuppance as Bollo decapitated the Sugar Puff character. Although the idea was fantastic, this scene really did need some more practice as it was chaos on stage. I can't quite remember whether it was the same scene but Naboo appears straddling an Ostrich a la Bernie Clifton. As he descends the stairs he trips over his fake feet landing on his face. I instantly laughed but then had fears the show would be over as it took awhile for him to recover. Luckily he had his crash-turban on to save him.

Old favourites
Some old TV show favourites turn up with Techno-mouse conveniently in a shoebox with Noel testing the soundtrack timing. More music later from Rudi van Disarzio, the afro-wig-with-door character singing Isolation. This seemed to be another filler for scene/costume changes and didn't quite fit in.

Within the 30 minute break we were lucky(?) to share the same toilets as the crew and stars of the Boosh. If only I timed it properly I could have been pissing at the same time as Noel or Julian!

The future is bleak and robotic
The second act was the bleak future story which Howard predicts the end of the world and becomes the sole survivor of the human race with only a shop window dummy's head for company. Unfortunately, most of the cast have to use the script to get through the scenes with Noel making a joke out of his concerns of only a week to go before the proper live tour. A few miss directed positioning and cues made the scene fail in places plus they lifted almost the same dialogue from Mutants, an episode from series 1. However, it was rescued by the blackmailed photos which Vince mentioned earlier with a Jazz mag porn shoot called 'Tromboner' - hilarious!

The second half of the second act featured Noel's new character of an angel-like alien with Rich Fulcher as an over-weight camp looking Tin-man. Noel's made up accent of half Chinese, half Chav went down well. The scene finished with a mutated rubbish bag monster (which ironically looked 'rubbish') operated by the rest of the cast and was blown away by the giant hair-dryer. At this point I thought they missed the opportunity of using Crack Fox, another show favourite especially with the absence of a villain like the Hitcher.

The curtains fell to close the scene and Noel and Julian stepped out to say thanks but also apologised for their 'worst' performance, again mentioning their worries at next week's tour. I really expected another scene but that was it and the night was over.

Don't get me wrong, I felt privileged to see this show and to see it so close-up. As a loyal fan who missed their festival (Wireless with Underworld took priority and having to deal with teenage Noel fanciers), I really wanted to see a good, original show with perhaps more band stuff. I'm guessing having to write the third series, organise a festival, write the up and coming film, various special appearances elsewhere, the tour must have been squeezed in to their busy schedules at some point.

Update: See my review of the Brighton gig