The Mighty Boosh
Many moons and borrowed succulents ago now I was the bright-eyed Editor for a wonderful magazine called Wooden Toy and got to interview a bunch of amazing and talented folks from musicians to artists to burlesque performers, all things which are wonderfully akin to everything The Mighty Boosh seems to be about. For those unlucky, sad or misled souls who haven’t experienced the joys of The Mighty Boosh, I’ll give you the quick shimmy-shimmy. Created by Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, The Mighty Boosh started life as a live show, before being transported into the BBC radio realm and then finally into the UK TV-sphere. It’s a hilarious, often surreal but always joyously ridiculous show. I did hear that years later some sensitive folks were offended by the show, but then again, who isn’t being outraged by something these days? Personally, I think it’s just genius nonsense fun.
Anyway, I was lucky enough to interview the generous and awesome Julian Barratt back in 2007 after nagging the poor Boosh fellas ad-nauseum for weeks, but unfortunately the magazine had to go to print before he was able to rush me back some words and the interview slipped through the cracks of time into the forgotten world of my computer’s archive folders. Happily I stumbled across these words as I was strolling through my back-ups one day, and I thought to myself, well Julian had gone to the trouble of getting me those words, so by-gosh I will print these words … finally! So here it is – the lost Mighty Boosh interview Part 1.
Tell us about the moment The Mighty Boosh came into being?
Noel and I were on the same bill doing stand-up. I went back to his place afterwards, and he invited me in. He said, in ominous tones: ‘You know if you come in, you can never leave’ and I said, ‘that’s OK, I haven’t got much on’ and thus was born the Boosh. Two guys, a dream, a wheelbarrow of hope, four magnets and a denim butterfly.
It started out as a live show, then it was a radio show, but was it hard to translate that to TV?
It all started out many years ago as a live show, building our own props in Noel’s living room with me putting the music together on an old wooden sampler. We wanted to write a TV show first, but our scripts were turned down because the broadcasters said they were ridiculous and expensive, nobody knew who we were and they were in crayon, so we set about trying to show people what we were all about.
Ten years later they let us make a TV show. Along the way we discovered that we enjoyed the live thing and the radio show as much as anything we’ve done. I’d like to do another radio show, though TV-centric people think it’s a step back, but they’re blind to the visuals of sound.
How do you come up with the characters? Is it a shared process or do you create your characters separately?
We mostly come up with characters together but then we have to decide who’ll play them, and we have to arm wrestle. Other times the narrative will dictate who plays what, or if we’ve just written one where Noel’s a sea monster, we might write one where I’m a mutant fox. We try to be even.
Series two seems to be a bit more surreal than series one, what led you to follow this path?
I’m not sure it is. The stories are quite traditional really, albeit in Boosh clothes, but they are familiar tales in a certain way. Sea monsters and curses. Demons and zombies. Nothing that would be out of place in Harry Potter. I suppose we mix up the monsters with more modern musical references. The main difference to me in Series Two is that the stories don’t hang about. We get straight on with things. That’s the main thing, I think. Although of course you change stuff and people tell you they miss the long rambling introductions from Series One, so you can’t win. I hate people with their ideas and mouths.
So Julian, are you really that into Jazz and if yes … why?
I grew up with it. My dad was into it (my mum has no interest in music whatsoever, she’s a film nut), and my dad had this immense library of obscure, jazz fusion vinyl. I just thought it was normal to listen to Chick Corea and the Mahavishnu orchestra when I was twelve. I remember at school having to bring in some music we liked, to play to the class, and everyone was bringing in Adam Ant or whatever and I brought in a Weather Report track. I even remember the track, it was Boogie Woogie Waltz from the album Sweetnighter. Everyone thought I was weird, but eventually I found other weirdos who were into what I was into, and we formed a band. It became our secret passion. Those are the things that stay with you.
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