The Mighty Boosh

They've been to the far corners of the Earth, met the most evil demon known to man and put on trial for imaginary murder... now you can witness all the characters from the cult BBC show, an off the wall adventure based on Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt's Perrier Award winning comedy show, as they embark on their first live tour of the UK.

Ahead of the tour Noel and Julian, aka Vince Noir and Howard Moon, took a break from rehearsals to talk to the Warrington Guardian's Neil Docking.

First things first, are you looking forward to the tour?

Noel: "I'm a bit knackered to be honest. We're working seven days a week to get the show together in what's been a short space of time. There's five people, because it's the two of us and the characters Naboo, Bolo and Bob Fossil, so it should be easier and we've got a crew of around ten people in total. But we've not finished writing it yet so people are learning parts and then we're trashing ideas and keep changing it, we'll ask for five penguin costumes that have to look a little like Run DMC and then the next day realise we don't want them anymore!"

Julian: "Going on tour is a bit like going on holiday, we're just making sure we've got everything packed. We hope to keep changing things on the tour, so it varies from date to date. Its easier maybe because we'll be playing to people who will know our work, so there will be songs and music that is familiar, like our hits I suppose. It was difficult in the past when we were rapping, dressed as wolves to old ladies who were just like what is that?'"

You began working together on the stand-up circuit?

Noel: "We were doing separate stand up before we met and started writing together, I had a song about a deer and Julian had a poem or something and we put them together. I'd just moved into London and I pulled this curtain down from my new house to make a costume and we ended up writing scenes, kind of like a weird play but we didn't know what we were doing. A lot of my ideas are visual and he does a lot of the soundscapes etc..."

Julian: "We wanted to do something a little different and found that people wanted something different too, there was a lot of stand up which was just men in shirts talking about their girlfriends. That's not to say it wasn't funny but it was unimaginative in a visual and musical way. We had both watched a lot of Monty Python and the Young Ones and when we started we were like lets make the new Goodies, we'll be based in a flat and go on adventures. We both did weird comedy and wanted to go on weird adventures."

Noel plays Vince Noir, the cool member of the duo, while Julian is the delusional Howard Moon. Is your real relationship like that?

Julian: "In reality I'm more delusional. No I don't really have an answer to that question, I mean Howard Moon's an idiot, he's a pretentious fool and I love to take the piss out of it. We have similar interests, I like jazz and poetry, but these things draw idiots to them and he's like that. I suppose Noel is more like Vince, he's got the whole pop star image and he carries it off, he looks fantastic. My look, well I just look like a tramp. We'll finish a show and everyone comes up to him, all these young girls with his hairstyle surround him and I'll be at the side and one middle aged man who looks like a librarian will come up to me."

Noel: "It's quite weird he's a bit older than me, so it's brotherly in a way. We've been working together for eight years so we get on surprisingly well, we've been through ups and downs, nearly got signed to Channel 4 but that fell through and we've done some horrific, horrific live gigs. Imagine trying to do the show that we do before anyone knows who you are or cares. We'd be out in some small seaside province and people would sit staring at us going what is this?'"

I recently heard some your radio show for the first time, how did you find that? Your comedy seems quite visual, with lavish costumes and sets, but it also revolves around a lot of song and dance. Will that transfer to the stage?

Julian: "You can't beat radio for some ideas, its better than TV in many ways because it allows you to be more imaginative and the listener too. You can have a dark, dripping cavern with stalactites and stalagmites with just three sound effects and a bit of reverb, whereas on TV it would cost £20,000 to present that idea and it would still look crap!"

The first series was set in the Zoo and the second in a flat, what kind of setting or plot can we expect from your live show?

Noel: "The show begins with a bit of extended cabaret, then we start the show set in Naboo's magic shop and it all stems from there. We go on an adventure looking for a ruby and there's a swordfight and some music and all the usual mental Boosh stuff really."

Did you ever have any aspirations to become a musician? I know you're friends with Razorlight and a big fan of the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.

Noel: "I studied painting at Art College, but like a lot of people ended up doing something different. I remember I had this Jesus performance, except it was as Mick Jagger and I had this water pistol that fired out holy water. My teachers were like you should try stand up' and it happened quite quickly.

I was in a few bands, my mate was in a band called the Sneaker Pimps and I used enjoy going on tour with him. But music is too dry and earnest for me, its all a bit serious. I could be in something like Goldie Lookin' Chain, somewhere between the two I suppose. I think comedy is so hard compared to music, an album can be ten songs that don't have to be that long, while we'll write ten sketches or for a series about four hours of stuff. Music can be entertaining without having to have to be a killer melody, but jokes have to be funny, you can't have a bit with nothing funny and say that's just for us'!"

"I love the Eighties Matchbox I'm always name checking them, that first album is incredible, one of my favourites, it has so many different styles and so much stuff going on. The story about me getting missed up with their singer Guy, I'd gone to see the band at Brixton Academy I think, there was rumour Johnny Depp was there drinking with Iggy Pop, who they were supporting. So I'm trying to get backstage and this bouncer grabs me, pulls me towards him and says great gig mate'! I was like what?' but then he pushes me past everyone and I'm backstage, I go upstairs, all the way down this long corridor to a door, where I imagine the two of them are sat drinking tea. I open it and it's a tiny room with like 20 massive security guards and there's Iggy Pop sat half naked sweating in the corner! It wasn't even a party - they all just looked at me and I left as quick as I could!"

Julian: "Lots of our ideas start from music, we'll take something from one of our dad's record collections and go from there, stuff like Sinatra, Frank Zappa or Rick James. It's the inspiration for a lot of musical monsters in the show, we'll think of a monster that was into funk and then get our ideas from there."

The Mighty Boosh is difficult to describe to the uninitiated, it's a very unique show. Do you think that's part of its appeal?

Noel: "I find our show inexplicable too, people always describe our comedy as surreal but I think that springs to mind comedy that's quite cold, dark, maybe political too. Which is nothing like ours! I think it puts people off when they read it's surreal, ours is warm and welcoming, its quite odd and magical. Magical is a good word for it."

"It's like when I first watched Vic and Bob a few years back, I remember thinking what on earth is this, confused and almost offended by it. I watched 20 minutes and didn't laugh once. The next week I found myself watching it again, I felt compelled for some reason and I thought it was hilarious. The danger is with TV some people never watch it again! I imagine people who like are stuff are a bit more interesting; they like to work out what is gong on and dig into something."

Where did the name The Mighty Boosh' come from?

Julian: "It comes from Noel's brother Mike, who plays Naboo. He had this haircut and his mate would say to him Oooh, you have a curly boosh, a mighty boosh...' Its just from that. But it's better than being called Barrat and Fielding."

You had a role in Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker's Nathan Barley - what was it like working with that pair? Has it influenced your own work?

Julian: "It was interesting to see Morris as a director, because I want to direct. He has such as strong and strict vision but doesn't get angry, at least not with the actors. He took his time to explain what he wants, which is often quite odd and weird jokes, the things he wants to parody. It was unusual for him because he's known for picking a topic and bringing his laser sights onto it, while Nathan Barley was half sit-com, half satire. He's into the Boosh, although I think he's quite scared by it and some of our monsters. He'll come round and hide behind the sofa."

Noel: "Chris is really nice, people are really scared of him because he is big and imposing and he has a strange walk but he came to a lot of our early shows, we even tried getting him in it at one point. He's one of the few people I've met in comedy who I'd say was a proper mate now, I've been to a few gigs with him, we went to see Peaches and the Strokes."

You've also got a part in the forthcoming series The I.T. Crowd, are you excited about that?

Noel: "I'm only in a couple of episodes but its nice to come in and do a bit of acting, I've enjoyed it because its just been a lot of friends getting together, Chris is in it and so is Richard Ayoade, who was in Nathan Barley and our show and wrote Garth Marenghi's Darkplace which I was a monkey man in. It makes you wonder how we get paid for this."

What are your plans for the future?

Julian: "Maybe a third series and a film would be good. I'm interested in the visual and musical side of things, in creating a world. We seem to come up with these childlike adventures. We've been talking about working with our friend Tim Hope, who's done music videos for people like Coldplay and REM. We might team up and do a massive, epic film, something like Boosh on an epic scale, like Time Bandits. I think there's room for something like that, something like Harry Potter which isn't that far way from what we do, but something that's proper funny rather than kids funny."

The Mighty Boosh play Rawhide at The Royal Court in Liverpool on Sunday, February 26, tickets priced £17.50 and Warrington Parr Hall on Wednesday, March 8 tickets priced £18.50. The second series of The Mighty Boosh is available on DVD from Monday, February 13.