The Appeal of “The Mighty Boosh”

Although we have viewed some British sitcoms during the course of the semester, I believe that it was this week’s screening that gave me a true idea of the range and depth of British TV comedy. Prior to this class, I had not seen many British comedies, and those that I had seen I was not particularly enamored by. In fact, apart from Inbetweeners, there has not been one comedy series at our screenings that I have genuinely liked. However, this changed during this week’s screening of The Thick of It as the show’s sharp wit and constant bombardment of subtle humor constantly had me engaged and laughing. Yet, despite my appreciation for this cinema verite style of comedy, I will not be talking about The Thick of It in today’s blog post. Instead, I will be discussing the Mighty Boosh, a show that I did not actually like per say, but still very much intrigued me as a viewer.

For an acclaimed comedy series, it is quite unusual that I never laughed once during the Mighty Boosh nor even thought I liked what was happening on the screen. Yet, despite this indifference, I could not take my pupils off the screen because I was so utterly fascinated by the bizarrities unfolding. In fact, after watching to “Journey to the Centre of a Punk,” I went ahead and watched two more episodes and a short clip of “Old Gregg.” From the talking white blood cells to Old Gregg’s “mangina,” I was completely intrigued by the weirdness of the series and simply could not stop watching. For a series that I still to this very moment do not actually enjoy, it is very perplexing and unusual that I watched so many episodes, which I believe, really speaks to the surrealist spell and charm that the series has on its viewers. However, despite its charm and intrigue, I would still far from classify myself as a fan of the show. And this thought brought me to my main question about the show that I posed during class: what is the target demographic or audience for true fans of The Mighty Boosh?

When trying to pinpoint what the target audience is for the Mighty Boosh, one must assume that it closely aligns with the target market for its broadcaster, BBC Three. As we learned earlier in the semester, BBC Three has a target age range of 16-34. Although I am confident that the majority of people in this age range would find the series off-putting and childish in its over-the-top attempts to get a laugh, I am sure there are a few oddballs in this target age gap that truly do enjoy the goofy nature of the show. Instead of merely being intrigued by the oddities of the series like myself, I am sure these true fans are like “cultists” of the series and legitimately enjoy the humor of the series. Also, I do not think it would be a far stretch of the imagination to believe that many of these avid fans are drug users who find the show’s inherent surrealism as a perfect complement to their illicit activities. In fact, for the types of situations created in the show (like the talking ape or the “funk” producing amoeba from Old Gregg), one must assume that the creators were using some sort of mind-altering drugs when thinking it up. However, these are just assumptions, and so I thought I would do a little digging on the subject.

After doing some research on the series, my thoughts were confirmed as it turns out that at The Might Boosh’s live shows the average person is in their late teens to mid twenties and is oftentimes participating in illegal activities either before or during the show. In fact, many fans of the series have “viewing parties” where they get together and partake in illegal drug activity before watching the show. However, my thoughts on mind-altering drugs affecting the actual creation of the show may have been unfounded. It turns out that although Noel Fielding (one of the creators of the show) used to partake in many drugs like MDMA and horse tranquilizers, he and his co-creators have largely stayed away from these drugs over the years. In fact, they have come out many times stating that drugs come from a “dark place” and they instead like to maintain their “childlike and magical” innocence that makes the series what it is. This reveal completely shocked me as I was almost certain that like Pink Floyd or any other psychedelic musician, the drugs would be a part of what added to the surrealist product. However, the fact that these comedians do not actually need drugs in order to create their bizarre product speaks to the absolute creativity and talent that these artists must have.