IN PRAISE OF THE MIGHTY BOOSH
"Comedy Is The New Rock & Roll," or so the NME claimed during a particularly bad dry-spell in the post-baggy Pop Will Eat Itself/Wonderstuff early 90s era. Jeez. The Mary Whitehouse Experience was selling out Wembley. "You know the guys who performed postmodern irony drenched anti-comedy comedy to a stadium full of students?
That's you that is." How we laughed. Of course, Comedy wasn't the New Rock & Roll at all. Izzard came close; big tours of plastic ice-hockey palaces. Loud techno music. I saw the guy a couple of years ago at Sheffield Arena, I though I'd wandered into a 'Zoo' era U2 gig. The Bowie of comedy...allmost. But The Boosh have nailed it. Someone finally did it. Noel Fielding is WAY more rock 'n' roll than mosta the rock 'n' rollers out there; better lookin', better dressed, better hair...and Julian, shit, he's justabout the coolest cat in Shoreditch, a John Coltrane diggin' muvva with a moustache. They are the Zappas of Comedy, a jazz-freak and an indie kid who have Keith Richards' messed up blood runnin' thru their veins. So far ahead of the pack it's almost a joke. I don't even know how much I LOVE the Boosh, summfin' 'bout 'em still sorta niggles at me (ie: second series...too much adventure, too few laughs, p'raps?)...but I know they're untouchably good. Stupidly good. There are moments of banter between the two of 'em that are easily the equal of Python, Cook & Moore, yadda yadda yadda, The Boosh is the best comedy we've produced since Spaced (better than Spaced? Tricky...) and I'll happily stand on Ricky Gervais' coffee table and shout that claim with all my heart & soul. I've come to the Boosh party late, but that's sorta par for the. I only heard the first Libertines LP last week. The Mighty Boosh deserves everything everybody says about it & more. Mr Ben + Captain Beefheart + Spaced = Boosh.
That's the sorta math I like to do.