The Mighty Boosh

(Taken from an existing analysis for revision purposes)

The Mighty Boosh, at first glance is more surreal than anything else, with the main characters being (in the first series) two zookeepers - Howard Moon and Vince Noir, the zoo owner - Bob Fossil, one shaman and strangest of all, a gorilla. Many other minor characters are also played by Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett, which in itself could be considered postmodern, as a form of bricolage, but also because some of the characters they play are direct references to other people, both real and fictional (e.g. the Spirit of Jazz can be seen as a representation of Slash from Guns and Roses, and also Papa Lazarou from the Leage of Gentlemen). This is not only intertextual, but it also draws attention to the celebrity-obsessed culture that we live in, as many references made are to celebrities. Vince also craves fame, and will constantly re-invent himself in order to do that - one day he is a punk, the next he is a goth.

 At the beginning of the first series, Vince and Howard begin each show with a direct address to the audience about what is to come. Not only is this self-reflexive, as it draws attention to the constructed nature of the text and also references what is considered to be 'high art', the theatre, with curtains behind them.
 The use of bricolage throughout allows the show to reference many different genres, from music videos (the tundra rap) to fantasy ("welcome to mirror world") and romantic comedy, not to mention the cartoons used throughout later episodes. This mixing of genres is typically postmodern, however, The Mighty Boosh tends to blur the boundaries between genres rather than use bricolage in the traditional sense. The Mighty Boosh can be classed as a comedy, musical, fantasy, science fiction and many more besides. This show also parodies many other shows, as well as genres in general. The episode 'Mutants' is a  parody of the sci-fi/horror genre, and a more precise parody is 'The Nightmare of Milky Joe', which is a parody of the film 'Castaway' starring Tom Hanks. Obvious parallels can be drawn between the two texts, with Tom Hanks' character creating an imaginary friend out of a football, and in The Mighty Boosh, Howard creates Milky Joe from a coconut. However, The Mighty Boosh takes the idea one step further into the surreal, with the coconut people coming alive to capture Howard and Vince.