Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy - Series 1 [DVD]

As you may notice the other reviews for this come from two militant camps , the 5 stars and the 1 stars.

Most of the 5 stars will say "this is not the boosh!', this is true. The Mighty Boosh was an outstanding programme at it'speak (radio series and series 1). This was because Noel and Julian had been touring their show for several years, allowing an immersive world to grow around them organically, and more impostantly,finding out what worked and what didn't. Series 2 suffered 'difficult second album syndrome' but what still highly watchable but by series 3 found suffered from diminishing returns as they played out old gags and made explict all the nice little asides that made the boosh world so engaging (i.e the cimping episode).

Luxury comedy comes on the tail end of these and finds Fielding trying to break free from this by exploring his more surreal edge. Unfortunately, as has been mentioned by the 1 stars, this often comes at the expense of any humour. To be fair to the programme though I'm not sure it is meant to,or even needs to be particularly funny. Its strenght lies in it's plethora of engaging and dreamlike little sequences and animations that those with an artistic bent will enjoy and it has a nice late night stoner feel.

The problem alot of it gives of the air of throwing and seeing what sticks. Nothing feels fully developed and there are some sketches (?) which are annoyingly tedious. I think the crux of the problem lies in quality control. This is very much Noel's show, and I get the feeling that due to his celebrity it was probably yes men'd the whole way through, which is a shame because I think he could have made something a lot more worthwhile. Basically he needs his straight man (Barrett).

Overall I would lean towards recommending it but don't get your hopesup.

Ok rant over !

I have a confession. I was never into the mighty boosh. Not sure why, it just seemed to pass me by. It came along too late for my stoner-student days, though I'm sure I'd have appreciated it more back when I had long hair and red eyes.

I got into this series by accident: it was on when I got home late one night (stupid shifts) and there was nothing else on. I can't say I loved it immediately either, I thought it was a bit weird just for the sake of being weird and didn't see the point of most of it. It lacked structure. I like my comedy shows to have structure.

I did, however, love 'Fantasy Man' immediately, and it was this character that prompted me to record the rest of the series. This character, in sequin chain-mail and with a plastic cup for a beard, would go on quests in an alternative reality with graphics harking back to ZX Spectrum days. He was the way in to the series for me, something I could point to as a reason to continue watching,

I grew quite fond of Noel and his bizzare friends. Andy Warhol was a surreal and quite sinister home-help, while Smooth (the butler type character) was friendlier even if his exact origin couldn't be determined. Half human, half elephant? And was I the only one to find Dolly hot? I thought she was hot. In a strange, post-ironic post-feminist kind of way. This show makes you think you can use terms like 'post-ironic' and 'post-feminist' in conversation.

Slowly, it grew on me. I found myself quoting bits of the show, and chuckling about sketches weeks later. And as confirmation of its 'grower' status, I still find myself thinking of lines from the show and laughing. The Brian Ferry kite didn't strike me as particularly funny at the time, but it really is! It's genius!

It's a bit hit and miss, but the benefits of such wild and surreal experimentation outweigh the odd awkward Doo-Rag. Overall I enjoyed it very much, and I'm looking forward to the release of the box set.

Where has this conception that the Mighty Boosh was a polished and rounded piece of classic comedy come from? Like Luxury Comedy, the Boosh is a cult hit due to it's DIY amateurism, charisma and creative ingenuity.

Luxury Comedy also has its moments of being embarrassing and awkward and there are several points at which it feels Noel might improve it by dropping some of his comedic tics, but it is this direct unpolished-ness that is its essence. It is an onslaught of prolific creativity- a joyous engagement with craft and irreverence, fun, silliness and peculiar interludes. It represents, to me, all the things which are positive in the arts - freedom, complete immersion, identity, richness in content and heavy on the nonsense.