Boosh duo are Mightier than ever

Following the sellout success of their debut live tour, bizarre comedy duo Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt of The Mighty Boosh return to the stage with their glorious mix of music and comedy.

The pair will play Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Wednesday October 5 and Thursday October 6 and tickets are priced £25.

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James Rampton delved into their dark and mysterious world to find out what we can expect from the Boosh this autumn - read his interview below.

If there was any doubt about the immense popularity of The Mighty Boosh it was removed earlier this summer when tens of thousands of fans congregated at the Hop Farm in Kent for the inaugural Mighty Boosh Festival.

It featured Noel and Julian's band performing alongside such rock legends as the Charlatans and Gary Numan. The screaming hordes of Boosh-istas had come to pay homage to their heroes.

But it was not just 'civilians' who revealed themselves as enormous fans of the Boosh. Noel takes up the story.

"For the finale of the Festival, people from all the other bands were going to dress up as our characters. But there was a curfew at 11pm and we ran out of time before the finale.

"Tim Burgess from The Charlatans, who was going to dress up as the Mod Wolf, was so disappointed. He looked like he was going to cry. It was like saying to a kid, 'You can't go to the zoo, Dad's car's broken.' He was devastated!"

So Tim Burgess, and millions of others, will be delighted to hear that there will many more opportunities to see The Mighty Boosh this autumn. Over the coming months, Noel and Julian are embarking on a major national tour.

It is the must-have comedy ticket of the moment, and the show, which will feature "up to 30 or 40 per cent music" promises to be an absolute blast. I predict a riot.

During the tour, Vince Noir (Noel) - a naturally cool dude who has the rare ability to look hip even while dressed in a sparkly silver jumpsuit teamed with giant platform shoes - and Howard Moon (Julian) - a nerdy jazz–obsessed square with a wardrobe consisting of beige polo necks and matching cords - will share the stage with a range of characters from their TV show, that has enjoyed three hit series on BBC2 and BBC3.

The duo are taking a break from rehearsals to give me a sneak preview of the sort of treats they have in store for you this autumn.

Noel and Julian are that rarity - a double act who are as funny off stage as on it. They enjoy a special chemistry which you just can't fake and to which audiences immediately warm.

Julian proffers a taster of what joys we can expect during the tour. "See Naboo the Enigma and his cape of wonder. Look on in wonder at Bollo, the ape that dreamt he was a man.

"Discover what mysteries lurk in the Hitcher's hat. Marvel at the Moon as he soothes with his idiot wisdom. Expect punks and yetis and monsters with elbow patches, in a psychedelic meteorite of music and mayhem."

It is perhaps the most eagerly awaited live comedy event of the year. But don't just take my word for it.

Reviewers have been queuing up to praise The Mighty Boosh. The NME has called them, "the funniest comedy double act in Britain."

The Times has enthused that the show is, "charming, audacious and genuinely innovative", and the Telegraph has dubbed it, "a beguilingly trippy comic universe, overwhelmingly fun for fun's sake."

The Observer has raved that it is, "a triumphant spectacle, one of the most joyful shows around." The Sunday Telegraph, meanwhile, has concluded simply that the Boosh is, "the funniest thing you will see this year on stage, television or film."

The pair, who won the Perrier Best Newcomer Award in 1998, are certainly very excited about returning to the live arena for the first time in two years.

"Live comedy gives you a particular buzz," beams Julian, 40, who hails from Yorkshire. "It's so instant. You get a reaction straight away. Having spent a lot of time making television recently, you hunger for that immediate response.

"It's great to find out what people think of your material right away rather than months or even years later. You can improvise as you're going along, which is a real thrill too. Live work is incredible, and when it goes well, nothing can beat it."

Noel and Julian have been performing together since they started setting out on weird and wonderful journeys together upstairs at a north London pub in the late 1990s.

They have come an awful long way in the last decade, and in the past couple of years their popularity has reached a new level. The Boosh have gone stratospheric.

"It has been amazing," says the always flamboyantly dressed Noel, the astonishment clear in his voice. "The only way I can measure it is by the people who come up to us in the street. It used to be just cool kids, but now it's cab drivers and chavs, which is great because it means you're appealing to more people.

"In the past, when I got into taxis, the cabbies would always ask, 'who are you?' Now they immediately say, 'the Mighty Boosh!' Chavs come up to me and say, 'that show is sick.' It doesn't sound it, but apparently that's good!

"They don't stab me, so that's fine – 'don't touch him, he's on telly'. When you dress the way I do, it's great to have things like that to save you!"

The Boosh appeal especially to youngsters. "Kids really like because there are lots of visual elements to it," reflects Noel, who is 35 and from London.

"It's one of those programmes kids tend to like more than their parents. It's like with music, if a parent says, 'that band is awful!' their kids will immediately go out and buy all their albums!"

So just why have the duo struck such a chord with audiences? "The Boosh is pure escapism," observes Noel.

"Stuff like The Office is great, but people know where it's coming from. When I was young, I used to watch The Goodies or Spike Milligan, and I had no idea where it was going. We try to create a world that people can get into and love.

"My favourite programmes - like Monty Python or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - conjured up their own worlds. Once you'd entered them, you could go where you pleased. We aim to do the same thing. We put in all sorts of different elements - music, animation, loads of characters.

"It's never too narrow. We've never stopped ourselves doing anything on the Boosh."

Julian underlines that it only works because of the inimitable chemistry that Noel and he create. "I'm sure we'll do things separately in the future, but it really works as a double act.

"As individuals we're very different, and that's crucial to our success. I have another friend who is a lot more similar to me, but the Boosh's spark comes from the fact that Noel and I have very different interests. You yoke us together and that generates a real creative friction. We can take the mick out of each other's delusions.

"We've created a universe we love, and it's fascinating to bring all sorts of different ideas to it. Difference is very important to us."

The creative well shows no sign of drying up any time soon. Noel and Julian are bursting with new ideas. The duo, who first broke into broadcasting in 2001 with The Boosh, a six-part series for Radio 4, have a book coming out in the autumn and are hoping to work on both a movie and an album next year.

The pair will remain popular because they never rest on their laurels. They are always searching for new ways to make us laugh.

"This business is quite ephemeral," Julian concedes, "and you have to maintain a healthy cynicism about it. There is a 'flavour of the month' aspect to it, so you have to keep moving on and mutating. We're never precious about work, we never say, 'right, that's it, that is the crystallised form of the Boosh.'

"We're interested in constantly trying different things."

Noel chimes in that, "it's vital to keep changing. If we kept doing the same thing, we'd soon get bored and the audience would say, 'we've seen that – next!' Fortunately, there are loads of new places to take the Boosh. We've never had a day where we've said, 'we haven't got any ideas today'."

I can't wait to see what they come up with next. Can you?

For more information visit their website at www.themightyboosh.com and to book tickets for their Civic performances call the Midland Box Office on 0870 320 7000 or go online at www.wolvescivic.co.uk