DVD review by Steve Bennett

The Mighty Boosh’s Future Sailors tour isn’t so much a comedy show as a twisted take on an old-fashioned variety line-up. As Vince Noir and Howard Moon, Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt indulge in some frisky front-of-cloth banter between introducing an array of acts – many of which are, of course, them in elaborate and uncomfortable costumes.

Rich Fulcher comes on in his appallingly ill-fitting Bob Fossil shirt to get the audience dancing (which involves such exertion he ends up dry-retching on his hands and knees) or as the indecipherable Lithuanian stand-up Krakow; Bollo the gorilla helps Naboo the shamen with some gangsta rapping; or Fielding’s vile Hitcher parades through the audience seeking victims.

It’s a big, brash, ramshackle spectacle, lasting more than two hours, but only infrequently funny. Laughs tend to come as asides in quieter segments, such as when Vince and Howard trade insults, or during the wardrobe malfunctions, scripted or otherwise. The comedy moustache that ‘accidentally’ never sticks to a performer’s face is a slapstick staple – but the Boosh go bigger with Barratt getting into a ‘foxy shambles’ with Crack Fox outfit, or Fielding struggling to hold his position when he’s stuck in an armchair for his tentacled Tony Harrison character. And Fielding’s Moon, the ‘alabaster simpleton’ that hovers over proceedings, is as sweetly charming as ever.

But too often the show falls into utter indulgence – especially in the second half, which is given over to a supposedly serious play what Howard wrote, dropping his ‘truth bombs’ about a dystopian post-apocalyptic future that is inevitably undermined by Vince’s vision involving a lot more shiny silver and sexy disco robots. The writing here is flabby, and shorn of any of the invention that made the TV series such a deserved cult hit.

The last 25 minutes or so is given over to the Boosh indulging their rock-star fantasy, jumping around a lively jam of songs such as I Did A Shit On Your Mum. It’s nice to end on a song, but this, session, like much of the live show, overstays its welcome, and is only saved by a gag at the expensed of the Sugar Monster, who was accused of plagiarising the boys’ distinctive ‘crimp’ style of rapping in his adverts.

The Manchester audience – many of whom have turned out dressed as their Boosh heroes – seem not to care, and there’s a cacophony of whoops and hollers from the crowd. But the party atmosphere doesn’t translate well to disc, and the show is so haphazard that it’s unlikely to win the duo any new fans.

Main feature: 127mins
Extras: Depends on which version of the DVD you get
Released by: Universal Pictures, November 16
Price: £19.99 for the basic edition. Click here to buy from Amazon for £12.68

Here’s footage from the official DVD launch earlier this week:

Published: 20 Nov 2009