Will the first series be released on DVD?

I think they do that usually after youíve written the second one, or the second ones been on or something. Donít know about the logic of that. They say things like theyíll get it out before the second series goes out on terrestrial

Stuart Murphy has indicated that the first series will go out pre-watershed when itís shown on the BBC.

J Thatís what everyoneís saying and thatís why its taking so long cos theyíve never really put a show like this on pre-watershed and theyíre a little nervous, so theyíre trying to find the right slot for it and trying to find an uninterrupted slot so they can show all eight. Cos eight is quite long I guess, two months where it wonít get moved around. Theyíre trying not to move it around

(As BBC2 did with Lee & Herringís TMWRNJ)

N Thatís not good is it. Even if it moves around half an hour or an hour, you canít be arsed cos if you tune into something and its not on you get all annoyed and go ìI havenít got all day!î

[Noelís mind suddenly turns to the release of the Audio CDs.]

N That was great about the radio show, I think it really helped, that petition. Well thatís what they said to us when we asked if it had an effect cos I know that when a lot of Garth (Marenghi) fans were going we want the second series (of Darkplace on Channel 4), ìwe want the second seriesî, they got five thousand people emailing in. They (Matt Holness and Richard Ayoade) didnít, they didnít have anything to do with it and Channel 4 accused them saying it was all their mates and they said, ìwhat five thousand?! Weíve only got four mates but so I just thought maybe those things are just pointless.

I emailed it to John Pidgeon at BBC Radio.

N Yeah, cos I saw him in the street and he was saying that heíd spoken to them and said that they should put it out now, but I think that really that (the petition) was more influence. We should put some message on the board saying thank you.
J Yeah.

Noelís SohoHo gig

N It was insane. It was weird wasnít it? When I went outside they all came outsideÖ loads of people didnít stay ñ he (the promoter) said to me can you go outside cos youíre blocking the doors and stuff so I went outside, and loads of people just got up and went and I went ìyou canít just go!î Steven k Amos was on. I didnít see him but he made me laugh. You know what heís like with his cheeky laugh. He was laughing straight away. At my outfit.
J I should have turned up as your driver at the end of that gig. ì Come on get inÖ oi back off!î
N Or one of those things that you wheel.
J Those rickshaws

Are you going to do any live Boosh shows?

N We wanna. We were thinking of doing some nights to try bits out for the series like a night per episode but obviously if one is set in space I donít know how weíd be able to recreate a meteor storm, but we could do some of the dialogues and some of the songs
J We might do that somewhere, maybe before Xmas.
N We're thinking of doing that and we really wanna do some life stuff donít we?
J Weíre going to go touring eventually.
N But weíve got to get this out the way.
J Gotta get this second show done
N Weíve got to write it by Xmas so we havenít really got much time, its not long.
J So the idea is, we do the second one and then we go on tour I spose. Iíd like to N We could spend some time getting a good show together.
J Weíre thinking of maybe taking Rich and Naboo on tour
N And then do a bit of a musical thing. Do some music and do a bit of the showÖ.I was thinking we could do a bit of a cabaret type thing with a bit of a story and then a music thing at the end ñ 3 or 4 songs at the end
J Maybe get together a little band
N Like slipknot
J The Hitcher on vocals, Mr. Susan on guitars, Bollo on drums, Naboo on keyboardsÖ
N ..SitarÖ
J Sitar, yeah. Do some tunes like that.

N We just got nominated for a Loaded award as well for Best TV Show.

[Nigel walks in (Nigel is a friend of the Boosh from way back and animates the cartoon sections and also designed the opening credits for the show)]

N Hereís nige ñ have you met Nige?
J You know nige donít you?

[They then go off into a discussion about Nige being tannedÖ]

J Actually going to try and put more animation in the next series.

Does it take long?

J Yeah
N Whatís good is that I just could draw the characters and they can do all the rest which is great cos Ivana is really great at it so she can pretty much do it. We might put the moon in it as well.
J Weíre thinking of sticking all this stuff in it.
N Weíre trying to make it a bit more crazy, not crazy but a bit more funÖ no, a bit more collagey, a bit more loads of stuff going on, more music, more animation.

Where is the second series going to be set? The zoo? A post-office?

J Donít know yet. Weíre still trying to figure it out, weíre writing stories so weíve got about four but they donít really involve being anywhere so we donít really know where.
N A house in a wood? Weíre not sure
J Or we might be in a zoo but weíre just gonna sort of see cos most of the stories are going off quite quickly into the woods, or to desert islands, the ocean orÖ so it seems like theyíre all going to be adventures where we go away so I don't know whether we really need a big placeÖ
N Weíre keeping the curtain, we really like the curtain bit, we might make a bit more of that but then I think we probably need one scene before we go on adventures so its whether we need to set up a whole zoo for that one scene. Might be easier to be sitting in a weird room watching telly.
J The things we liked in the first series were Bollo, Naboo, we thought they were greatÖ
N Öthe animation, the music and the stories really and our double act stuff but we donít want to do big long dialoguesÖ
J Weíre going to try and take those things we liked and make short stories out of them. We might bring back the other charhcters as well like Mr. Susan and the Hitcher and stuff like that, and Rudi or something ñ try and get them back in it.
N Weíre thinking of a spanishy, westerny Zorro but with Rudi maybe. That might be a good idea. Weíre not sure of any of these things yet like the Hitcher being a baddyÖ in a kind of Egyptian desert and Naboo is maybe a sultan with a black turbanÖ maybe heís going to be the baddy in the cowboy one. We could use some of the same characters, that might be really good. I really like Rudi but he was in the whole series for like two minutes so it was a real shame that we didnít get to explore them a little bit more. Weíre thinking of a narrator as well, a pine cone narrator, or maybe a narrator in lots of them. Just a different narrator every week
J Who gets killed every weekÖ
J Also the animation, making it smaller bits instead of big longÖ
N No, Mark Freeland (Head of Comedy at the BBC) loved long ñ we want to put a bit more animation in but not in a formulaic way, just keep them guessing a bit, we might put the moon in it. Weíve sort of written of an idea for the moon. A couple of ideas cos one in space as well so just put the moon in it. Loads of people are going to do stuff like that so I want to get it out.
J (Simon) Farnabyís horse (in his solo-show) is a bit like that.
N I want to get it out before he does his foreign horses! So yeah, a lot more things like that, we want to make the direction a little more dynamic as well. A bit more movement to make it more interesting, we might do an episode in black and white.

J whatís the feedback like on the website? Whatís the favourite episodeÖ
N Itís Arctic. And Charlie is quite popularÖisnít it? Its weird. Jungle was quite popular as well. Mutants and Killeroo are not very popular are they?! Mutants has got no votes, or one or something (laughs), really strange.. dunno, they obviously like the adventures

Everyone likes Mr. Susan (Julia Davis pops her head through the door ñ Julian explains sheís working down the corridor)

N Richard (Ayoade) and Matt (Holness) are working next doorÖ
J Itís quite good fun actually.

(Steve Coogan comes into sight through the glass door pane)

N There's cooganÖheís all brown from LA. Can we get Coogan out the building heís putting me off?!

How did Mr. Susan go from a man whose face is covered in strawberries to a man made of dusters who is the guardian of the Mirror World!?

N Is he in the stage show? (Laughs cos heís forgotten)
J He had strawberries on his head, he was wearing a strawberry balaclarva wasnít he?
N Oh was he yeah, was that Mr Susan?! He had banana hands and I pulled his banana hands and he went ìoooohî, he came onto that weird musicÖ
J That was Rich Fulcher wasnít it?
N You know originally he was in the first thing we ever wrote.
J Mr. Susan?
N He was in ìBoyz In The Woodî, the first idea we ever had was a house. Channel 4 paid us to write a sitcom (it was never made), it was in a house set in a wood and he was in the mirror, I donít even know if he was in the mirror actually.
J He was the gatekeeper. Wasnít he the man on the door?
N Maybe yeah but he was made of chamois leathers and stuffÖ ìMr. Susanî (Noel does the characterís voice)Ö we didnít have any jokes for him though.
J No but weíre thinking of exploring Mr. Susan a bit moreÖ cos he starts to tell a story about how he was once a handsome man ìI used to be vain like youî (again in Mr. Susanís voice) so then we were thinking maybe do a story about how he was really handsome in the early days, he was so vainÖ
N Heís trapped in the Mirror World ñ he could do songs and stuff ìevery where I look I see my own faceÖ everywhere I gaze I see my own faceî and heís just like this weird man and heís gone a bit wrong. But then we were thinking whoever goes in there, cos when you go through you get one chance to go where you want otherwise you replace him and everyone always gets it right, but maybe we were thinking someone gets it wrong and he goes ìyes, freedom!î and heís all ready to go and tries to leave and gets it wrong. (laughs) ìI had it, it was thereî and heís all really angry going ìoh..!î

Nigel ñ I think people will be disappointed if you donít exploit the charactersÖ
N Weíve go a lot for Naboo ñ a lot of ideas.
J Itís his show, this series is Naboo's series
N In France they love him, heís like a cult figureÖ
(Julian laughs)
N Julian went over there and they were all goingÖ
J ìNaboo, who is that guy Naboo.î It goes out on sky. All my mates have got sky over there so they can watch it.
N They all love NabooÖNabooís going down pretty wellÖ itís kind of hard on the board with all the messages on, itís quite hard sometimes you get people going ìI really like thisî specifically but some are just ìI like noelís cowboy bootsî and you go ì thatís not helping... î (laughs) Itís quite scary as well cos there are some on there saying I hope noel enjoyed Reading, I hope Noel enjoyed Camden and youíre going ìOh Christ Iím being stalked!î but it doesnít help the show cos you want someone to go ìI really like this but I didnít think they explored thisîÖ and youíd goî oh great.î From what I can ascertain people really like Bollo as well. We were thinking of putting him as a main character.
J You know a little bit every week. We did almost do that this series
N We were gunno and then we decided against it.
J We still wonder about the audience situation, thereís no audience. We think that allows people to go on a bit of an adventure and makes it more magical. I watched something the other day for children called ìShoebox Zooî or something, its like a Harry Potter type.
N Did you watch that?
J Itís like one of those sort of childrenís sort of fantasy things which is everything I hate about magic. Itís quite good, there are quite good production values in it butÖ

(The subject changes to Harry Potter)

J have you seen the third one yet? I havenít seen that yet. Iíd quite like to. They tried to bring it up to date a bit and make it a bit more rock ëní roll
N I canít stand Harry PotterÖ
J (Putting on a Mr. Susan type accent) Mr. gombledookÖ Mr. Bomplehoon..
N Quick! Here comes Mr. LettersoonÖ Then they just go ìand the dragon and the unicornî Itís all magic by numbersÖ unicorns, magic dragons, they donít do anything with them they just go ëoh, that is the layer of the dragon.í There is no difference, the dragon breathes fire.. ooh. It makes me angry. But kids love all that stuff but I think theyíd prefer it if something good happened with all that stuff.
J If ours goes pre-watershed which is what theyíre talking about ñ itíll be on at or eight or six or somethingÖ
[Nigel makes a comment about swearing Ö ]
J they might have to beep it out or cut it out.

N We got nominated for a Loaded award, for the Laftas today. Best TV Show. Up against the Simpsons, Little Britain, Green Wing, Bo Selecta.
J Have you seen Green wing?
N Donít get me on Green Wing, weíll be here all day and itíll all be black bile! (Laughs) Itís just pointless isnít itÖ
J Green JamÖ

Did you have to drop any characters?

J We donít have to drop anyone, weíre thinking we might.
N We had to tame the Hitcher down a bit. Itís so expensive to shoot that you really have to know what youíre not going to put in and what you are, so we did cut out a lot of stuff early on in rehearsals and whole strands of stuff. We cut out some stuff with Dave Hadingham and Bob Fossil that was fine, it was all really good but we didnít have time
J In Electro there was this whole other story line with this weird cockney bloke and Fossil being intimidated by him. They were really good scenes.
N But we just couldnít keep them there was not enough time.
J It was too long and then we suddenly realised we could take out the whole story line and it wouldnít affect the spirit of jazz story line, so we did and we lifted it all out which is a shame cos there were some really funny scenesÖ maybe we can put them on the DVD.
N We shot it all, thereís a great scene with Naboo where David Hadingham is threatening him, its really funny. And a scene where my whole face is made out of Euros and Bob Fossil is looking at me, thinks he makes money out of me. Itís quite good stuff, is a shame, it was a time issue reallyÖ
J Itís quite difficult getting them down to twenty-eight and a half minutes.
N I think we did too much as well cos we didnít realise that we just had too much going on, too many characters, plot set up and it took a bit of time to get into and we want to try and simplify it
J The thing we didnít like is maybe the way the zoo looked, especially the outdoors. Sounds a bit like a studio, looks a bit like a studio.
N Itís quite hard to make outdoor spaces look good indoors a studio unless theyíre fantasy spaces, like a wood which is a little bit magicalís fine but for a zoo thatís sposed to look real you slightly go, ëwhere is this place? Whyís there no-one in here? Whatís happening?!î
I watched Bollo the other day and its shot quite close, you donítí actually see that much of the zoo and thatís actually better than trying to do some wide shots of the studio zoo ñ we didnít like that did we? So thatís why weíre thinking of maybe a small room that we leave rather than a big zoo. Maybe Naboo lives there as well or maybe we just go and see Naboo or summon him on a ring, a magic ring whatever, and Fossil is our landlord maybe?
Weíre sort of thinking like that a little bit. Weíve got some musical themes as well, some Ragga we wanna do and some Prog Rock (laughs).
Weíre just sort of getting started really, the first series was really having a go at lots of different things and working out what we want to do next. Weíve got lots of ideas now, we donít have any shortage of ideas, its just a case of how to present them in the best way that they work really well. Our fans seem to be quite obsessed about it Öwhich is great, they really like the details so we want to make sure that we keep those details and those elements.
J It sort of takes people a bit of time I think (to get into the Boosh) I mean thereís no laughter. You go, ìI donít know whatís happening here.î
N I was thinking that all my favourite albums and all my favourite shows, I probably didnít like them at first. Usually if you hear a song on the radio and you really like it immediately, you usually hate it in two weeks. Usually you buy an album and you go this is unlistenable but after a few listens you go hang on this is great. All my favourite albums took me a year to get into.

Did you learn much from the pilot?

N Julian didnít learn anything.
J I learnt French during the making of the pilot.
N I was on a bull fighting course but I didnít finish it.
J We just thought lose the audience because we thought we want to go on adventures and we want to go to weird places and have musical numbers and you can do that with an audience I spose but we were more interested in creating a bit of a reality that people could believe in and go into. When you have laughter, itis alright laughter in the show I spose, the only thing you lose is a sort of energy. You have to really keep the energy up when youíre performing without an audience which is reallyÖ
N Öspecially the crew at the beginning.
J At first, some of the songs, and the jungle, they didnít get it at all and the crew were sort of staring at us and we were doing our little dialogues in the forest going ìlook at your hairî (Noel laughs) in a massive studio and our little voices and the crew were going ìthis is awfulî
N By the time we got into the swing of it they were loving it.
J Yeah.
N And then it made the whole atmosphere a bit moreÖ with an audience you are terrified so your adrenaline and your energy is huge and thatís brilliant but in another way you have a limited amount of takes and multi camera so it doesnít look very good, it looks very flat and it means that if you want to do a special effect or set up some musical number youíve got one shot at it and if it looks bad youíve got to use it.. What I found about the audience when we did the pilot was that we were doing a lot of banter with the crowd that wasnít in the show but they were really laughing at. The whole night was really good but then you watch it and once thatís all gone you just go ì whatís this?!î
J Itís like watching something that was really good on the night and going ì oh that obviously was a lot of fun to be thereî but I dunno a lot of people went ìoh I hate the laughter.î My mum as goingî that fake laughter that was awfulî and I said, ìno, thatís you. You were at the recording, thatís your laughter.î
N Thereís no fake laughter, we had to tone it down if anything or take it out. Thatís the only problem with laughter isnít it? If you leave it in as it is people go, ìwhat is this? A cult?î Cos you know weíd already been out and introduced ourselves to the crowd so for the first scene weíre in ape costumes and people go ìaaaah thatís brilliantî and you just go thereís nothing for the people at home to find funny. They just go ìwhatís going on?!î

Not everyone laughs at the same bits though.. N When we did it live it was never the same bits which were everyoneís favourites. There was always someone going ìoh I loved that line you did about sausage dogsî or ìI loved this bit about gloves that Julian did.î So itís never the same things. With an audience you are almost confirming certain laughs going ìthat bit is funny, this bitís quite funny.î Itís quite nice to leave it open for people I think.

Why did you decide to go back to calling the show The Might Boosh rather than The Boosh as it was for the pilot and the radio series.

J We thought, well, itís like The Rolling Stones, you always call them The Stones but theyíve not changed their name to The Stones just because people call them The Stones. Itís like we just call it Boosh.
N Everyone used to call us Boosh didnít they?
J Even though it is The Mighty Boosh I think people will still call it The Boosh, itís just originally we did call it The Mighty Boosh.
N That sounds a bit better, itís got a bit more of a ring to it hasnít it? Especially for Nige, doing the animation, he likes The Mighty Boosh. Visually itís much better. Dunno Maybe we went back to it as well cos we were trying to recapture something from the first live show as well. The essence of that and the energy and all the rawness cos when we first did that live show we didnít have a clue what we were doing and thatís what was good about it. It was the best show really in a way, probably not if you watch it now. It was so misguided and naÔve that it was great.
J We were facing the wrong way for half of it!
N And no one could hear anything we were saying either, that was the classsic. People go ìI came but I couldnít hear a word. I was straining for an hour to hear what you were saying!î I think it really gave it something cos we didnít know what we were doing

And we (the audience) didnít know what to expectÖ

N I think Mighty Boosh just feels a bit better. Itís like a whole world, trying to build a world and weíre trying to push it together in a way that we feel works. There are so many different elements. Trying to find a way of making them simple and funny.

[Nigel takes a phone call ñ its Dave Brown (see friends page).]

J Youíve got an exclusiveÖ Black FrostÖ

Noel brings up the subject of this website.

N Youíve been doing it for yonks. I think your siteís really good. Itís better than ours in a way, our official one.
J What are we going to do with itÖ? Weíve got to do some sort of thing that makes people go to itÖgive it some content at least! (They both laugh).
N Theyíre so boring to make though arenít they? Youíve been doing it for seven years, I go on Susanís , I never go on ours, if I want to know whatís going on I just go to yours. The forum is quite interesting isnít it, the way that certain topics come up like the radio show or the TV show going out on that Australian channel or they ask about the DVD.
J Our one we kind of wanted to get it set up so weíd have a place of entry to sell whatever we do
N We should put some more stuff on it maybe?
J Yeah
N Itís just that it was getting really expensive.. I havenít really got any money. We just want to make the second series better. Weíve learnt loads and we want to try andÖ itís quite free having no old stuff to cram in. Itís really great, so whenever we say ëshall we do one set in the desert or in Naboos planet?î we have no material so we donít have any limitations. Just all the ideas are new and we get excited about them, itís quite hard to get excited about stuff we wrote when we were twelve, you go oh not this old chestnut. (They both laugh).

Itís nice to see the old stuff.

J Yeah itís great.
N Itís like putting it to rest.

I ask about Rudi von Disanio.

N Weíre thinking of bringing him back as well.
J We were thinking of having him in the western and he goes ìget on my horseî and itís like a 2D horse.
N Everythingís 2D. We were thinking about having him as a Zorro character, he looks exactly the same in his really little mask.
J ìJust wait till I put my disguise on!î Then he puts on this tiny little thin mask..
N ìReally, is that your disguise?!î Iíve met him already and I owe him a favour donít I? (In Jungle when Rudi gives him the magic pipe).
J We were thinking that as well he goes ìI recognise you from the first series.î
N Yeah, ìI gave you a pipe in the first series, you owe me oneî and I goî oh yeah sorry about that.î We were thinking Susan (Noel and Julian call Mr. Susan by his surname which is somewhat confusing for me!) goes ìthereís someone asking for you in the mirror fortî and we go through and Rudiís there going ìmy children have been kidnapped and so we have to go to Mexico to find his children
J And we go ìwhat mirror do we go throughî and Susan goes ìah, that is the riddle of the mirror room,î and we go ìis it the one that Rudi appeared in just then?î ìNoÖî And we go through and Susan goes, ìdamn!î
N So basically heís Zorro so that might make it quite interesting cos heís like a psychedelic hendrix character
J Weíre trying to find an angle on a western to make it a bit more Booshy somehow.
N We were thinking maybe the villain is the Hitcher, the green Hitcher dressed in cowboy clothes.

TO BE CONTINUED...