The British comedy team of Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, a.k.a. The Mighty Boosh, were recently presented with a difficult task. Explain the core component of British comedy as we know it. Not too daunting a task to try and put into words. Using their own hugely successful series, The Mighty Boosh, as an example, Barratt and Fielding say, it’s as simple as…..

Witty Banter + Fantastical Scenarios + the Coconut concept = Comedy brilliance

Sounds simple, right? Not according to Barratt and Fielding in this article from The New York Times where they break down a series that mixes situation comedy, music, animation and outlandish characters. Of course, knowing how TV works helps, but not mandatory as you’ll see from Fielding’s accounts of the early days of the partnership.

Having most everything shot down by Channel 4 in the UK in the early stages of the proposal stage, Fielding and Barratt heeded very good advice from the higher ups at Channel 4….do stuff that people would remember and that would stick in their heads visually. Taking the advice to heart, they had a vision much like the classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail but instead of using coconuts as horses, they created coconut puppets and related to them as human.

Definitely sounds like something that people would remember and that would stick in someone’s head visually, doesn’t it? Need visual verification of the genius that is The Mighty Boosh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmVypE4p1KE