The Mighty Boosh - Bowery Ballroom - July 21, 2009

They say (I don't really know who 'they' are) the most important thing to do when studying abroad is to immerse yourself in their culture. Now, if you're like me and you studied abroad in the UK, that basically means drink a lot (sometimes even Irn Bru), eat fish and chips, see fantastic British bands, and most importantly, become obsessed with The Mighty Boosh!

If you have no idea what The Boosh are, then I'm afraid reading about them here will really do you no good. In order to fully understand and appreciate them, you'll have to see their TV show, which you finally can, now that they're releasing the DVDs in the US in the American format!

To celebrate this milestone, the whole cast of the Mighty Boosh finally got off the stand by list and got a flight to America, to do two Myspace Secret Stand-Up performances, in both NY and LA. The New York show was literally announced the day prior and because it was first come first serve, the line(s) outside Bowery Ballroom were absolutely chaotic! Doors were at 9pm and shortly after opening, they were closed, and many fans were left outside. Fans of The Boosh are past borderline cult-ish, and there were many people dressed up as Howard Moon, Vince Noir, Naboo, Bob Fossil, and of course, Bollo. One fan went so far as to create a larger than life size Ruby, who on the show is Vince's "special friend" i.e. a "lady" interest of his which is actually just a stick with a coconut as a head!

The entire night was filled with video clips from the show, which were barely audible over the entire audience screaming the quotes and singing along to the songs. Vince (Noel Fielding) and Howard (Julian Barratt) performed skits, dark "theater", the occasional song, and most importantly a very brief crimp! Crimping for those not in the know, is when two or more people come together to create an a cappella scat-style nonsense song. To truly appreciate this, below is a video of when The Boosh performed the impossible 4-way crimp!

I tried stealing this, but failed miserably!

After about an hour long set, and appearances by Naboo, Bob Fossil (who taught the crowd some fantastic dance moves), and Bollo; Bowery Ballroom turned into a night club, where Brit-Pop music was being blasted from the speakers. While The Boosh's US debut was clearly a success, they only have one show left in the US, and unfortunately for middle-America, it takes place on the West Coast next Tuesday at The Roxy!

Things I learned from The Boosh last night:

• Step-ladders can be used to finger bang a giraffe
  
• Pinatas can be filled with semen
  
• The Moon's got 99 problems, but the bitch ain't one