The Comedy Blog gets all freaked out with the online premiere of season 3 of the Mighty Boosh

THE long-awaited return of Howard Moon and Vince Noir hits BBC3 on November 15, but is now available to watch in advance on bbc.co.uk.

In the time between series 2 and 3, writers and stars Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt have become bona fide comedy royalty, thanks to the slow-burn popularity of the programme and their lengthy stint of fantastic live dates last year. Partying with the likes of Johnny Borrell, Courtney Love and various underage Geldofs hasn’t done them any harm either, so there’s a certain sense of anticipation as to what they may have knocked out in the interim seeing as their status has changed so much.

Again the Boosh boys have changed the setting of the show – for their first outing, the pair were zookeepers; the second, flatmates; now they run a shop, Nabootique. And despite their higher profile, it looks as though they’re working on a lower budget than ever.

But Fielding and Barratt are inventive types, and as their best material comes from their verbal sparring, they have the personalities to shine through the cheapest set-up imaginable. Episode one, Eels, begins with the usual banter establishing Howard as the freakish loser and Vince, in low-cut catsuit, as the supercool king of the Mods (example - Howard is trying to flog a variety of elbow patches, Vince is profiting from tagging ultra-hip pop stars and telling fans where they are).

Meanwhile, Naboo and Bollo have gone on a stag weekend with the rest of the Shaman Council (including some top sniping between Fielding as the pink head of Tony Harrison and It Crowd’s Richard Ayoade as Saboo), The Moon makes a couple of appearances, and Rich Fulcher (forever known as Bob Fossil) is brilliant as horny widow Eleanor, who develops a mad crush on Howard after reading disturbing graffiti besmirching his name (“Howard Moon will bum you silly for loose change” is one statement left on the shutters of the shop).

Things really start getting weird, though, with the reintroduction of The Hitcher (Fielding again), never my favourite recurring character but a staple of the Boosh’s. By the episode’s token musical number (a Shamen-like dance track) the parallel with some kind of grown-up Mr Benn is one that every last critic will draw. I was never too good with all that Chortler and the Wheelies/ Blue Meanies-type trippy animation, as anyone who knows me will attest, and watched with an uncomfortable feeling of freaked-out dread.

The Boosh are happily plodding along with the usual formula, and thankfully still have the charm and talent to keep it worthwhile. Most fans love them far too much to be at all critical. All I can say is I hope the BBC treats series 3 with the respect it deserves – and gives them a couple more quid to spend next time.

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