How The Mighty Boosh Shaped Wonka Director Paul King's Filmmaking Career [Exclusive]

Director Paul King is best known for delivering the first two installments of the charming and delightful "Paddington" franchise. Sadly, he won't be at the helm of "Paddington in Peru," the forthcoming third film in the series, but that's because he opted to step into the sweet world of Roald Dahl with "Wonka." The origin story of the famed chocolatier from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" has become one of the biggest box office hits of 2023, and King is already working on potential ideas for a "Wonka" sequel. But 20 years ago, Paul King was just a scrappy young filmmaker cutting his teeth on a cult favorite comedy series across the pond.

"The Mighty Boosh" is a sketch comedy series from the United Kingdom that debuted on the BBC back in 2004. The series feels like Monty Python meets "Kenan & Kel," with an absurd and musical touch reminiscent of "Flight of the Conchords," even though the series preceded the New Zealand import by a few years. Creators Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt lead the series, respectively, as the cool but meandering glam-rock-styled Vince Noir and the ambitious but blundering Howard Moon. The duo work as employees at a small zoo, where there's a strange assortment of characters, such as the boss Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher), a mystical shaman named Naboo (Michael Fielding), and a sentient gorilla named Bollo, not to mention the occasional appearance of Matt Barry as the eccentric scientist Dixon Bainbridge. But the second and third seasons focus more on the characters' shenanigans outside of the zoo.

The series found Vince and Howard getting into a series of fantastical and strange misadventures, such as trying to form an electro band to impress some girls, escaping monkey hell, trying to track down the mythical Fountain of Youth on another planet, and struggling to defeat a band of doppelgangers who form a group known as The Flighty Zeus. Oh, and they often played multiple characters outside of Vince and Howard too. Every single episode across three seasons of "The Mighty Boosh" was directed by Paul King, which provided the filmmaker with both an education and a proving ground for his future filmmaking exploits. 

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the premiere of "The Mighty Boosh," so when I got a chance to speak with Paul King leading up to the home media release of "Wonka" (available now on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD), I wanted to dig a little bit into his history with the cult favorite comedy series. As King recalled, he hadn't done much directing before the series came along:

"I learned so much making "The Mighty Boosh." I'd really done hardly anything before that. I'd directed some performances on this show called "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace," but I didn't really know one end of the camera from another, and Noel and Julian just gave me the opportunity of a lifetime when they asked me to direct their show. I think what was nice was we were all learning together. So their influence runs so deep in my DNA, and it's kind of all over the place, really, I suppose."

When you watch "The Mighty Boosh," there's a real makeshift sensibility about it, with cheap animal costumes, hokey blue screen effects for driving, and small sets reminiscent of '90s television. But that's all part of the show's wacky charm and off-kilter antics. It's kind of the perfect environment for a filmmaker to be able to experiment and play with the medium while also learning the basics of directing television. And when you're working with comedians like Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, it's just plain fun. In fact, it's their playfulness that taught King an important lesson in collaboration:

"I think one of the things I learned was, they're such incredible improvisers, and it made me fall in love with the spontaneity that you can sometimes have. Which is difficult when you have this huge machine of a film moving forward, and people have built something or you've got one idea and you've really piled all your hopes into it. But if a better idea comes along at the last minute, you have to embrace it. Especially with actors and performance, my favorite thing is working with actors who will make the script funnier than I ever dreamed and will come up with a line that I hadn't come up with. To be open to that and work with that is a pleasure."

Since 20 years have passed since "The Mighty Boosh" premiered across the pond, has there been any talk of a potential reunion that gets the whole gang back together? I'm sorry to say that it doesn't sound like there's anything in the works. When asked about a possible anniversary celebration of some kind, King said:

"I don't think so. I've spoken to Noel a couple of times recently, and I know there's an awareness of the 20th birthday, but I'm not sure what they're doing to celebrate. Hopefully, they're going to finish that movie script that they've been owing for the last 15 years."

Yes, Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett have talked about making a "Mighty Boosh" movie as far back as 2009, but the last time it was ever really discussed seems to be back in 2012. Of course, we've yet to hear any actual news about it coming together, even though Fielding did tease a potential return sometime this decade. However, if Paul King hasn't heard anything, then we're probably going to be waiting a while longer. The 20th anniversary of "The Mighty Boosh" would be a great time to have some kind of announcement, so we hope they're paying attention!

All three seasons of "The Mighty Boosh" are available on Hulu in the United States, but be warned that there are some culturally insensitive portrayals that haven't aged well.