''Unnatural Acts'' (also spelt ''(Un)natural Acts'') is a

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

series written by Julian Barratt,

Seán Cullen Seán Cullen (born August 29, 1965) is a Canadian actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for combining improvisation with mimicry and music. He is known for providing voices of characters in shows like ''Best Ed'', ''Seven Little Monsters,'' a ...

, Rich Easter, and

Rich Fulcher Richard Fulcher (born November 18, 1968) is an American comedian, actor and author. He played Bob Fossil and other characters in the British comedy series ''The Mighty Boosh'', and Edward Sheath in the American series '' Jon Benjamin Has a Van''. ...

fist broadcast in 1998 on the Paramount Comedy Channel, now known as

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

Recurring sketches

The Zookeepers

One of the recurring sketches shows Julian Barratt and

Noel Fielding Noel Fielding (; (born 21 May 1973) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongside Julian Barratt in the 2000s, and more recently as a co-presenter of ''The Great British Bake Off'' ...

as zookeepers, having the same kind of wordy, bragging discussions that later became an integral part of '' The Mighty Boosh''. Some of the topics from ''Unnatural Acts'' were kept in ''The Mighty Boosh'', e.g. "don’t touch me", "never tremble with a newt" and "his eyes are like black holes", as well as the many threats of the nature "I'll come through your flesh like soft cheese", "I'll take your arms off gently, it will tickle, but then I'll punch your stumps" or "I'll get forty trained grasshoppers to kick your eyes out and replace them with wheat. You’ll be known as 'wheat eyes'". The zookeepers are called Alan and George, but there are mentions of a person called

Bob Fossil ''The Mighty Boosh'' is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Recurring characters from the television series, the radio series, and the various stage shows are listed below. Most of the recurring charact ...

. Parts of Bob Fossil's traits in ''The Mighty Boosh'' can be spotted in some of Rich Fulcher's characters in ''Unnatural Acts''.

Street vendor

Another recurring sketch is a distinctively northern English crazy street vendor ( Julian Barratt) who attempts to sell such things as chicken puppets, earrings and batman capes.

Gay policemen

Another recurring sketch is two policemen who instead of focusing on the job flirt and/or have little relationship fights with each other.

The Lighthouse

An old man and a little boy get up to shenanigans in a lighthouse, such as playing hide-and-seek or opening the refrigerator door repeatedly. The "wind" joke from the

Mighty Boosh The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six-episode radio series, it has since spanned a total of 20 television episodes for BBC Three which aired ...

series one episode "Charlie" originated in this sketch.

"It's too hard."

A husband ( Julian Barratt) and wife attempt to do simple things (read a bus schedule, play Monopoly) but are hindered by their farsighted inability to read anything, and quickly give up, often muttering, "It's too hard."

Connections with ''The Mighty Boosh''

*The recurring Alan and George characters are played by Julian Barratt and

and work in a zoo, much like Howard Moon and Vince Noir. *Alan and George mention a zookeeper called Bob Fossil. *A character played by

is referred to as 'Bob' and another as 'Robert'. *An alien creature played by Rich Fulcher resembles Tommy Nookah. *A tramp played by Julian Barratt is shown selling

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

capes.

The Mighty Book of Boosh ''The Mighty Book of Boosh'', known as ''The Pocket Book of Boosh'' in the paperback version, is a collection of original and archive material relating to The Mighty Boosh, published in 2008. The book contains original stories featuring popular ' ...

and

Boosh Live ''The Mighty Boosh Live: Future Sailors Tour'' was a stage-show written and performed by Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, also known as The Mighty Boosh. Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown (comedian), Dave Brown also performed in th ...

reference Howard as previously being a tramp who sold Batman capes. *The lighthouse keeper searches for the source of a wind blowing, which turns out to be his young child companion. Vince performs a similar trick on Howard in ''Charlie''. *In a conference, Julian Barratt refers to eels. Similarly, Mighty Boosh has an episode and song titled 'Eels'.

External links

* * 1998 British television series debuts 1998 British television series endings 1990s British television sketch shows English-language television shows {{UK-tv-prog-stub