Julian Barratt

Julian Barratt
Birth name	Julian Barratt
Born	May 4 1968 (1968-05-04) (age 39) Leeds, England
Years active	1995 – present

Julian Barratt (born 4 May 1968) is an English comedian, musician, music producer and actor. Julian is best known for playing the character of Howard Moon in the cult comedy The Mighty Boosh.

Early life

Barratt was born in Leeds and studied at the University of Reading though he did not complete his degree. He was a member of the Leeds based band Little Chief, playing guitar with them on their European tour.

The Mighty Boosh

Main article: The Mighty Boosh

Barratt stars as the character Howard Moon opposite Noel Fielding's Vince Noir in the comedy series The Mighty Boosh. His character, Howard, is an exaggeration of Julian's own personality. He is a "jazz maveric" He claims to be an intellectual with many talents, calling himself a 'man of action', but in reality he is unsuccessful in his literary and romantic ventures. He is unpopular with many of the characters, including Bollo who often forgets his name or ignores him completely. In essence, he is the complete opposite of Vince Noir. Barratt is also an accomplished musician in a wide range of genres; he claims to be a jazz fusion fanatic - and was in a band called Groove Solution in the early 90s. He composes much of the music for The Mighty Boosh, helped by Dave Brown. The music included in the series is an eclectic range of genres including rap, heavy metal and psychedelic rock. Julian lists Allan Holdsworth as the only thing he is interested in on his section of the previous The Mighty Boosh official website.

Other television

Apart from his work on The Mighty Boosh, Barratt has had parts in other dramas, particularly Channel 4's slightly offbeat comedy programmes, often alongside Noel Fielding. He co-starred as Dan Ashcroft, a frustrated writer, in the Channel 4 media satire, Nathan Barley. He appeared in the surreal black comedy series Asylum alongside Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson (writers and stars of Spaced). He also appeared in the infamous "Freelance Scientist" commercial for Metz alcopop.^[1] He appeared as The Padre in the spoof horror series "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace". He also starred in and was a writer for the 1998 sketch show Unnatural Acts. Before this Barratt was involved in TV show The Pod with friend Tim Hope about a fictional techno band called The Pod. The show was unusual as it was animated apart from the heads of Barratt and Hope.

Personal life

Barrat is known to be media-shy, often quiet and self-deprecating during interviews.^[2] He has a long term girlfriend, fellow comedian Julia Davis. She gave birth to twin boys on the 25th of June 2007; they are called Walter and Arthur.

Filmography

• The Mighty Boosh Live (2006) — Howard Moon
• Nathan Barley (2005) TV Series — Dan Ashcroft
• AD/BC: A Rock Opera (2004) (TV) — Tony Iscariot
• The Mighty Boosh (2004-present) TV Series — Howard Moon
• Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004) TV Series — The Padre
• The Principles of Lust (2003) — Phillip
• The Reckoning (2003) — Gravedigger
• How to Tell when a Relationship is Over (2003) — Him
• Surrealisimo: The Trial of Salvador Dali (2002) — Rosey
• Lucky Break (2001) — Paul Dean
• Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala (2001) (TV) — Himself
• Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala (2000) (TV) — Himself
• Sweet (film) (2000) — Stitch
• Unnatural Acts (1998) — Various
• The Pod (1997) — Julian
• Asylum (1996) — Victor/Julian

Awards

• 2007 The Mighty Boosh won Best TV Show the Shockwaves NME Awards 2007
• 2001 The Boosh, first on London Live, then on Radio 4.
• 2000 Arctic Boosh won the Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
• 1999 Perrier nominee with Noel Fielding as Arctic Boosh
• 1998 Perrier Best Newcomer winner with Noel Fielding as the double act The Mighty Boosh
• 1995 Winner of BBC New Comedy Awards

References

1. ^ Peter York on Ads: No 289: Metz In: The Independent (September 5, 1999). Watch on YouTube.
2. ^ [1]

External links

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More spoken articles

   

• Official Mighty Boosh website
• The Guardian interviews Julian Barratt
• Julian Barratt at the Internet Movie Database