Describe the Mighty Boosh show without using any of the following adjectives - surreal, anarchic, zany, Dadaesque.
Those are the usual preconceptions, certainly. And they are to some extent borne out by the vast, possibly overblown, production that carries the show along - all fireworks and lights and costumes, talking disembodied heads and sorcery.
But at the heart of the Mighty Boosh are its two central characters, Vince Noir and Howard Moon (played by Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett respectively), who despite Noir’s spangly outfits and exciting hair are an old-school music hall double act in the spirit of Morecambe and Wise - Noir’s witty firecracker to Moon’s lumpen straight man.
The other three main performers - wizard Naboo (Michael Fielding) and his gorilla familiar Bollo (Dave Brown), and the frankly disturbing American Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher) - all get their moments in the sun and can be funny, but perhaps ironically the gig really works best when the curtain closes, concealing the vast sets and leaving Fielding and Barrett unadorned in the spotlights.
The first half consists of a series of standalone skits, including various musical numbers and a deeply troubling dance masterclass from Fossil, who has the O2 Arena crowd variously rubbing their nipples and thrusting their crotches while he parades the stage in a shorts-and-shirt combination that would barely fit a child, let alone a portly man in his 40s.
The second, which is stronger, is a play purportedly written by Moon - and then gleefully sabotaged by Noir - about the future and ecological disaster.
The manner in which Noir co-opts it - through a particularly hilarious piece of blackmail - is perhaps the funniest moment in the show.
A problem with the Boosh live is that it is essentially meaningless unless you've seen the programme. Otherwise it just comes across as five men on stage dressing up and snickering inexplicably at each other.
But, judging by the thousands of teenagers in Old Gregg costumes and the rapturous reception for every tiny in-joke, that was not an issue for most of the audience.
However, it does limit what the performers can do. The evening had the air of a Star Wars fan convention rather than a comedy show - people dressing up like their heroes and waiting for familiar lines and characters to drop reassuringly from the stage.
It is perhaps symptomatic that the weakest, and most poorly received, section of the evening was the one which (I am reassured) hadn’t appeared on the telly.
Krakow the Latvian standup, played by Fulcher, who just talks cod-Eastern European gibberish, would have been funny for thirty seconds. Five minutes was a serious stretch.
But self-congratulation, old material and in-jokes notwithstanding, it remains consistently funny. One finds oneself giggling rather than guffawing, generally, but still.
And just once every so often it hits you with a totally unexpected line - “I will POUNCE on you like a pinata full of semen!” yells an irate Fossil at the audience - that reminds you why they picked up so many devoted fans in the first place.
"He is slick and masterful in his audience control. He is quiet and unenergetic enough to demand close attention to his words, meaning the smallest look, frown or smile is funny." - Tom Howard on Demetri Martin
