Julian Barratt

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Julian Barratt

Julian Barratt in 2006
Born Julian Pettifer
4 May 1968 (1968-05-04) (age 40)
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.

Contents

[edit] 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 has certain elements of Julian's own personality which have been exaggerated. Howard labels himself a "jazz maverick" and 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 Mrs. Gideon who always forgets his name, Bob Fossil who often uses Howard as a puppet for his bizarre schemes and Bollo who often says his name wrong 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 played guitar for Little Chief during their European tour, and claiming to be a jazz fusion fanatic, he was in a band called Groove Solution in the early 90s. He composes all 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.

[edit] 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 magazine 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). The character of Brian Topp in Spaced was written for Julian but the part eventually went to Mark Heap. 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.

Julian has recently completed his directing debut for Warp films with theatre director Dan Jemmett. Curtains is set in a Norfolk seaside town, it is a dark comedy about a Punch and Judy man. The film was written by Barratt and Jemmett and will be released late summer 2008.

[edit] Personal life

Barratt is known to be media-shy, often quiet and self-deprecating during interviews.[2] Unlike his comedy partner Noel Fielding, he prefers not to appear in television comedy quiz shows saying he would 'rather be at home with a book.' He has a long term girlfriend, fellow comedian Julia Davis. She gave birth to twin boys, Walter and Arthur,[3] on June 25, 2007. Julian had to adopt the name Barratt as his professional last name to distinguish himself from an already well known reporter named Julian Pettifer.[citation needed]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Awards

  • 2008 The Mighty Boosh won Best TV Show at the Shockwaves NME Awards 2008.
  • 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

[edit] References

  1. ^ Peter York on Ads: No 289: Metz In: The Independent (September 5, 1999)
  2. ^ BBC - Comedy - People A-Z - Julian Barratt
  3. ^ Raphael, Amy. "Boys from the Boosh", The Observer Magazine, Guardian News and Media, 2007-10-21. Retrieved on 2008-04-26. 

[edit] External links

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