FANS of The Mighty Boosh experienced a pang of familiarity when viewing the latest promotion for Sugar Puffs cereal.

The advert’s creator Bray Leino may suggest otherwise, but the idea of the Honey Monster and a friend performing a bizarre short, synchronised rhyme bore an uncanny resemblance to the trademark ‘crimping’ invented by Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, otherwise known as Vince Noir and Howard Moon.

Needless to say the duo took the opportunity to make sure the Honey Monster received his comeuppance in their latest stage production, performed before a rapturous audience at the Echo Arena.

The show began with the pair riffing on all manner of subjects, remarking on the size of the arena: ‘Are you guys at the back in Runcorn?’ while exchanging insults including Vince labelling Howard’s facial hair a ‘Bovril moustache’.

One by one the show’s favourite characters were given the limelight, Bob Fossil demanding the entire audience rise to their feet to engage in a dance workout: ‘Lick those lips, touch those nips’ and the eerily scary Crackfox threatening the crowd from his wheelie bin.

Cockney villain The Hitcher took to the floor, comparing his costume to those of fanatical audience members and the opening half closed with a performance from the Boosh Band – The Ungrateful Dead.

However, in the second segment proceedings became a little muddled, a play based on a bleak post-apocalyptic future failing to raise that many laughs and a few too many drawn out songs replacing the funnier script they relied upon in their first live tour.

But with avid fans dressed as the pink tentacled Tony Harrison lapping up their every word, Fielding and Barratt certainly look to have further cemented their shift from cult hit to mainstream phenomenon.