In "Journey to the Center of a Punk", Vince is now a punk, with a performance coming up at the Velvet Onion. Meanwhile, Howard has ordered the most expensive jazz record of all time — a priceless original recording by Howlin' Jimmy Jefferson. The two world collide when Vince takes a bite out of the record, and becomes infected with a jazz virus that throws him into a delirium of compulsive Scat singing. If he isn't cured of the virus, he'll die within 24 hours.
The only solution is for Howard and Lester Corncrake to shrink down and enter Vince's body to hunt down the Jazz Virus themselves.
The Mighty Boosh episode "Journey to the Center of a Punk" contains these tropes:
- Becoming the Boast: Lester Corncrake spends the whole episode claiming to have skilled reflexes, yet fails horribly every time he has to throw or catch something, until the very end, when his reflexes are used to defeat the Spirit of Jazz.
- Blind Weaponmaster: Double Subverted. Lester Corncrake claims to have superhuman reflexes due to his blindness, but his claims fall flat until the end, when he is able to effortly catch a punk safety pin and stab the Spirit of Jazz with it, defeating him.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: Howard and Lester Corncrake shrink down into a submarine that gets injected into Vince, and must traverse his blood vessels and brain. The homage is complete with Seeker White Blood Cells and a title in the form of "Journey to the Center of X".
- Ghost in the Machine: Vince's body is controlled by his one brain cell and a team of security staff and secretaries.
- It's All About Me: The cells in Vince's brain highlight just how self-centered he is. The security guards read Vince Magazine (all about Vince) and his brain cell spends most of his time watching TV in which all the performers and announcers are Vince, and about him.
- Left the Background Music On: Howard goes into a rhapsody thinking about Vince and Jazz, while horn plays in the background. The next shot shows Lester Corncrake playing the trombone, until he stops playing and apologizes.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Parodied. The Jazz Virus stops Howard from killing him with the stunning revelation that he is his father. Howard screams for a long time in anguish at this, until he remembers that his father is a geography teacher in Leeds. The Jazz Virus then dramatically reveals that he's really Howard's uncle, cuing a dramatic reaction, until that too is debunked. This is implied to go on for some time as the virus churns through relatives, until the two of them emerge from the submarine on good terms, having settled that the Spirit of Jazz is Howard's second cousin twice removed on his mother's side. Then this too is debunked and they go back to fighting.
- Mission Control: Naboo and Bollo monitor Howard's progress within Vince in the submarine, and get them in and out of his body, but don't accompany him.
- Not What It Looks Like: Howard, seeing that the Jazz Virus is about to enter the brain, shoves Vince's brain cell into a closet to hide him. Vince's brain cell takes this as a come on, saying even though he goes both ways, he's not into Howard, implying he though he was trying to make out with him the closet, or something.
- One-Winged Angel: Compared to his previous appearance, where the Spirit of Jazz is humanoid, in this appearance he becomes a tentacled, barely-human abomination. He also becomes significantly more dangerous, threatening to kill Vince, and able to electrocute things with a single tentacled touch.
- The Quincy Punk: Vince and his punk friends all have the 70's-80's punk look of mohawks and bondage gear, and are mindlessly destructive and aimlessly angry and rebellious. Once Vince becomes a punk, he starts making a mess and antagonizing Howard for no reason. The sniffing glue aspect is subverted, as Vince has been stealing Howard's glue, but it's to make a punk scrapbook.Vince (singing): "I did a shit on your mum/ and she rather liked it"
- Produce Pelting: The audience throws beer cans at Vince's band after Vince starts scatting and boo them offstage.
- Running Gag: The documentarian telling everyone around him to ignore him, he's not really there, while doing something very invasive and noticeable.
- Satchel Switcheroo: Howard takes two briefcases on the submarine: one containing a harpoon loaded with a deadly anti-jazz toxin, the other containing his lunch. Guess which one he takes with him to fight the Jazz Virus? He ends up throwing a sandwich at the Spirit of Jazz, who is mildly perturbed by the mayonnaise-laden assault.
- Scatting: Demonstrated by Howard, who claims it was invented by "Howlin' Jimmy" Jefferson. Vince claims it's his least favorite part of jazz, but once he becomes infected with the jazz virus he ruins his punk show by improvising nonsense words.
- Seeker White Blood Cells: Howard and Lester's progress is blocked by a swarm of white blood cells who see them as an enemy to be destroyed. Howard goes out in a scuba suit to have a one-on-one talk with them. Eventually he's able to convince them that he's their friend and to go after the Jazz virus instead with a crimp about pancakes.
- Sexy Secretary: Vince's brain cell is guarded by a secretary (who's also Vince in drag) dressed like a 60's sexpot with teased-up hair. Vince's brain cell seems to have a thing for her and talks about seeing her after work.
- Touch of Death: The Jazz Virus can kill a red blood cell with a single touch of a tentacle.
- Trickster Mentor: Lester Corncrake styles himself as a wise old mentor giving Howard advice, but he constantly uses this as an excuse to troll Howard. For example, he repeatedly tells Howard to close his eyes and improve his abilities, only to use this as an excuse to throw things at him.
- Vague Age: Highlighted when Lester Corncrake, who looks about 70, claims that he and Howard are both old men. Howard replies indignantly that he has 40 years of "vibrant sexual vitality" remaining.
