Mike Watt is a very big leap of a character. He's always seen in military fatigues, and always on military time. Mike's a military character, so even in that realm the mustache makes sense. The mustache is part of his uniform of himself. But Mike's uniform is merely the hard outer casing, as we see Mike as a sensitive, Tim-loving failure who revels in his obsession.
Mike is cartoony enough to have stolen a tank and taken it to Euro Disney and to hold hands with his best friend Tim, but also serious enough to rise to the rank of Sergeant in the Territorial Army, and when Tim and roommate Sophie's relationship grows together- Mike feels hurt.
Mike Watt's mustache represents a facade, while that facade encapsulates who Mike is. Spaced is a show about somewhat contemptible slacker types, Tim and Sophie, dealing with their life and their relationship. The characters around them (a struggling painter, a fashionista working as a dry cleaner, a lonely landlord, and a military nutjob) are shown as lovable and/or sources of humor. It's not that we relate to Mike, it's that we care about Mike and accept him as that guy who always has gun's on him. And of course, that guy has a mustache. With Spaced, and it's commitment to fast-storytelling, pop culture, and non-sequitars--- we have the perfect vehicle to get to know and understand that mustache.
Embedding disabled, but see Mike's take on the male psyche and how men relate to each other.
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