I’m a complete newcomer to Flight of the Conchords, having only recently been tipped off by a friend to check them out on YouTube.
I thought they were utterly hilarious – if you haven’t already, check out instant comedy classics such as Business Time, Jenny, The Humans Are Dead and Think About It . The whole family, 9-year-old son included, have fallen about the living room holding our sides in pain.
The recent American TV series is showing on BBC 4 at the moment and I just couldn’t wait to see it – set the video and everything.
I was a bit disappointed to be honest. I’m reminded of the Wayne’s World film actually, where Wayne and Garth are approached by a bigshot TV producer where consequently (and predictably) all the magic is lost.
Acoustically and on-stage, the songs are funny precisely because the joke is that Bret and Jemaine give the impression that they believe, in their heads at least, that the songs they’re singing are actually deeply funky, soulful and polished. In the TV series, when the songs actually do sound funky, soulful and polished… well, the joke falls rather flat.
Poor story, cringeworthy characterisation, a pitiful forced plotline, all add up to a non-event.
There’s an upside to all this – I’ve discovered with great delight the existence of quite a bit of recorded stuff: pre dismal, glossy, uninspired TV series …
- The Distant Future EP (2007)
- The BBC Radio Series (2006)
- Folk the World Tour (2002)
And you ask, “Is that it?” and I know what you’re saying – “That’s it, baby, ah yeah!”
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