Just when you think you’ve seen all that the land of the Kiwis could offer, here comes an audio-visual spectacle that will hit you faster than you can say BOOM BOOM!
Last week, the lovely folks at HBO Asia invited
Youth.SG over at its office for a preview screening of
Flight of the Conchords, the biggest New Zealand export since that hobbits film. After a sumptuous meal of fine New Zealand delicacies and wine (we loike!), we finally snuggled in a comfortable corner in the cozy mini-theater to witness the antics of duo Jemaine Clement and Bret (pronounced ‘Brit’) McKenzie, the voices and wit behind the comedy show and band
Flight of the Conchords.
HBO was kind enough to screen not just one but two episodes (and the second and third episodes at that, because the first was supposedly leaked all over the web), in an effort to stretch our under-used stomach muscles after the meal. Produced together with Ali G co-mastermind James Bobin, the show has deservedly achieved cult-status after premiering in America last year, and this comes only a couple of years after the launch of their award-winning radio version on BBC Radio 2.
Bringing much zing and quack into what some might call a stale comedy-song concept, one gets the sense that these humble yet hardworking guys are more serious about the songs than their gimmicks might suggest. So much so that they’ve even earned themselves a number of big-name fans along the way, like David Bowie and “Weird Al” Yankovic (he claims to be a longtime fan of their "great songs"). In
Flight of the Conchords,
the duo exhibit a flamboyant songwriting style and lyrical flair that’s both fascinating and captivating. And it’s interesting to witness how randomly they break into song without a hint of warning.
In the second episode
Bret Gives up the Dream, Bret literally gives up the dream of playing and touring in a band for his choice profession of holding signboards at street corners. One day he is joined by a new female colleague, with whom he wisely starts a conversation by quipping, “I play in a band”. A few introductory lines later, we find Bret full-on in a driving reggaeton track, announcing to the world that he’s the "Boom King". British quirkiness? Almost, but better.
Though at times the plot does unravel pretty slowly, the show somehow maintains a strong comedic tension, and the use of close-up angles brilliantly keeps the audience focused on the characters and their witty dialogue exchanges.
And
nothing beats both Jemaine and Bret’s poker faces, which they maintain almost exclusively throughout each episode even in the most ridiculous circumstances. In episode three
Mugged, Bret has a confrontation with Jemaine, whom he abandoned earlier during an attempted robbery. Though it’s clear Jemaine is incensed, his stoic expressionless face hardly budges as Bret, equally stoned, tries to prove his actions right.
JEMAINE AND BRET ON THE STREETS. NO EXPRESSION.
ON STAGE. NO EXPRESSION!
SEATED. STILL NO EXPRESSION!
Sure, you can
head to YouTube and discover several song snippets like 'Jenny', 'Rhymenoceros vs. Hiphopopotamus' and 'Business Time' that have garnered millions of hits. But they will not be seeing the whole picture, the full story of
Flight of the Conchords.
They’ve delicately constructed a superb balance between a TV-series, comedy and song, which can only be experienced in full by watching the episodes themselves. Countless simple ideas have been wrung and stretched for as far as possible. Let’s just hope after this season is over, we’ll have yet more Kiwi quirkiness coming our way.
(0 vote)
Thanks for the glowing review, I love your choice of pics and captions to go with the article..it really conveys how silly they are. Hope you're enjoying the Conchords CD as much as the episodes! 
