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High Praise from phillyBurbs.com

All right, Andy Vineburg! Andy writes a glowing review of the HBO series. Go to PhillyBurbs.com to read.

Down Under folk duo deserves to take flight

Sorry, guys in Crowded House, but you’re not the best musical act to come out of New Zealand.

Nah, that would be the brilliant songwriting duo of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, better known as Flight of the Conchords.

Surely, Neil Finn, a musician of your talent can acknowledge their genius.

These guys will write and sing about anything. No topic is too emotional for their ultra-sensitive minds.

Their lyrics range from the romantic: “I want to tell her how hot she is, but she’ll think I’m being sexist. She’s so hot she’s making me sexist” …

To the lovelorn: “I can’t help but think that now you’re engaged we’re drifting apart … But maybe Mark will be involved in an accident, and you’ll get a life insurance payment of half a mil” …

To the homoerotic: “No doubt about it, we’d be getting crazy, if one of us was lucky enough to be born a lady” …

To the socially conscious: “I saw a man lying on the street half dead with knives and forks sticking out of his leg. And he said, “Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow.’ Can somebody get that knife and fork out of my leg, please? Can somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?’” …

To the philosophical: “Love is like a roll of tape, it’s real good for making two things one” …

McCartney and Lennon only wish they could have written lyrics like that in their prime.

Sadly, though, Flight of the Conchords (or FOC, for short; all the hip bands have cool acronyms), have only one actual fan.

And, as far as I can tell, they’ve only played one actual gig … inside an aquarium.

Tragic.

*

In real life, Clement and McKenzie have been performing as Flight of the Conchords since 2002, billing themselves as “formerly New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-parody duo.”

But it’s within the last two months, during their self-titled HBO series, that they’ve begun to gain notoriety in America.

If you’ve seen “Flight of the Conchords,” you know exactly what I’m talking about.

If not, you’re missing the funniest show on television right now.

Ever since “Arrested Development” went off the air a year and a half ago, I’ve been searching for a new “funniest TV show of all time.” And while it may be too soon to crown “Conchords” with that hyperbolic title, I can tell you that, like “Arrested Development,” I spend most of the show laughing out loud.

“Conchords,” which airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. through Aug. 26, follows the exploits of a delightfully oblivious folk-rock duo from New Zealand futilely trying to find love and musical stardom in New York City. They’re joined by an equally clueless manager (who insists on starting every three-person band meeting with roll call), one obsessed female fan and an American buddy who offers them helpful hints for surviving in their new country, such as how to “flip the bird.”

The “plots,” if you want to call them that, almost always revolve around Jemaine’s and Bret’s quest for love, but there are also such inside-the-music-business moments as selling their first song — for use inside a greeting card.

The loose plotlines are enhanced two or three times per episode by the guys breaking into song. If that sounds annoying, trust me, it’s not. The lyrics are laugh-out loud funny, especially accompanied by the guys’ deadpan deliveries.

Clement and McKenzie, who co-created, produce and write the series, play themselves, although you’ve got to believe they’re a lot smarter in real life. Given the show’s comic brilliance, they’d have to be.

There’s much to love about “Conchords.” Despite the guys’ cluelessness and knack for landing in awkward situations, the writing is never mean-spirited or smarmy. (And isn’t that refreshing in an age when insults too often pass for humor on TV). Maybe it’s because most of the characters around them are as dim as they are, but Clement and McKenzie never come off as pitiful, even if their lives most certainly are.

Seven episodes have aired so far (all available On Demand), with four more remaining. After that, you only hope Clement and McKenzie sign on with HBO for a second season. At least.

These guys deserve to be as big as Borat.

After all, if America can embrace a Kazakhstan journalist, surely we’re ready for “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-parody duo.”

August 2, 2007 6:27 AM

From: Down Under folk duo deserves to take flight (phillyBurbs.com) | Andy Vineberg