Sort Your F-ing Life Out - Flight of the Conchords

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It being the US premiere of the second season (and thus the YouTube premiere for the rest of us) now would seem an apt time to publicly come out about my Flight of the Conchords Fanaticism.

Although the first season landed on US screens back in Summer 2007, I was not introduced to Flight of The Conchords until a few months back when a friend persuaded me to watch a live performance of their song "
Robots"
via the wonder of YouTube. "
You're really going to like the one with the hair"
, said she, eluding to Bret Mckenzie (on the right in picture above). She wasn't wrong. Although I remember thinking it was a pity that he clearly wasn't as talented as his friend.

A MySpace friendship, a tour of their fansites, and an education (again mostly YouTubial) in their history over the last decade has proved me somewhat wrong on my first impressions of Bret. Interviews and earlier versions of their songs have brought him out from under the shadow I had once perceived to be cast by comedy-partner Jemaine Clement. And it was love. Well. For about two months anyway.


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[size=133:ak31ocdw]Fanship

My activity as a Conchords fan is alarming. I know everything about them now. I have even checked Facebook to see if they have profiles. But then I slapped myself on the wrist and washed my mouth out with soap and got quite depressed about how far I had allowed my tragic stalkership to go. It had to stop. So it did (a bit).

As a particularly anal and geekish scholarly type I am rather interested in the phenomenon of fanship. The concept of otherwise ordinary people becoming mildy obsessed with celebrities they have never met is unbelievable when you view it objectively. It's really interesting. Honestly. I won't go through the ins-and-outs of "
Star Theory"
with you here (this really is a subject of serious academia) but I would advise any similarly minded nerds to check out the writings of Richard Dyer on the subject. Dyer's work provides us with a significant foundation on the social, ideological, historical and psychoanalytical causes and effects of Stardom and fanship but the introduction of the internet, reality TV and the relatively recent transformation of celebrities into figures of perversion, illness and extremity (see Britney Spears) from fantasy idols of perfection means that there is an ever expanding amount of ground to be covered on the subject. It's a long and tiresome book waiting to be written. I think I'll probably write it one day.

Umbrella theories aside, the "
Fanship"
section of each review that appears on this site will concern itself with my analysis of why I am in awe of the celebs at hand. The reason will often be the same, I feel. I would love to be in comedy. It's a faraway dream that may never materialise but as obsessions go, my fantasies of comedianship are the mother-of-all addictions under which my fanaticism of various artists fall. My yearning for comedic-status filters down into my perverted interest in the people that have succeeded in my goal. How did they do it? What kind of a person must one be to achieve such greatness? These are the questions to which I am on a constant crusade to find answers for. I may never find the ultimate equation but my research so far has enlightened me to some extent. And I often find the inspiration to write through the mixture of admiration and bitter jealousy I feel for my idols.

Where FOTC are concerned I think it was the effort they put in. The myth that has surrounded them since their televisual premiere it seems is that they are merely two clueless Kiwis that accidentally found themselves doing rather well. It is implied that they really wouldn't have minded if it had all gone to shii and they had been forced to return to New Zealand to work behind a bar. Or as tradition has it, come to England and work behind a bar (bloody Kiwis...) I don't buy this for a second. Everywhere I look in the history of Clement and McKenzie I see hard graft.

According to several internet biographies and other press, a young McKenzie leased a large Victorian house in Wellington, moved his friends in to help with the costs and put on a play in their garden as part of a local arts festival. He is reported to have dabbled with up to eleven musical instruments as a child eventually garnering himself a position with local bands Fat Freddy's Drop and The Black Seeds as well as releasing solo projects under the name The Video Kid.

Clement, meanwhile, was one half of comedy duo The Humourbeasts with the sickeningly talented Taika Waititi as well as acting in the low-budget Tongan Ninja (which I have gathered from YouTube clips is both terrible and hilarious) and found work on TVNZ's Skitz and several advertisement campaigns. His best performance to date, I will continue to uphold, is as Jarrod in Waititi's excellent Eagle vs Shark.

As a band, the Conchords tirelessly toured festivals, appeared on Kiwi television, were signed up to promote mobile phones (do you remember that Phones4U advert with the guys in the van singing "
phones, for you, for less, at Phones4U"
) and (in an interesting YouTube find) laid the foundations for their TV show in a spoof clip with Waititi and, more famously, with BBC Radio.

My awe of the Conchords really rests on their determination despite years of little success. Determination is always a risk when you're in your twenties. Should you really be spending so much of your time (and hard-earned cash) following a dream? When do you give up? Their self-belief and focus earned the Conchords a cultish following and, more recently, the approval of Sir Eric Idle (I don't know if he's knighted but he probably should be). There are millions of very talented artists out there but it is the wide scope of the Conchords' ability coupled with the confident and tireless ways in which they promoted themselves that has resulted in their cult status today.


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[size=133:ak31ocdw]Live Performance

Unfortunately, as an English fan, I have never been afforded the opportunity to see the Conchords live. This is where the marvellous invention YouTube comes to work its magic. I have loyally trundled through every live video of FOTC that the website offers, whether it be professionally recorded or a shaky production from an audience member, and thoroughly enjoyed almost every one.

I am not a fan of endlessly repeated comedy songs or jokes. It's funny the first time. After that it simply becomes endearing. For this reason I might have been reluctant to shell out to see the Conchords, had I had the chance. Fortunately their live performances are saved by their improvisational skill when it comes to inter-song banter and audience interaction/reaction. Their witicisms both mid-performance and in interview are what really mark the Conchords out as comedians. McKenzie and Clement's style is dry and deadpan. Their slow-paced, low-key performances showcase the nervous ineptitude of their onstage personas. They play at being a failing band with grandiose delusions, a concept beautifully realised in their One Night Stand performance as well as some of their previous live work. As their fame has increased and their audience has expanded these characters have taken on a sense of irony and, perhaps due to the discrepancies between their performance piece and reality (if the characters' dreams of fame and adoration are no longer delusions can it still be funny?) their show has, in more recent times, featured less action from their fictionalised selves and more from their actual selves. The transition between the real-life cult-hero-sex-symbols to their naive and dimwitted personas can occasionally be a difficult one and from what I have seen of recent shows I sense an intention to stick with their performance characters that is often interrupted by the reality of their fame. It's difficult to keep up the "
unsuccesful"
act when there are thousands of people singing along to your songs. This contradiction has brought about an unfortunate series of "
cracks"
in their show where we, as an audience, are unable to remain sutured into the world created by the performers as reality seeps in.

That said, I have continued to enjoy the sections of "
banter"
that have been uploaded to YouTube by some of the Conchords' many fans. They are normally journeys into the surreal and abstract, beautifully styled by the characters' trademark shyness. Clement is particularly ept at playing the uncomfortable performer, introducing brilliantly timed breaks in his speech and often punctuating with mumbled fillers. Bret is an expert at the "
corpse"
, his delicate features exuding the utmost sincerity regardless of the bizarre content of his lines.

MY RATING - 4 (of 5)


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[size=133:ak31ocdw]Songs

As a comedy musical duo, Flight of the Conchords' songs are the focus of everything they do. Their pieces range from the lyrically absurd (Albi the Racist Dragon) to the straightforward musical parody (Foux de Fa Fa). As is absolutely essential for any comedian attempting to go the musical route, Clement and McKenzie are accomplished musicians, some of their compositions admirably complex for what is essentially just a joke. The structure of a song like Bowie, for instance, shows an impressive musical understanding from the performers as they seamlessly transition from one section to another in a Medley-Style parody of the man himself.

As a lover of surreality, and often the mildly offensive, my favourites include Albi the Racist Dragon ("
Get your hand off my tail you'll make it dirty"
), The Humans are Dead/Robots ("
Come on sucker lick my battery"
) and The Hiphopopotamus Vs The Rhymenosaurus ("
Sometimes my lyrics are sexist but you bitches and 'hos know I'm trying to correct this"
). Lesser known The Bus Driver's Song and Petrov, Yelyena and Me, are some other examples of well-crafted comedy song-writing that are in no way less accomplished than their more famous songs but which Clement and McKenzie seem to have mostly dropped from their shows. However, seeing as they have been around now for over ten years, I should think they are so sick of the sound of their own music they secretly vomit at the screamed request "
Business Time"
! And so songs will doubtless be left by the wayside as time goes on.

Personally, no matter how much I have enjoyed their work, I think it's time they were all dropped and replaced by new fodder. Although they are, as aforementioned, skilled musicians, their work is too parodic and not uniquely interesting enough to survive as music for music's sake once the gag has grown old.

However, this reviewer will reluctantly give the ill-advised recommendation that you ignore my opinion where the above criticism is concerned. I am but one woman against the millions that attend the Conchord's shows to hear their songs played live and who have bought the band's LP, released through Sub Pop in 2008.

In my opinion the Conchords' songs are better than those of Adam and Joe, Boothby Graffoe and The Mighty Boosh but not quite reaching the bar set high by Bill Bailey. Always entertaining, even if not funny after the tenth time round, the Conchords are well worth a listen.

MY RATING - 4 (of 5)


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[size=133:ak31ocdw]The TV Series

The eponymous television series is what has really catapulted FOTC into cult fame. Screened in the US in summer 2007, it was not an instant hit, but HBO reports that the week-on-week increase in viewership was substantial. So good in fact that the boys were commissioned to produce a second series which will air in January 2009.

The show follows character's Bret and Jemaine try to make it with their band in New York. Helping, or arguably hindering, them in this process is Murray Hewitt, their manager (played by fellow Kiwi comedian Rhys Darby). Also in supporting roles are Kristen Shaal as Mel, the band's one obsessive fan;
and Arj Barker as Dave, the band's one friend.

The show rests entirely on this simple premise, the plot being almost none existent and the eposides practically stand-alone. The style is very low-budget, providing the show with a lovable student-movie feel and the acting and gags are low-key and dry. The program follows the two lead characters as they fall in and out of love with their girlfriends and each other, each episode also including two or three music videos.

I want to love this show. I'm tantalisingly close. But I find my sentiment closer in metaphorical terms to my feeling for a really nice bloke that works in the newsagents than to a fit young studmuffin I could drool over drunkenly in the pub. It's good. It's endearing. There's nothing disastrously wrong with it. But it falls short, I'm afraid, of the achievements of such shows as Spaced or Nathan Barley.

The shame of it is that almost all of the ingredients that go into making a brilliant piece of television are present. The script, while not amazing I must admit, is more than adequate and the premise of each episode has been promising. The dialogue can be witty and sharp and most of the delivery has been superb (particular mention here to Kristen Schaal whose performance as Mel is absolutely fantastic and Rhys Darby for my favourite performance as Murray). Although I love deadpan as much as the next guy I feel that maybe this show went slightly too far in that the life of the thing has been somewhat removed. In order to remedy this I would like to see the script edited further in order to reduce some of the less essential lines and increase the pace of the gags. I also feel that the unobtrusive (read uninspiring) direction of the show could be vastly improved. Some of the visual gags are somewhat lost in clumsy camerawork.

However, as aforementioned, I really do like the show. Despite the above criticisms, the series excels in certain areas. The episode Bowie is brilliantly written and performed, give or take a couple of lines exchanged between Bret and his imagined Bowie visions. I even love the direction in this one. Other paricularly notable episodes include New Fans and Mugged.

As a natural critic (it's probably just jealousy) I have turned off at least one friend from ever watching the show but this was definitely a mistake. Endlessly lovable and with moments of hilarity, I urge everyone to view it at least once. As series two is arriving I will be hoping for an increase in surreality more akin to the Conchords' live shows and some tighter scriptwriting. The Conchords have said that this will be the last season although in a more recent interview they admitted they might just change their mind. As an excellent premise for a long-running series, I feel that this show could continue to run for at least another series after this one before it began to flag. Lastly, if I were going to sum up Flight of the Conchords in one sentence, that sentence would be as follows - "
It's better than The Mighty Boosh"
. And some people might see that as something of a complement.

MY RATING - 3 (of 5)

val2150 wrote:Wow! Nice find. ...

hellomyfriend wrote:Myspace screencap:

hellomyfriend wrote:

val2150 wrote:Wow! Nice find. ...

She posted the link in the comments section of the guy's latest blog. I think her name is Sarah (what is it with people named Sara/h and FotC??).

[size=100:lbsbxecm] ... and (in an interesting YouTube find) laid the foundations for their TV show in a spoof clip with Waititi ...

notrealname wrote:Hi,
This is Sarah. Thank you for viewing my site!!! I'm amazed anyone looked at it to be honest! Thank you for all the wonderful comments above. It's much appreciated. I'm really glad you liked it. I was worried people would be offended because it was "
untarnished"
.

I got to this page because my website builder lets me know when anyone links to my site. I've heard of the site before but this is my first time here. Nice work whomever owns it!!!

In answer to questions above - Yep, I'm from the UK, Manchester to be more precise. And to the lady who wanted to know about the Taika Waititi/Conchords spoof, please search NZ Onscreen on Youtube - It was featured on a program called the Living Room - there are two clips on there. I hope you find it. If not try the NZ Onscreen website. I think it's just but if that doesn't work, just try google. Taika plays their manager - Larry (beautifully I might add!) and there is a funny bit where Bret offends a scottish taxi driver at the Edinburgh Festival.

]Thanks again,

Sarah
x

notrealname wrote:Hi,
This is Sarah. Thank you for viewing my site!!! I'm amazed anyone looked at it to be honest! Thank you for all the wonderful comments above. It's much appreciated. I'm really glad you liked it. I was worried people would be offended because it was "
untarnished"
.

I got to this page because my website builder lets me know when anyone links to my site. I've heard of the site before but this is my first time here. Nice work whomever owns it!!!

In answer to questions above - Yep, I'm from the UK, Manchester to be more precise. And to the lady who wanted to know about the Taika Waititi/Conchords spoof, please search NZ Onscreen on Youtube - It was featured on a program called the Living Room - there are two clips on there. I hope you find it. If not try the NZ Onscreen website. I think it's just but if that doesn't work, just try google. Taika plays their manager - Larry (beautifully I might add!) and there is a funny bit where Bret offends a scottish taxi driver at the Edinburgh Festival.

]Thanks again,

Sarah
x

paranoidandroid wrote:
In the future, history will call for FotC historians.

hellomyfriend wrote:She posted the link in the comments section of the guys' latest blog. I think her name is Sarah (what is it with people named Sara/h and FotC??).

notrealname wrote:[size=150:7plz15kv]Halloooo..Taika Page completed and published.

There is ... lewd suggestion. ...

notrealname wrote:Halloooo..Taika Page completed and published.

There is swearing and lewd suggestion. Just warning you