Flight of the Conchords

One of the most talked about acts in domestic comedy circles these days are New Zealand duo Flight Of The Conchords, who play only their second ever Irish show in Whelan’s on July 17. Their debut performance, which was much-discussed amongst comedy aficionados for some time afterwards, took place in the Spiegeltent in Smithfield in Dublin last September, shortly after their sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

“That was a particularly enjoyable experience, since David O’Doherty jumped onstage towards the end and sang a few songs,” recalls Bret, one half of the line-up. “That was also the night that Bono’s friend, Gavin Friday, did a recounting of his formative influences, so it was also interesting from that point of view.”
Are the duo surprised at the rabid devotion they’ve inspired amongst fans so far?
“Yeah, we’ve been dumbstruck,” admits Bret. “We’ve been based in London for about four months and doing lots of touring. Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of our success, at least to us, is the extent to which it’s been a multi-national phenomenon. We’ve played Amsterdam, and later this month we’re coming to Ireland, then it’s over to Montreal for the festival there. Opportunities keep cropping up for us and it’s been quite astonishing in that our style of humour seems to keep crossing all these boundaries.’
The FOTC brand of mirth revolves around their inspired merging of hilariously disparate musical genres, resulting in such novel fusions as R ‘n’ B/folk and jazz-metal (surely the first attempt at realising the possibilities of this under-explored idiom since Spinal Tap).
“The songs themselves are quite tightly scripted,” continues Bret, “and then we tend to improvise in between tunes, talking to the audience and so forth. It’s probably more like seeing a band than it is seeing a conventional comedy show, and probably the only thing I can think of to compare it to is Tenacious D, but even then there are significant differences. Personally, I’m probably more immersed in the music world than I am in the comedy scene. I picked up David Kitt’s last album when we were over in Dublin, and I’ve subsequently become quite a fan. I’m also really getting into Kings Of Convenience. As they put it themselves, quiet is the new loud!”
Do the band have any ambition to expand the project into either a TV or radio show?
“It’ll definitely remain a stage-show for the immediate future, but we are developing some radio and TV ideas,” affirms Bret. “But it’s quite a tricky area, trying to figure how best to adapt what we do for different media. One of the ideas we’ve been playing around with is a spoof documentary for the BBC, along the lines of This Is Spinal Tap.
“It’s a strange one though, a lot of the comedians around who we really respect aren’t especially pushed about doing TV, and I have to say I kind of admire the purity of that, just really sticking to your guns and doing your own thing. I know Daniel Kitson did Phoenix Nights and had huge exposure as a result, but it’s not an experience he particularly likes talking about these days. Still, it’s very tempting when you have such an array of fun opportunities in front of you. I guess we adhere to the “strike while the iron is hot” school of career progression!”