I can't believe I haven't recommended this yet. HBO's Flight of the Conchords is a musical comedy show. It's sort of like the Monkees, but the band on this show is a duo rather than a quartet and they are from real New Zealand rather than pseudo-Great Britain like the Monkees.
The format of the show shares a lot of similarities to another comedy rock duo from HBO, Tenacious D. There are comedy segments. There are music segments. The segments are connected by the adventures and misadventures of the Bret and Jemaine, the two participants on the band's eponymous television show.
Flight of the Conchords' (FotC) musical style and sense of humor differs greatly from the bombastic Jack Black. Musically, I put them in closer proximity to Ween (especially Ween's new dancetastic EP) than to the hard rock roots of Tenacious D. Rather than fattening their sound up with Dave Grohl like Tenacious D or an enormous touring band like Ween, FotC track electronic rhythms, synth lines and vocals to augment their acoustic interplay.
The comic timing of the two is great. They are two equal performers and comedians, unlike Tenacious D with JB (funny man) and KG (straight man). Both guys are the funny man, and both guys are the straight man. It's an absurd avenue for comedy that is backed by some pretty catchy songs that will make you laugh. If you don't believe me, check the video links below.
This is an appearance on a New Zealand program that shows an earlier version of the song "The Humans Are Dead."
This video is of the song "Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" from the show.
This video is of the song "She's So Hot--Boom!" from the show.
This video is part of a docu-comedy that featured the band's appearance at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Tex.
No comments:
Post a Comment