Shelby's Life and Whatnot

Flight of the Conchords

So since we don't watch tv, we've taken to watching tv on dvd. Yes, I know it's still pictures appearing on our tv screen and we're still paying for it and we're watching it at our convenience commercial-free just like if we'd Tivo'd it, but I still feel a moral superiority that we don't have to wait a week for each episode to come out.

We've made it through several awesome television shows, and the most recent one we discovered was a 1/2 hour comedy on HBO called Flight of the Conchords. It's difficult to describe FOTC, although the words random and extemporaneous come to mind.

The basic premise is this. The two stars of the show are two musicians from New Zealand named Bret and Jemaine. Together they form a band called Flight of the Conchords. They are living in New York and are trying to hit it big on the band scene, lead by their manager Murray and accompanied by their single fan, Mel.

Bret and Jemaine are kind of naive, clueless guys who sort of stumble through their episodes, every once in a while bursting into song. They're usually acting in a scene and then sort of move into a dream world where they are performing a song about the situation. Again, it's totally random and extemporaneous. The lyrics are all beyond hilarious with both Bret and Jemaine coming in. The songs are of all different genres with the only thing in common being funny lyrics and situations. Oh, and they all stick in your head. Here are some clips.

Business Time is their best song, I think. The main singer is Jemaine (the big guy with the glasses). This one is 18+

This next one is loved by French teachers everywhere. It's entirely in the French you learn in the first few weeks of a French 1 class. However, you don't need to speak French to enjoy it.

This is the FOTC performing on Letterman. This is a great example of their lyrics, which can be harder to hear in the above clips.