During the summer, I got really, really into HBO's Flight Of The Conchords. Great timing, since the show has been off the air permanently for a year now. Nonetheless, the magic that Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie created will last a lifetime.
Flight Of The Conchords was a great show for the modern loser. It follows two hipsters from New Zealand who try to make it in New York, despite the fact that they're constantly broke, have only one fan-a creepy stalker, an incompetent manager and are forever being dumped by various women. Man, however can I relate to a show whose heroes are poverty-stricken clueless idiots who get thrown around by life and women?
My first exposure to the duo was in laughing when I read articles about them, and they joked they were New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk-pop-comedy duo, after a tribute band that was a little better than them. Then my freshman year at school I got compared to Jemaine quite a bit. I hope he's thought of as the sexy one.
It took me until the summer of '09 to buy the first season and watch it, of which I only saw the first disc for reasons I won't get into here. Finally this year I got over myself and watched all of them after buying season 2, along with season 1 again so I could give it as a gift. I believed that much.
The show, in true non-American based television fashion, ended after two short seasons. Having exhausted their complete backlog of songs for the first season, the Conchords had to write another season's worth for the second, then decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to make a third. Honestly, though, I'd have watched the show without songs. The humor relies on the very common trope of the 21st century of dryness, irony and awkward situations/heroes. I'd easily put the writing on the level of the much beloved Office and Arrested Development. Strangely, though, the show had somewhat of a love it or hate it reaction, at least online. I think people didn't necessarily hate the show so much as the people that liked it, a kneejerk reaction to twee hipsters. Hey, I hate those assholes too and I still fell in love with the show.
But obviously the main focus of the show, and what set it apart, was the inventive music-videos with the clever songs that accompanied them. I think my two favorites are either "Too Many Dicks"
Too Many Dicks On The Dance Floor from Brian Kessler on Vimeo.
or "Sugalumps"
Sugalumps from Brian Kessler on Vimeo.
As said before, even though many of the situations they get into are over the top (there was one season 2 episode where Bret buying a mug for $2.79 leads to them selling their guitars and becoming prostitutes) their struggles are still relatable, and I've used many of their troubles to help me through many of my own. Over Fourth of July weekend, I occasionally admit I had hurt feelings...
Hurt Feelings from Brian Kessler on Vimeo.
If you've ever had relationship problems or drama, they have you covered there as well...
I don't really know what lies ahead for the Conchords. If it's too much trouble to write songs for your popular HBO show, it doesn't really create hope that they're going to continue on. Regardless of what happens, they've still blessed us with 22 episodes of greatness, which you can read about in their quite thorough Wikipedia entry. Another example of the love shown to these two gods among men.
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