‘Flight of the Conchords’ soars to cult comedy status

If you didn’t catch the premiere episode of Flight of the Conchords Sunday night after Entourage on HBO, you’re missing out on some seriously funny stuff.

The show is about The Flight of the Conchords, a two man folk/pop/comedy band composed of New Zealanders Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement as they try to find romance and build their music careers in New York City. In the premiere episode, Clement falls for blonde beauty Sally, played by Rachel Blanchard, only to find that McKenzie used to date her. They also interact with their only fan, Mel, a woman who is totally obsessed with them. At the same time, the duo meets with their less-than-stellar manager and tries to shoot a music video about robots on a very minimal budget.

In the vein of the short-lived Tenacious D series, also on HBO, the episode is also filled with funny songs from the group. In the first, Clement muses that Sally is “pretty enough to be an air hostess in the 1960s” or that “depending on the street [Sally] would definitely be in the top three good looking girls on the street.” All this is to a soft, Prince-like love tune. Other songs in the episode, like the one for the robot music video, are equally hilarious. With lyrics like, “I’m not crying, it’s just been raining on my face”, you’ll probably want to watch the episode a second time to catch the verses you missed while you were laughing.

It might be too early to tell, but this series definitely has the ability to become a big hit. Like most of the best comedies on tv right now, it utilizes the pseudo-reality format and ditches the studio audience. Conchords shines especially bright because of its two stars. Both McKenzie and Clement pull off amazingly funny lines with completely straight faced and deadpan delivery that adds so much to the comedic value of the show.

I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here. With Conchords airing right after Entourage, Sunday nights on HBO are definitely something to look forward to.