Flight of the Conchords: The Complete First Season

Unlike most HBO series, Flight of the Conchords does not want to set the world on fire. It is droll and deadpan to beat the band. If you like Tenacious D, They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Richman, Leningrad Cowboys Go to America, and silly Pythonian wordplay, then the show's off-center charms will definitely strike a resonant chord. Flight of the Conchords is the name of a funky, funny folk duo comprised of Bret McKenzie and mutton-chopped Jemaine Clement, a pair of transplanted New Zealanders trying to make it in New York. According to Murray (Rhys Darby), their incompetent manager, Brett has “the right attitude,” while Jemaine has “what I like to call, the wrong attitude.” Stardom eludes the band (well, they do have one fan named Mel—played by Kristen Schaal—whose seething husband chaperones her while she stalks them, but by the end of this 2007 first season, even she will desert them). Financially strapped, the band lives in squalor, and is forced to film a music video with a cell phone camera. The dense Jemaine is a damper on Brett's love life (he derisively calls Coco, Brett's new girlfriend, “Yoko”). But their inspired music springs from their mundane lives, and it is during each episode's musical numbers that Conchords really takes flight. Sample lyrics: “You're so beautiful/You could be a hostess in the ‘60s”; and “I'm not crying/It's just been raining/On my face.” Also, the inspired, surreal lunacy of the dialogue appeals to fans (of the show, not the band) as well, enough to prompt HBO to renew the series for a second season. Compiling all 12 episodes from 2007 in a two-disc extra-less set, this is highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)