Pete said to me “I’ve got tickets to Flight of the Conchords, get in there” and so I did. I’d heard of this pair of Kiwi comedians before but hadn’t actually seen any of their work before so the first, well, second after buying the tix and getting James to come along with me, thing to do was to get through at least series one of their TV series.
Considering I bought the tickets ages ago it wasn’t a couple of weekends ago that I’d gotten around to see it. To describe the show its kind of a sitcom but mixed in with music videos. Very smart and uproariously funny I could nevertheless not understand how it would work in a live format. To my amazement Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement were even better live than in the show. I could see why they’d won a Grammy for a comedy album they’d released. One to put on my shopping list I think after tonight’s gig!
I was expecting the Wembley Arena crowd to be mostly Kiwis but I think, from the accents I could gather, they crowd were mostly Brits. I was very surprised by that! Still, the crowd really got into the gig and made for a great atmosphere.
Bret and Jermain were on absolute fire tonight. For the most part they sat on stage with just their acoustic guitars and their voices, though every now and then bringing out a random instrument. What I think really made it for me tonight was the interaction and banter that the two comedians with each other and even with the audience. In a place as big as the Wembley Arena the act could have easily fell flat but so endearing and charming are the pair that you soon forget the distance between you and them!
They were really quick picking on things said in the audience and reacting to each other. And everything they said was just so funny. When they went into their pieces anyone with any sort of funny bone would have been wetting their pants with laughter – you didn’t need to know their work at all. They are actually really good musicians, which I don’t think many people give them credit for, very clear when singing/sing-speaking and fantastic at improvising.
Look out for the sparkly spandex number – it will crack you up!
Oh – they were supported by Arj Barker, who is an American stand-up comedian who appeared now and then in their TV series. He too was very funny with some original thinking (such as his global warming and whale jokes.) It didn’t hurt that he was a bit of eye-candy too … 😉
One person said it best about the show: “Favourite moment: Everything in between the start and the end”