The Blog of Derek Kovacevic

I’m a big fan of comedy, and one of my favourite TV shows is Flight of the Conchords (FOTC for short). Last night, I got to see them live in Detroit at the beautiful Fox Theatre.

But before they came on, we were treated to some stand-up by opening act Eugene Mirman. Mirman has a recurring role on FOTC as the landlord, but it’s a small role with short lines, so you never get to know him all that well. This was his chance to really showcase his material, and, I have to say, I thought he was great. His jokes sometimes got a little weird and out there, but he always seemed to bring it home or get you with his next bit. The most memorable bit was probably his Delta Airlines incident. He had been on a Delta flight and they lost his luggage. So he made 1000 postcards with hand-drawn images of a person and a plane and the words “I hate you” written on them on one side, and a long nasty letter to Delta on the other side. He actually handed these out to audience members and encouraged us to use them. He said he’ll stop using them if he can have controlling stock in the airline or $10,000, whichever is greater.

And then, out came Jemaine and Brett to a roaring Detroit welcome. This was actually their second show that night, an 11PM start time. I wasn’t sure if it would just be the two of them or if any of the other characters from the show would be part of the show. Basically, it is just the two of them, although, for some of the material, they are backed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, which is comprised of one man, Nigel, on cello. Nigel wears what appears to be a 1970’s prom outfit, complete with a blue ruffled shirt. Jemaine says this is the compulsory uniform for the symphony, and also that there used to be three members in the symphony which had to share the single uniform.

Their music on its own is pretty funny, but if you’ve watched the TV show repeatedly or have their albums, you kind of go to the show hoping they do more than just play their songs. Luckily, they do.

Their was plenty of banter between most of their songs. While much of it is probably loosely scripted, you can tell that they do improvise a lot. Sometimes with each other, sometimes with the audience, and sometimes even in the middle of a song. A couple times, Brett forgot the words and Jemaine would call him on it and then they’d just come up with material.

Because of all the banter, and the need to play some of their new songs, some of their classic hit songs had to be cut from the show. The first one that comes to mind is “Business Time.” This is arguably their most popular song, their “Hotel California” or “Stairway to Heaven.” That surprised me. Maybe they played it for the first audience, or maybe they’re just tired of it. Either way, I forgive them.

If you get a chance to see these guys live, I highly recommend that you do. Because of their improvisation, every show is different, so you can go home knowing that you saw something unique, and you can’t say that about every act you see.