Flight of the Conchords: My Top Five Picks

I am very excited that Vocal has done a great job of making sure there is a community specific for Humor. Along with writing, music and films, humour in various forms is in my lifeblood. I like to think that I am funny, but my wife would probably disagree with that, depending on what day of the week it is.

Flight of the Conchords

As my first post to the brand-new Humor community, rather than start with something from the Annuls of Paul, I thought I'd use the opportunity to give everyone a laugh with five songs by one of my favourite comedy acts, Flight of the Conchords.

For those that are unaware, Flight of the Conchords are from New Zealand, and comprise of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. They formed in 1998 in Wellington and grew a cult following.

Though best witnessed in a live setting (I haven't seen them live in person before, but the live clips are the best), they had a Radio 4 radio show based on the band and an HBO sitcom that ran for 2 seasons.

Though they mainly sing and play guitars in a live setting, unless they are backed up by other performers, on the sitcom and their albums, they have multi-instrument arrangements.

The genre they always gravitated to most was folk, but they ventured into other genres over the course of their career. Like all good comedy music, the music is generally high quality. They may act like fools, but they are not when it comes to playing their instruments or writing catchy, if hilarious songs.

One of the reasons why they are best seen in a live environment, even if it's a recording is because the awkwardness that exists between Jemaine and Bret and the stories they develop through their songs is ramped up more.

Their great handle on comedy timing is evident then too.

Above all else, some of their songs are actually great songs, despite their silliness.

That's enough jibberjabbing from me. Time for some music.

Robots

I chose Robots first because it is a hilarious look at the Robotic uprising, which I guess is still quite a timely subject with the prevalency of AI and smart devices. It also has an awesome binary solo. The studio version is much crisper and has a more electro-feel but the interactions between the two in the live version are, in my opinion, what make it very funny.

Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenoceros

It's hip hop, it's awkward AF, but has some very funny lyrics and comedy timing. Poor Steve, whoever he is, get's some serious shade.

Inner City Pressure

Inner City Pressure is a very faithful, albeit it ridiculously overplayed, homage to West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys. That's all that needs to be said really.

Jenny

This is probably my favourite song. It is a hilarious story within a song that I am not going to really give away, but it is worth waiting around for the end. Misunderstanding after misunderstandings abound between two people meeting up.

Bowie

Another homage, this time to the Starman, the late and great David Bowie. This song is perfectly pitched as a parody and homage, as you really get a sense that they are only lightly poking fun at one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

I went with the recorded version because I feel it showcases off the different shades of Bowie they recreate throughout the song better than some of the stripped back live version.

Oh and because I am nice to everyone, the video at the top is an extra on top of the 5 listed!

Enjoy!

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Thanks for reading my first post in the Humor community. I hope you enjoyed it. What are your favourite comedy songs, or songs by Flight of the Conchords, if you already know of them?

Let me know in the comments section. I look forward to learning about some new favourites.