What the Folk!

This is intended as a more detailed look at the radio show with info and links on the guests. Lots of British and overseas talent pitches up in the show over the 6 parts. I thought I'd take a look at each episode in turn and shed some light...somewhere. I'm not sure how my take on things is going to pan out here, but when I am done, I'm throwing open the doors to you all to discuss part one ("O joy" I hear you say, 5 more of these to go ) in more depth. This is my effort in getting the ball rolling. Hoping people reading this have managed to hear the show somehow and therefore have a clue about what I am going on about If not, then

So what do we know... Conchords BBC Radio show info

Episode details part 1: The Conchords suffer a setback when Bret has an accident at The Tower of London. Their first UK gig is in jeopardy.... can Neil Finn save the day?

Cast list
Bret McKenzie - himself
Jemaine Clement - himself
Rhys Darby - Brian Nesbitt (manager)
Neil Finn - himself
Andy Parsons - Andrew (Pub owner/manager of the Pig and Whistle)
Rob Brydon - narrator

A bit about Rob Brydon. Narrator. Yes, this is him.



Official Rob Brydon site Tells you more about the man than I ever could

BBC blurb on him reads - Born in Baglan, near Port Talbot, Rob Brydon went to the Welsh College of Music and Drama.
He spent six years as a DJ on BBC Radio Wales. Amongst the comedy characters he created on a show with Alan Thompson were a pair called Tony and Keith - the latter becoming the prototype for Keith Barret in Marion and Geoff.
A glorious career as a voiceover artist followed. Highlights included Toilet Duck and the voice of a whimpering bondage man for Tango.
READ THE REST HERE

Well known over in the UK mainly for The Keith Barret Show. A chat show with a difference. The guests are celebs talking about their relationships and its Brydon in character. I have to say, I found it a great show. Just seemed to work. There is a detailed review over at Funny - Keith Barret Show And can find the DVD of said show at Amazon UK

A bit about Rhys. Brian Nesbitt, Manager. "He manages. He just manages".



Rhys Darby has been described as New Zealand's most physical comedian. His sensational blend of sound effects, characterisation and askew observation has been reducing audiences nationwide to a state of bewildered hysteria. He continues to blur the boundaries between stand-up comedy and theatre as he becomes every character in his dialogue and can include any amount of song and dance into his performance. Rhys gigs regularly at The Classic as well as many other venues around the city as a pro act, MC and a professional dancer.

Some links to stuff on Rhys
Classic
Chortle
BBC Rhys Darby Fringe 2004 Q&A

A bit about Andy Parsons
A bit more about Andy



He's actually performed in New Zealand. And in the same comedy gala as the guys. He stresses his words a lot. And is bald. I am not sure if this is by choice. I've never met him to ask.

And last but not least Neil Finn Other links died, I wanted to include the NilFun site, but nothing doing.

And onto the show.

What is it about? Good question. Two guys and their manager trying to make it in the UK folk parody scene. And how they almost don't. Brian is their hapless manager. Band meetings are frequent.

Songs featured in part 1 are Think About It, Think Think About It and Frodo.

The show was captured mainly on mini disc in and around London over the summer of 2005. For the first part the guys took in some sights. Big Ben, the Tower of London and most important of all....Chiswick roundabout. It has the M4 motorway flyover overhead. I've actually driven into London via this exact route many a time. Who knew that one day Brian would stand there in awe. With Bret and Jemaine, who were bored.

To think this



would one day turn into this



Number 7 on the map below incase you are wondering.



And a great site about the sites of the North Circular ring road. Alas the JamCam for the roundabout is not working. But who knows, one day it may be live again and you can all tune in. Check out the JamCam from time to time and who knows


Bits I love from the show

Brian confirming the booking for an open mike night and asking how much they will be getting paid.

The Rolf Harris stuff

The band meetings. Brian is priceless during these.

The Chiswick roundabout scene (see above)

The whole Lord Of The Rings segement. About how they sent in their song and a letter telling Peter Jackson to use their song in his film about the wizard and the Oompa loompahs.

Lines/quotes from the show

Bret - "Were from New Zealand"
Audience - "Baaaaa"

Bret - "Were following in the footsteps of you know the likes of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa"
Jemaine - "Sir Edmund Hillary"
Bret - "Neil Finn"
Jemaine - "Rolf Harris"
Bret "Australian"
Jemaine "Is he?"
Bret "Yeah"

Bret - "Were not as good as Rolf Harris but uh.."
Jemaine - "Its basically going to be like two Rolf Harris's"
Bret "You know thats gonna cause a bit of a stir"
Jemaine "Its what Brian says when he rings people up - 'Imagine, Rolf Harris times two"

Jemaine "As a manager, Brian...umm.."
Bret "He manages"
Jemaine "He just manages"

Jemaine "Well the gig, you know, it was a foot in the door in Britain. It wasn't about the money, cause we were only paid....nothing. So theres room for improvement."
Bret "Yeah but nothing in pounds"
Jemaine "Hmm"
Bret "So the exchange rate in the New Zealand dollar, you know, were doing ok"

And I am done. The floor is all yours. All I ask is swooning be left elsewhere. By all means have fun, but, yeah, well, I didn't do all this with swooning in mind

Thanks Sherry I never got the chance to hear the first show !!!! I'll go through the rest of the stuff later after I listen to it. Here is a fairly decent fansite for Neil Finn. It is somewhat outdated but there is a fan forum there and in fact the FotC BBC show was mentioned in it.

http://www.frenzforum.com/cgi-bin/ultim ... 996#000000

First of all, before starting, thanks Sherry for this amazing summary of the first show!

This show left me wishing there were things like this on the radio here in the States. As it is now, even on public radio, there is nothing even close to this. And, that is sad. This was so entertaining and outright funny. I laughed out loud in many places.

Rhys Darby as Brian was hilarious. (If it's possible, he's even more clueless than Bret! ) And, Rob Brydon (that must be a really old pic!) as the narrator was so dry and deadpan. And, may I say that the phone calls to Neil Finn, as they began in this episode were one of the funniest plot devices that ran through the series!

Here are a few things that made me laugh out loud:

Brian trying to confirm the band's booking at an Open Mike Night. It was classic.

Bret's "Higher Power" excuse, and the explanation of how he uses it to get out of gigs was priceless! And when Brian tried to figure out a way for them to play even though Bret had the arrow in his shoulder, and suggested maybe Jemaine could strum Bret's guitar every so often with his foot... leading to Jemaine saying "We're a novelty music act, we're not a freak show." ... I howled!

Jemaine singing the unfinished King Kong song with the giant bananas and the giant banana tree. By the time he started to explain that all those things were just "favorite elements" they were trying to work into the song, and it was possible not all of them would make it into the finished work, I was in tears with laughter!

"Oh, 'Flight of the Condors'... beautiful music, beautiful guys, really..." -- a quote from a woman who had just seen their Open Mike show over the end credits just struck me so funny. I dunno... I'm a real doink. What can I say?

Thanks again, Sherry! This was so much fun to listen to. I can't wait to hear what you all have to say!

First off, LMAO - great picture of Mr. Darby.
Thanks for putting this together, Sherry! Nice overview.

Back to the proper discussion.
I loved the part about the Mime/Air guitar. I want to see this miraculous 80 minute video. Is it only available in New Zealand, do you suppose?

The segment with Andrew from the Pig and Whistle is classic. "It's an open mike night!" So incredulous.

Thinking about the soundtracks to LOTR, how come all of the theme songs were done by women? Hmmm....could they be biased?

When I was in London I did get pick pocketed - I should have had a Brian with me. Darn. Why didn't I think of taping my wallet to my chest?!

The Aye Factor. What do you suppose the Aye Factor actually is? Aye? Aih? Aeh?

I loved the bow and arrow part. "This is bad management!" "Your a bad employee. Harming yourself!" "Neil Finn's not going to have had an arrow in his arm" "This stuff happens on tour"
Neil Finn in the beginning of the series is so polite. This changes...but he is very nice to start out. Gotta love Brian.

Last favorite snippet:
Andrew: I don't care if he's been run over by a bus!
Brian: No. It was an arrow.
Andrew: It was an arrow?
Brian: Yeah
Andrew: Oh...

Wahaha!

I agree with all of those things... even getting pick-pocketed while in London! (So was I!) Thanks goodness I kept most of my money and all my i.d. elsewhere!

The Neil Finn thread that runs through the series is genius. This whole series was such a joy to listen to. So many laughs in so many places from such unexpected things!

I loved this part too, Kate! The Higher Power excuse. *L* The image of Bret getting his head stuck in a chair is hilarious.

This was the last episode that I listened to so I got the whole story kinda backwards but listening to it now I think it was a wonderful start to the series. I mean if you look at it forward..hmm..anyway, most of the time in movies Narration is something that kinda ruins some movies but of course in radio it is absolutely necessary..Rob Brydon was great but was he necessary? Spinal Tap is one of my favorite movies..would it have been funnier if Rob B. was in the action interviewing as the documentary crew? I don't know..just throwing that out there. Moving on..Everyone in this episode was great..I've always loved Crowded House and Neil Finn was a Happy Surprise..Well, all of it was a happy surprise.

Thanks for the map Sherry, we don't have many roads like that here..looks kinda dangerous though doesn't it?

God, I wish we could have seen this series acted out..Can't someone just give the guys a video camera and let them have at it?

Songs:
Think, Think about it: Great as usual.
(You'd think put something about arrow safety in the song.. jk..)
Frodo: Not my favorite song but it was still good I love the "We made it..Hurray" part from Bret

Australian cousin bit..ehh..

Favorite Bits:

Mime guitar
"Everyone knew you as the mime guitarist in town.."-Bret
"People would say he's pretty good but he's not as good as someone with a guitar"-Jemaine

Brian saying "Thank you" to Andrew the tavern owner

"Punching the Clown??" Men, what are they talking about? jk

I love how Jemaine says "here" during roll call at the band meeting

As a manager "Just Manages"

"You're very hairy"

"Look it there it's a bus"
10 postcards for a pound "no, not the ones with the boobs on Jemaine" "I like it"

"King Kong.. a giant gorilla..King Kong..terrorizing the city..ahh help"..I love this.
Gorilla rap "I'm a giant gorilla..with an attitude..giant bananas are my favorite food..look out for that giant tree..that's where my banana supply is for me..ooo ooo eee oo oo oe" HA!

"We're on a budget we can't buy weapons".."not even a bow and arrow?".."no".."all right"..and Jemaine with his pencil with a helmet on it.. "Watch this!" "Move Bret!" God, I wish I could see this acted out..

"Bad Management" "Bad employee..Harming yourself"

My favorite line in the whole episode: "We're a novelty music act, we're not a freak show."

Neil Finn: "He's what?" Brian:"Have you had an arrow in your arm?" "What should we do?" Neil: "Get it out"

Pig and Whistle. Injury.."It was an arrow"

Higher Power excuse..His head stuck in that chair.

One WEEK later the arrow is gone!

Oh, that was great..I rate it a B+ or an 8 out of 10.

Will Saunders: Is this the amazing guy who painted "No War" on the Sydney Opera House or is this other Will Saunders?
--nicole

Thanks for the link, JP! It is quite interesting to read what non-Conchordians have to say about the radio show. Well, they weren't fans before the show, but perhaps they like FotC now! Neil Finn saves the day!

First, I enjoyed the narration. I didn't realize at first that Rob Brydon was actually a comedian. I thought he was just a straight-cut professional narrator/host type individual, so I thought that was a particularly nice touch. It had such a "Behind the Music" feel to it. I also love Andrew and The Pig & Whistle. Every Andrew bit is just brilliant.

Some of my other faves:

The racist jar for the girl who is trying to become a teacher.
Their "most unflinchingly political novelty song to date..."
The mock tension of the arrow scene, "IDIOT!" and Brian "rushing" Bret to the hospital via the Underground.
Finally, fans at the end:
- "Flight of the Condors"
- "I liked the little one." heh

Yay! The discussion has started! Okay, so I’m a little late, what else is new?

This BBC Radio episode was the very first thing I ever heard by Flight of the Conchords. I tuned in to find out what Neil Finn was doing on it. I’m really glad this program was my introduction to FotC. I got to sample their comedy with no impressions of what they looked like, what they were wearing, or anything like that. Not to take anything away from the greatness of the HBO show, or any of their other performances, it’s just that this will always hold a special spot in my heart because it was the first thing I encountered.

Though many of these have been mentioned previously, these are a few of the things I loved from the first listen:

“Thinkaboutit” - I remember nearly falling off my chair when I first heard "could somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?".
Open Mic Night with Brian and Andrew of the Pig & Whistle - probably my favorite bit.
“Punching the Clown” - never heard it called that before. That was a jaw dropping moment.
“Frodo Don’t Wear the Ring”- at this point I was convinced these guys were completely insane. And I knew I was tuning in the next week.
What I like to call the “Asthma Interlude” playing in the background during the Tour of London.
“I don’t think a higher source decided that he should have an arrow in his shoulder any more than a higher source decided that he should have his head stuck in that chair that time.” Ah, the mental image that one conjures up. A brilliant line, and my favorite.
“Flight of the Condors”.

The irony was that I started out tuning in for Neil Finn and kept listening every week because of FotC. Or maybe that’s all part of their master plan .

Thank you for the download, Sherry!

Coincidentally, I just logged on to see how I could go about getting a copy of the radio shows, and.....here's the answer!

With my lightning-speed dial-up connection , I should have this show downloaded by Christmas !:pray:

^

Amazingly enough, I haven't listened to it all yet, so I'll hold off commenting, although I'm laughin just reading the bits that you've all posted.

But here'sa link to another Neil Finn site that you might find interesting if you're not that familiar with him, even though it doesn't seem to mention his work with F o the C. As a long-standing Split Enz/Crowded House/Neil Finn fan, I got a huge laugh just out of reading the BBC2 description about Neil Finn saving the day.

Aargh !!!!
My 2 attempts at downloading this link have failed!

After about 30% of file has been downloaded, a window pops up informing me that (paraphrase)" IE cannot download...server has been reset"

???? What,what,why,why,WHY,why, be more constructive in your feedback,why why......

Any ideas? Should i hit the tech forum?

I'd try that the tech thingy. It may just be "timing out" because its taking soooooooooo long. Not sure though