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When attempting to describe the HBO comedy cult hit Flight of the Conchords, the short answer is that it is Tenacious D for people who like Crowded House. The series follows the exploits of New Zealand’s “4th most popular folk-parody duo” as they try to make a name for themselves in New York City, and to be truthful, the show produces the extremely mild guffaws that their ranking amongst the Kiwi’s folk-parody duos suggests. It’s filled with sight gags that never quite work and subtle dialogue that isn’t as clever as it thinks it is.
This being said, The Distant Future, the companion EP to the sitcom, is where the duo truly excels. The lyrics, which vary from the romantic (“And when you’re on the street/depending on the street/ you are definitely in the top 3/good-looking girls on the street”) to the futuristic dystopian future of “Robots” battling it out in the futuristic year 2000 (A joke stolen from Conan, but forgivable once you take a listen), play on the vivid imaginations of 18-34 year-old males who don’t think Weird Al is sophisticated enough. It’s unusual that the album would produce such ribald laughter where the television show produces titters in comparison, but then again, there are people who prefer to listen to Tenacious D than see Jack Black and Kyle Gass in a feature-length movie, let alone a pay-cable television show.