Rhys Darby: Imagine That!

WHAT: 1-hour special of Flight of the Conchords' Murray
WHEN: You probably missed it, and that's OK
GOOD IF: You are not below 40

Have you ever wondered what it might look like if New Zealand tried to make a comedy special with the look and feel of something that would air after a Gallagher special on early 1980s HBO? Well, someone made it for you.

Aired as an anchor in a Conchords-themed special on Comedy Central, Rhys Darby made this special which, as far as can be told, started life as a direct-to-DVD comedy special sold overseas, licensed for air in the USA. Most of the material seems almost warm and fuzzy, while not necessarily funny, with occasional outbursts of cursing. Which doesn't seem to go well together.



(The promo is a little misleading, as the Rhys Darby in the wrapper segments is much more likable than the one performing.)

The comic lacks a clear voice, this special seems like it saw production before Darby managed to put together a really solid chunk of material. The more savvy comedy fan may initially view the show as being a joke about some of the hacky material you've seen other comedians do 20 years ago, then you find out that this is the actual show. He's really making jokes about mimes, and inkblot tests, and sheep.

While repetition is important in comedy, the amount of unnecessary callbacks to his robot bit don't get funnier as the shows go on. He keeps doing them, and other little beeps and blips and helicopter impressions, but it's nothing you haven't seen before. There's a lack of wit which was replaced by a light version of the career of Michael "Police Academy" Winslow.

Considering the likes of Eugene Mirman and Arj Barker were excellent supporting players on Conchords and genuinely funny on their own, it's a shame that Darby didn't produce the same kind of special. Imagine That! proves surprisingly bland for a performer that just recently came out of a highly regarded paid cable TV series. If you really dig Murray on Flight of the Conchords, do yourself a favor: hold on to that memory, and just watch DVDs of the HBO show instead. You're welcome.

Awesome Weekly Comedy, Great Job!

Hey kids, you know what time it is! Time to run down this week’s notable comedy releases in the vast ocean of media!

Oh, and as a side note, just in case you didn’t already hate the guy enough, Jeff Dunham is apparently a total dickbag in addition to being tremendously unfunny. He’s also getting his own show on Comedy Central. Feel free to weep openly.

IN THEATERS

Cold Souls – This is an independent (and apparently pitch-black) comedy starring Paul Giamatti set in a future where souls can be extracted from the body, and then bought, sold or traded. It’s only opening on a few screens and you probably won’t get a chance to check it out until it hits DVD, but Giamatti does neurotic pretty well and the premise sounds solid. Might be worth a look.

DVD

Flight of the Conchords Season Two – Indie darlings Flight of the Conchords are back with the second season of their HBO comedy series on DVD. Overall the second season was a little more consistent than the first one; after all, it brought us the glorious number Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor* and had just the right amount of Murray as opposed to the drowning-in-Murray first season. You can probably find this for under $20, so go nuts.

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season Three – I wasn’t aware Tim and Eric had already cleared through a third season, but here it is on DVD!

My Cousin Vinny (Bluray) – Hey, what do you get when you buy two copies of My Cousin Vinny on Bluray and then play them on two 10-inch laptop screens? TWO MINIATURE JOE PESCIS

Big Trouble in Little China (Bluray) – One of the greatest action-comedy movies from the 1980s is finally available in 1080p. Not a whole lot of comedies from the 80’s have aged well, but John Carpenter’s classic still holds up and is still pretty damn funny in a few places.

John Heffron: Middle Class Funny – Apparently this dude won Last Comic Standing (which is generally not a good sign that he’s actually funny) and now has this special out on DVD. I looked up some of his clips on YouTube and it’s all pretty pedestrian material, most of it being ground I’ve heard covered by other, better comics. Probably not worth your time unless you’re John Heffron’s mother or girlfriend.

CD

Doug Benson: Unbalanced Load – This is the must-get item of the week, naturally. It's available both as a physical CD and a digital download at the usual places. Check out Adam’s review here.


*Before you go, make sure you know the dancefloor bro-ho ratio.