FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS with EUGENE MIRMAN at Massey Hall (178 Victoria), Tuesday and Wednesday (April 21 and 22). $49.50. 416-872-4255.
Recently I endured a particularly excruciating bit of local musical comedy involving sweetly strummed acoustic guitars and loads of wacky irony, and it forced me to reconsider the genre as a whole. Has musical comedy ever really – no, I mean really – been that funny?
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Sure, you’ve got your Spinal Taps, Weird Als and Tenacious Ds, but do funny songs actually age well? I didn’t laugh as hard the 17th time I heard Jack Black softly coo Fuck Her Gently or Sarah Silverman coyly confide that she’s fucking Matt Damon. We force ourselves to, hoping to recapture that endorphin-releasing elation we felt the first time – like trying to re-lose your virginity or recreate that magical first time you smoked crack in the woods.
I’m curious, then, to see the “fourth-most-popular guitar-based folk duo in New Zealand.” Assuming you haven’t been without a TV or the Internet for the last two years, you’ll know I’m referring to Flight of the Conchords, who play an impressive two sold-out nights at Massey Hall.
Equally embraced by giddy frat boys and urbane 20- and 30-somethings, the straight-faced Kiwi duo of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement have risen meteorically from a fringe musical comedy act to HBO darlings, Sub Pop signees and Grammy winners.
But can their live show meet our expectations for a laff riot? After all, we already know the jokes and punchlines. Thankfully, there’s another, more compelling reason to appreciate the Conchords’ shtick: McKenzie and Clement have encyclopedic knowledge of pop music and can stylistically ape it like nobody’s business.
On their self-titled 2008 album, they master the crucial small subtleties in countless genres. There’s the breezy, sun-soaked Gainsbourgesque Foux Du Fafa, near-perfect Pet Shop Boys parody Inner City Pressure, electro-dancehall-tinged Boom and the Beastie Boys throwback Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenoceros. A new album (rumoured title: I Told You I Was Freaky) will be released shortly.
Like Ween, the Conchords are one of those rare and exciting bands who often get it right, something plenty of sincere bands are unable to pull off. They walk that fine line between gimmick and substance, which is why they deserve to be in front of thousands and not in some mildly depressing comedy club.
Fretting over whether they’ll have everyone in stitches is, in the end, a moot point. Once the jokes stop being funny, we’ve still got the songs.
music@nowtoronto.com
