New Zealand's finest

Move over, Tenacious D. A new musical-comedy duo is in town. Self-proclaimed as "formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo," Flight of the Conchords consists of Bret and Jemaine, who started working as a standup duo nine years ago. \nTheir new series finds them living in New York City, trying to make it big and build an American fan base. The show also stars Rhys Darby as their incompetent manager Murray, Kristen Schaal as their only fan Mel, Arj Barker as their stoner friend and a fair share of other guest stars. The show mixes their classic songs into a plotline, similar to the Tenacious D shorts but much more developed. What results is one of the freshest and smartest comedies produced in years.\nSeason one is filled with several great moments, musical and unmusical. On the "Bowie" episode, Bret is guided in his dreams by David Bowie, played by Jemaine, who even leads him to flash a music executive. "Bret Gives up the Dream" has Bret quitting the band for a career in sign-holding. "Drive By" finds Bret and Jemaine being discriminated against by a kiwi-hating fruit stand owner played by Human Giant's Aziz Ansari. Bret and Jemaine mix deadpan delivery, quirkiness and silliness to make a smart and original blend of comedy.\nMusically, Flight of the Conchords tackles more genres than The Beatles' White Album. Its songs are often imitations of artists, producing extremely accurate musical and visual impressions. For example, "Inner City Pressure" finds Bret and Jemaine doing their best Pet Shop Boys impression, with conversational vocals, still-shot video and a whole lot of synthesizer. "Think About It" is a classic impression of political Marvin Gaye, imitating his smooth streetwise soul while Jemaine sings hilariously stupid lines like "They're turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers / But what's the real cost, cause the sneakers don't seem that much cheaper / Why are we still paying so much for sneakers when you got little kid slaves making them?" No song feels like any of the others, and all have plenty of comical lines.\nThe season consists of twelve episodes on two discs. Unfortunately, there are no extra features that add to the value of the package, because the only extras it contains are episode previews. But with a price tag of only $20, the first, and hopefully not last, season of "Flight" is definitely worth it.