# The Conchords - Anyone else disappointed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988 "2016-02-13T00:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/41 "2016-02-14T02:37:30Z")
I love FotC. I think most of their songs are great, and that the boys really have a lot of musical talent. They don’t have the best voices in the world, but not sure where the “out of tune” comment comes from. I also enjoyed the show a lot (though there were definitely times that it was hit and miss). Having said all that, their humor is definitely not universal. I know lots of Conchord fans, and lots of people who roll their eyes at them. That’s fine. To each his own. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/42 "2016-02-14T04:15:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > FWIW, I really enjoyed Garfunkel and Oates, and I really disliked Flight of the Concords. […] > But then, I couldn’t stand Portlandia either, so there’s that. I liked G&O but each episode only really had one laugh out loud moment for me. FotC was good for at least a few laughs each time. The only Portlandia episode I found especially funny was the Aimee Mann one. But I also stopped watching fairly early in since it wasn’t doing anything for me. In the _What We Do In The Shadows_ thread, people were talking about laughing all the way through. I had a few good laughs watching it but it was more of a solid “I’m enjoying this” without cracking up. that’s sort of my FotC feeling as well – I definitely enjoy the episodes but they’re not a laugh riot for me. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/43 "2016-02-14T04:16:02Z")
I didn’t like it either. I didn’t find them funny. I didn’t care for their music. It’s the kind of thing I usually enjoy so I’m surprised to see so many did actually like it. I thought it was one of those things where it’s so bad it’s good, at least to mock. I only saw the first three episodes though, so maybe it got better. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/44 "2016-02-14T12:30:01Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Who organized all my ex girlfriends into a choir and got them to sing? Not particularly catchy, definitely not funny. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/45 "2016-02-14T13:43:04Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > The rhymes are a little forced On that particular song, the forced rhymes seem to me essential to a parody of “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” > [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > I only saw the first three episodes though, so maybe it got better. If you didn’t like the first three episodes, I doubt you would like the rest. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/46 "2016-02-14T13:54:25Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Those who don’t like, do you like this song or not? I’m just curious, basically. (I think it’s great.) > > [spoiler]The way he delivers "mmmmmmmmmmmshutup!" and "I thought I told you to shut u-u-up..." slays me. The frustrated intonation contributing to the r&b musical delivery and vice versa--clever and well executed IS WHAT I SAY WHAT SAY YOU?[/spoiler] I feel largely about that song as I do about the rest of the songs I’ve heard. It’s not terrible, but it’s not particularly good or funny either. “88 Lines About 44 Women” is largely the same idea, funnier and catchier, done 30 years ago. The guitar neck attached to a video editing machine is almost funny. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/47 "2016-02-14T23:27:58Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I was more disappointed than you, if that’s possible. > > I found the humor nonexistent although it was obvious they were trying to be funny. I thought every single aspect of every song I heard was shite: shitty music, shitty lyrics, shitty arrangements, etc. If every episode were wiped from existence, the Universe would be a better place, IMO. I sat thru 6 episodes waiting for something, anything, to justify the praise the show received and finally gave up on it. You do understand that the mediocre music, singing, production values etc are part of their thing right? They used to introduce themselves at live shows as the third most popular folk parody duo in New Zealand (recently overtaken by Folk of the Conchords, a tribute band.) The humour is dry and understated and plays a lot on the insecurities of New Zealanders in the big wide world. You either like it or not I guess, but if the music and production values were top notch, half the humour would be gone. My point being that you shouldn’t criticise them for something that is a deliberate choice, it’s not like they were trying to make the best songs ever and failed, the songs sound how they were meant to. I think this is a lot clearer watching them live. I’ve seen them live and thought they were hilarious, particularly the chat/banter between songs. BTW Arj Barker was surprisingly funny as well. I’d never been a fan but live he was great (he opened for FotC.) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/48 "2016-02-15T00:18:53Z")
Right. Bret won an Oscar for composing a song for one of the Muppet movies, so his musical skill isn’t in question. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/49 "2016-02-15T00:25:43Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Right. Bret won an Oscar for composing a song for one of the Muppet movies, so his musical skill isn’t in question. That’s right, didn’t he write that “Am I a Man or a Muppet” song? Dunno if that’s the actual title but I assume that’s the song in question. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/50 "2016-02-15T02:23:04Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I loved season 1, I thought season 2 was a little weak and I’m glad they ended it. This was pretty much my take. Season 2 had some good moments, but about the only truly strong episode, in my opinion, was the one where Jemaine goes home with the Australian woman. Maybe it’s because i’m an Aussie, but i found that one very funny. Season 1 was fantastic. Their music video parodies are great, and in quite a few of them they really capture the mood and the style of their subjects perfectly. The Pet Shop Boys rip-off, Inner City Pressure, was priceless. I’m also a huge fan of Business Time, Boom Boom, If That’s What You’re Into, and a whole bunch of others. Some of the dialog is also great. Not all of it worked, but enough did that i definitely thought it was worth watching. Kristen Schaal as Mel the Fan was fantastic, and Arj Barker was great as Dave. Rhys Darby’s Murray was perfect. I also liked David Costabile as Mel’s put-upon husband Doug - such a contrast to his serious work in shows like _Breaking Bad, Damages, The Wire_ and, now, _Billions_. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/51 "2016-02-15T14:39:21Z")
Band meeting ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/52 "2016-02-15T15:28:36Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > I used to see Bret and Jemaine live at a rickety upstairs club in Melbourne. I even bought their first album, Folk the World Tour. When I watched their show on HBO, I was a bit disappointed to realize that almost all the songs on the show were old songs, that I’d seen live or were on the album. I’ve read in interviews that it takes a long time for them to come up with new songs, hence they stopped making new episodes of the show. This is why season one was so much better. There was a substantial amount of material from their live act, so some pieces were already perfected and they had a good base to build around. The second season was a different story. They probably had to put in a lot more work and still didn’t get results as good as the first season. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/53 "2016-02-15T16:08:11Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > You do understand that the mediocre music, singing, production values etc are part of their thing right? I totally understand that, and that’s a huge part of the hipster vibe that sets my teeth on edge. Mediocrity is not a substitute for cleverness, but far too much hipster humor seems to rely on the joke being, “This isn’t very good, isn’t that funny?” Which isn’t offensive or anything, it’s just annoying and dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/54 "2016-02-15T16:14:47Z")
Hipster? I don’t find anything hipsterish about the Conchords or their humor. Hipsterism is about being totally committed to some obscure aesthetic; it’s not about mediocrity at all, just the opposite (mediocrity might be a result, through failure, but that’s true of anyone who chooses a goal). _Portlandia_ is full of examples of hipsterism. I don’t see that in this show. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/55 "2016-02-15T17:55:32Z")
The fictional versions of Bret and Jemaine on the show could only dream of being hip enough to pass as hipsters. They clearly were not meant to be sophisticated or even very intelligent, and they were depicted as sincerely caring about their music and wanting to be successful. I can imagine a show about two hipster musicians who were too ironically detached to, ya know, actually try very hard, but that’s not what _Flight of the Conchords_ was. Even Murray was _trying_ to be a good manager for them, he was just totally unqualified for the job. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/56 "2016-02-15T18:24:34Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Hipster? > > I don’t find anything hipsterish about the Conchords or their humor. Hipsterism is about being totally committed to some obscure aesthetic; it’s not about mediocrity at all, just the opposite (mediocrity might be a result, through failure, but that’s true of anyone who chooses a goal). _Portlandia_ is full of examples of hipsterism. I don’t see that in this show. > [@Lamia](#): > > The fictional versions of Bret and Jemaine on the show could only dream of being hip enough to pass as hipsters. As I said before, it’s not that they were hipsters, but they were characters written by ironic hipsters. It’s a humor I encounter repeatedly from hipsters: sincere passionate characters that we’re supposed to laugh at because they’re so pathetic it’s funny. It’s technically irony–we know something about the characters that they don’t know–but it’s the laziest possible irony. I find it slightly less funny than most cell phone commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/57 "2016-02-15T18:50:20Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > As I said before, it’s not that they were hipsters, but they were characters written by ironic hipsters. It’s a humor I encounter repeatedly from hipsters: sincere passionate characters that we’re supposed to laugh at because they’re so pathetic it’s funny. It’s technically irony–we know something about the characters that they don’t know–but it’s the laziest possible irony. I find it slightly less funny than most cell phone commercials. But I don’t think they are written by ironic hipsters. They’re written by satirical musician-comedians. And the quality of the satire—particularly in the first season—is exactly the level needed to satirize their targets. And I think the satire reflects a love for their targets, not irony or contempt. I can’t convince you they were funny, but they weren’t not funny because of anything to do with hipsterism. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/58 "2016-02-15T18:59:53Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > But I don’t think they are written by ironic hipsters. They’re written by satirical musician-comedians. And the quality of the satire—particularly in the first season—is exactly the level needed to satirize their targets. And I think the satire reflects a love for their targets, not irony or contempt. > > I can’t convince you they were funny, but they weren’t not funny because of anything to do with hipsterism. I don’t think you can convince me it has nothing to do with hipsterism either, unfortunately :). But if it does, it’s a matter of labels: it’s this sense of humor, not the label I’m attaching to it, that leaves me cold. If you want to call it by another label that distinguishes it sufficiently from Garfunkel & Oates or other similar acts, I’ll be happy to say it’s that thing that I dislike. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/59 "2016-02-15T19:05:45Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > As I said before, it’s not that they were hipsters, but they were characters written by ironic hipsters. It’s a humor I encounter repeatedly from hipsters: sincere passionate characters that we’re supposed to laugh at because they’re so pathetic it’s funny. It’s technically irony–we know something about the characters that they don’t know–but it’s the laziest possible irony. I find it slightly less funny than most cell phone commercials. I’m not sure I’m familiar with the style of humor you’re referring to.\* It sounds like you think the central joke of the series is that Bret and Jemaine are horrible musicians who are too dumb to realize how much they suck, but I think that’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what the show is about. They are supposed to be (and IMHO in fact are) good enough that they might reasonably hope for at least modest success, and the audience is supposed to be rooting for them to make it while still laughing at their mishaps. \*ETA: All I know about Garfunkel and Oates is that there is something called Garfunkle and Oates. I have no idea what their style of humor is, or even really what they are. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988/60 "2016-02-15T19:10:22Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I don’t think you can convince me it has nothing to do with hipsterism either, unfortunately :). But if it does, it’s a matter of labels: it’s this sense of humor, not the label I’m attaching to it, that leaves me cold. If you want to call it by another label that distinguishes it sufficiently from Garfunkel & Oates or other similar acts, I’ll be happy to say it’s that thing that I dislike. I find it interesting that I really like FotC, but really hate everything I have seen from Garfunkel and Oates, while you are the opposite. I wonder if that is unusual, or these two bands are superficially similar, but rely on such different styles of humor that they don’t intersect as much as you would think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-conchords-anyone-else-disappointed/745988.md?page=4)