Some very very exciting news for Flight of the Conchords. If anyone has a shot at making the great NZ sitcom (or even one that just doesn’t completely suck…), it’s these guys. And if their success in Edinburgh is anything to go by, their humour translates just fine into an overseas context (at the same time as being uniquely ‘of New Zealand’). With the benefit of NBC’s institutional sitcom expertise, they should be able to produce some *real funny shit*.
Received wisdom has it that about the greatest level of success artistic types can achieve is mass market exposure while retaining creative integrity – a la Bjork, Beck et al. Apparently, it’s easier to stay underground and preach to the converted, or sell out and suck, than to find that elusive artistic/commercial balance. Possibly NZers have an edge in this respect, cos most performers here don’t realistically expect to achieve a high level of financial success?
BTW, Can anyone confirm that FOC’s name was coined around the time of the Air France Paris Concorde crash in 2000? Subversive! Just don’t tell the US media megacorp execs, if they thought Shihad sounded like Jihad, they sure ain’t gonna like this…