“Keep them open every time you stop,” he says, giving the exact opposite of good safety advice. He gifts them NYC hats and t-shirts, so they’ll fit in, and oversized maps, too. Murray gives the duo some safety gear to make navigating New York feel less perilous. Another reason to love Flight of the Conchords’ protagonists? They’re a couple of complete and total sweeties, the kind of guys who are just as scared of being made fun of as being murdered. He says they could be run over, get pickpocketed, fall down a manhole, get murdered, or even just be ridiculed. The guys want to do gigs at night, but Murray insists it’s too dangerous. The theme of ever-present danger continues through their band meeting with manager Murray ( Rhys Darby). When they face strife, they frequently under-react, keeping things low-key even in the strangest circumstances. They were rural shepherds before coming to America, and they don’t seem like they’ll ever get used to the big city. The show’s fictionalized versions of Bret and Jemaine are endlessly loveable, in part because of their small-town naivety.
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He’s off-topic, insisting Bret tell his mom about all the TV stations in America.
Meanwhile, Jemaine pesters Bret from his spot on the living room couch. “That’s Bruce Willis, though,” he corrects her as she presumably continues campaigning for him to arm himself. We only hear his side of the conversation, but in typical Flight of the Conchords fashion, every understated line is hilarious. He’s talking to his mom, insisting he doesn’t need a gun because America isn’t as dangerous as she thinks it is. The earliest and most wonderfully bizarre twist of fate episode of Flight of the Conchords, though, might be the series’ best: “ Mugged.”
And in “New Zealand Town,” the guys become popular after getting addicted to hair gel, then lose their audience when they run out of the stuff. In “The New Cup,” for example, Bret buys a $2.79 cup that makes the guys’ finances spiral out of control, ultimately leading Jemaine to an unsuccessful career as a sex worker. I’ve always been partial to its good-natured nods to the ever-turning wheel of fortune and episodes that position the guys as fools wandering into surreal situations.
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One of the joys of the series is that, despite its relatively small back-catalog, every fan seems to have a different favorite episode. Flight of the Conchords arrived in an era of indie comedy dominance but forged its own path with its silly, self-effacing sense of humor and fish-out-of-water protagonists.
The 22 resulting episodes are about as beloved as a cult classic can get. Its stars and co-creators, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, left a third-season deal on the table, deciding to focus on less exhaustive projects instead. The HBO series, which follows the fictional exploits of the real band of the same name, only ran for two short seasons. Not every trend that year was built to last, but Flight of the Conchords sure was. In 2007, Juke flip phones were all the rage, “Soulja Boy” was on every radio station, and all the cool kids were obsessed with a two-man comedy band from New Zealand. This entry revisits one of the funniest and most surreal episodes of Flight of the Conchords: “Mugged.” This essay is part of Episodes, a monthly column in which senior contributor Valerie Ettenhofer digs into the singular chapters of television that make the medium great.