Flight of the Conchords fans know as the bumbling band manager Murray Hewitt from the HBO series of the same name.
But over the last decade Darby has also forged a successful stand-up career in the U.K., Australia and elsewhere with similarly quirky (if not quite as bobble-headed) material that he’s increasingly taking on the road — including at downtown’s Thursday, Oct. 17 through Sunday, Oct. 20.
We talked to agreeable, upbeat comic via phone this week about working with the Conchords, his crazy travel schedule, ribbing Ricky Gervais, and the lessons learned from his years in the army.
So where are you at the moment?
I’m in L.A. at the moment. I’ve been here since July, although I’ve been back and forth doing various things for awhile. But we got our green cards, so the family and I kind of made more of a permanent move here.
Is it stressful traveling that much or just part of the job?
I’ve been back and forth to New Zealand, and I’ve been here for work. I’ve been traveling a lot ever since my sons were born, so they’re very used to planes. Finn was born in London when we lived over there for eight years, then we came back to America to do the Conchords TV show and then back to England again and back to New Zealand and back here for movies and things. So yeah, they’re used to it! Which is definitely different than when I was a kid, where I stayed in one place until I was lucky enough to go to Australia for a week when I was 22 or something.
I’ve never seen you play Denver before. Is this your first U.S. club tour?
I’ve been doing sporadic gigs in places I haven’t been to since I got back this time around. And I got the opportunity because of being well known from things I’ve done in the past, which have given me the chance to show up to these places and to have comedy clubs go, “Yeah, we’ll have you!” So it’s not a full tour, it’s just me doing shows, and it’s my first time in Denver. I guess being based in L.A. I can skip out to these place and come back again and not be away too long from the family. And last year I did do an extensive tour of the U.K. and took everyone with us, but it was quite an ordeal. I’ll probably do another one next year, but I’ve never done a full U.S. tour yet. I’m dipping my toes in, seeing who turns up.
Certainly there are some dedicated Conchords fans out there.
It’s been good. People have been turning out. It always surprises me! That show on HBO was pretty popular and there are Conchords fans everywhere. It helps that (the Conchords) keep touring as well. People come up to me with their DVDs that Bret and Jemaine and the other guys have signed and say, “Can you complete this for me?”
Is it a challenge asserting your persona outside of Murray, the character that people most associate you with?
Obviously it is if some of (the audience) haven’t done their research or just come knowing me from that show. They might get a little bit of a shock straight away. But I mean, I’m not THAT different from Murray. I kind of look and sound the same.
You actually look remarkably younger without the mustache.
That’s good! Well, it really added something, the little goatee. It was an old-fashioned look as well, which didn’t help. But I certainly get rid of that when I do stand-up. These days I find most people will look on the Internet and see some of my clips and not be too shocked when I come out. But if I was an actor who was known for that, and then had gone and started trying to do stand-up later — look at someone like Ricky Gervais — then that transition would be a little more difficult. But since I have a good decade of stand-up so behind me, people are assured after 30 seconds or so that it’s going to be good, instead of just me sitting behind a desk and looking confused. Most fans just want a picture with me.
I’m sure it’s a pretty different reception than when you play the U.K. or elsewhere.
In Australia you can make good money over there. In the U.S. it’s all about trying to get on TV. But in the U.K., all the stands-ups are like tradesmen and we earn good money from that, too.
Did you do any of the dates this year with the Conchords?
I wasn’t asked to do any of those in advance. The guys contacted me like two days before they were doing one in Orange County and Jemaine asked if I wanted to come down and be part of it. I was like, “Well, you could have asked me a month ago. I’ve got plans, buddy!” But that’s typical of them. I think they think I just sit in a room waiting for the phone to ring.
You knew them and worked with them for a few years before the HBO show. Do you still keep in touch?
Definitely. Our paths cross normally about twice a year. Now that I’m sort of based in L.A. they come over for various bits sand pieces they’re doing and we’ll see each other.
Lots of comedians perform for troops, but you actually used to be in the military. Did that influence your comedy at all?
Yeah, I think so. It’s definitely influenced me on everything I’ve done. I was so young when I went in. I was 17, and I was in there for four years pretty much straight from school. So I grew up a little bit in that time from a kid who enjoyed running around in the bush with guns and enjoying traps and things to becoming a man and becoming interested in dating girls — and less interested in driving around in tanks. And I guess at that time I wasn’t ideally suited for soldiering. I was a signaler, so I was in charge of radios and Morse code and touch type on the computer, which has turned out to be quite handy. I really enjoyed it, and I’ve got a few funny stories from it. And when I left I went to university from that, so being a little bit more mature as a university student helped. I was still swept up in the drunken haze of it but maybe not as much as before. And when I was there I realized you could perform for a vocation. It was put on the plate for me. Even in New Zealand, though, it wasn’t much of an option.
You mean stand-up comedy as a career?
Even now there’s only one comedy club. But in the beginning I just thought I really wanted to be some sort of battle commander and get dropped in behind enemy lines and rescue POWs and things. I think I watched too many war films. I just liked the idea of sort of hanging out with the gang and doing some manful kind of things in a foreign country and wearing lots of cool equipment. That was my initial idea when I joined up. But yeah, it gave me some self-discipline. It gave me some belief in myself, some confidence.
And certainly, being in the military in New Zealand is quite a bit different than in the U.S., where you might get shipped to a Middle Eastern war zone right off the bat.
Some people don’t even realize New Zealand has an armed forces at all. For me it was the adventure of it all. Some people join the Navy to see the world and you have this dream and then you realize you’re only seeing a few hills here and there rescuing a few sheep and you think, “OK, maybe now I should move on and get a proper job.” But I was good at English in school and the ability to make up stories. And comedy and the whole performance thing I kind of fell into in Auckland. I did stand-up as a hobby and there were international comics who came over from the U.K. for our comedy festival, and people thought my comedy would travel well because it wasn’t topical or regional, so I did the Edinburgh Festival and that’s where I hooked up with the Conchords.
It’s interesting to me how a handful of American comics, like Neil Hamburger and your Conchords buddy Arj Barker, are like stars in Australia but sort of mid-level to small over here.
When I first started in New Zealand there was really nothing happening, which was fun because we sort of created our own scene. We very full of our self-importance because we were the only comedians. There was a small TV show that started up and showed stand-up and we got on that, and we thought the world was our oyster! But since going away and doing the hard yards in the U.K. with some of the best comics in the world — and doing American TV then coming back to New Zealand — I’ve seen the (New Zealand) industry really prove they did have funny people and could make a living at it. And now you see the 20-somethings jumping in and doing TV shows.
But New Zealand still only has one comedy club?
Still only one club. It’s very busy! It used to be a porn theater. “The Classic.”
What do Kiwis think of touring American comics?
Well, we don’t have that many come over but the ones they do they recognize off television and things they respond to. They like anyone that’s giving a clear and precise picture that the media isn’t giving on America, whether that be political or not. Back home we get the views of middle America more so than both coasts. Comedians come over and they’re quite appealing because they tell the truth.
Comics pride themselves on their ability to find humor in anything. Is there anything you ever feel bad laughing about?
I was just thinking today listening to the radio that I don’t really enjoy mean humor, a joke that’s at someone else’s expense. That type of humor which is that mean-spirited stuff I just don’t do. I’m just too much of a nice guy. I can see how it works and it’s perfect for certain people to do and have built careers on being that mean prick — and I’m bringing up Ricky Gervais again, my old mate. It’s fine that he does that and it’s fine knowing at the end of the day that he’s a fatty pug-faced fool. But I don’t want t hurt anyone’s feelings. It’s about me taking the pratfall or being the butt of the jokes more than other people. I’ve been asked quite a few times to do those candid camera-type real-life situations where you go out on the street and end up taking the mickey out of someone in public. But I’ve declined them because I just don’t like it when people are made fun of or unexpectedly brought into a situation that makes other people laugh.
Do you have a favorite joke of the moment?
Out of my own stuff it would be not so much a joke but my material about dressage horses, which I really enjoy doing. I do an impression of a horse doing dressage and it always cracks me up. I actually do that near the top of the show, so I’ve got a few dressage horse impressions to get the party rockin’.
What else should our readers know?
I think I’ve taken the piss out of Ricky Gervais enough. Stephen Merchant, on the other hand, he’s a good guy!
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John Wenzel is an A&E reporter and critic for . Follow him .
