Darby finds beat with American celebrity

Darby in a TV ad with photographer Annie Leibovitz for Hewlett Packard. Photo / Supplied

We've seen Rhys Darby dance and sing on Flight of the Conchords - now the Kiwi star can add beat-boxing with celebrities to his repertoire.

Darby has joined forces with hip-hop mogul Dr Dre and celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz for a series of US television advertisements for technology company Hewlett-Packard.

The ads, which will run for two months, show an eager Darby awkwardly beat-boxing for an unimpressed Dr Dre, peering over the shoulder of a hard-at-work Leibovitz and discussing ways to break into a top Las Vegas casino.

The "Let's Do Amazing" campaign was launched on YouTube on Friday and is thought to cost about US$57 million ($81.3m).

The ads aim to reinvent HP, which is known mainly for its printers, as a broader technology business.

Fresh from a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles where the ad was filmed, Darby said Dr Dre was "very excited" to see his beat-boxing skills.

He also managed to hang out with the rapper and Leibovitz off-camera.

"I was a very lucky man to meet both Dr Dre and Annie Leibovitz. Dre, as I now call him, was a very nice man. I found Leibovitz, as I now call her, the most 'gangsta' of the two," he said.

"I said to her, 'It was a pity I didn't meet you five years ago - you could have done my wedding pics."'

In February, Darby posted a tease on his Twitter page about the celebrities he was meeting in LA, but has kept mum about it until now. "I really want to tell you who I met today but the papers back home would be all over it," he Tweeted.

The comedian's career has flourished since he was cast as the Conchords' clumsy manager Murray Hewitt in their HBO hit, leading to roles in the movie Yes Man, with Jim Carrey, and The Boat That Rocked. Darby is involved in another Hollywood movie, but details are under wraps.

rebecca.lewis@hos.co.nz