Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby had a ball onset. Photo / Supplied
Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby had a ball onset. Photo / Supplied
Two of New Zealand's funniest men have reunited for a fresh TV comedy that's as witty as you'd expect.
Famed director Taika Waititi and fellow Kiwi comedian Rhys Darby are no strangers as colleagues, but now they're sharing the screen for the first time in Our Flag Means Death, a period comedy about a wealthy man who abandons his charmed life to become a pirate.
Darby, 47, helms the series as Stede Bonnet, a real-life 1600s figure known as the "gentleman pirate", who becomes the captain of his own ship Revenge but his earnest nature struggles to earn the respect of his crew. That is, until Bonnet's fortunes shift when he encounters Waititi's Captain Blackbeard.
The eight-episode series is ridiculous, hilarious and even emotional at times. You'll be laughing about 30 seconds into it, and Darby tells us it was the same experience for those on set.
"I do try and hold it together, and certainly when there's a scene where the cameras are on me, I'm pretty good at holding a straight face and laughing on the inside," Darby tells news.com.au of trying to stay in character.
"You learn over time that, to make the magic happen, you have to keep it together. I like to say something that's not in the script and put people completely off, and if they can hold it together, before you know it those moments are real, they're beyond a script.
"You can often tell when someone's saying something that's written down, and we have to beat that."
Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby had a ball onset. Photo / Supplied
While the script certainly sets the right foundation, Darby says a good chunk of his scenes – particularly with Waititi – were built around improvisation.
The pair's relationship goes way back, with the duo having worked together on What We Do In The Shadows and Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Darby says the two can't believe they're – yet again – getting paid big bucks to crack gags all day.
"When it's just me and Taika, no one tells him what to do, or me what to do," he laughs.
"We've known each other for a long time and we just have the same sense of humour; we try to escalate whatever is there [in the script] for us already.
"When we run into each other on set, and we're involved in something that's other people's money, especially in America, we have a cheeky grin we give each other, and say, 'Are they gonna work out we don't deserve any of this?'
"But it really comes down to believing in yourself. Taika and I are not educated, we're not trained in the art of acting, the only thing I can say is that we bring an honesty to it. I'm not acting. I am really trying to be that person."
It's fair to say Darby, who got his big break on Flight of the Conchords back in 2007, is living a comedian's dream. He says he would look at himself in his ridiculous pirate costume, surrounded by an elaborate set and a marvellous ensemble cast, and wonder, "How am I here?"
But the journey to "here" was often fraught with humbling setbacks.
"I look at recent years of jobs that have come through and often felt guilty, then I think, 'Why?' It's because I took ridiculous risks leaving a cushy job as a radio operator to go and be a ridiculous comedian onstage, where I had to beg and borrow for money," he says.
"I lived on the bones of my arse for a few years. Luckily, I had a partner who was responsible and had a real job.
"At one point, I was delivering sandwiches on a bicycle. I really put in the hard yards."
While most of his sizeable resumé is brimming with comedy projects, Darby surprises with the revelation he wants to dabble in a bit of drama.
"I do a little bit in this show, there's some more dramatic moments with Taika and I, which was something new for us and I really enjoyed it," he says.
"Comedy is easy, so we thought, 'Let's do something where we can do a scene where it's emotional.' When we pulled it off, we'd be almost crying and there were definitely tears.
"Then after they yelled 'Cut!' we'd give each other high fives. That's all fun and laughs but I genuinely just watch dramas. I'm too picky with comedy – I see something and go, 'I would have done a better job.'"
Our Flag Means Death was easily one of his career highlights, made all the more special by the inclusion of his young son Theo, who was asked by Waititi to cameo.
Theo plays a young Stede Bonnet in the pilot episode, but the experience may very well have turned him off life on the small screen.
"He had to do his own stunts and everything because the stunt kid called in sick," Darby says. "He had to fake vomit and all sorts of things. It was quite a horrendous job," he laughs. "After that he goes … 'I'm gonna go sell stocks on the computer.'"
Our Flag Means Death is available in NZ on Neon from March 4.
