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Two New Zealand comedians are proving to be the next big thing after Sex and the City, American television reviewers say.
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie - billing themselves as New Zealand's fourth most popular folk parody duo - premiere tomorrow on the US cable channel HBO.
One reviewer, Terry Morrow of the Scripps newspaper chain, said their show Flight of the Conchords "is HBO's return to form".
"After failing to find interesting and engaging comedies to follow in the hallowed footsteps of Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, the cable channel has finally got it right," he said.
The quirky story of the NZ musicians trying to make it in New York City borders on surrealism as it follows the duo trying to date women in the big city or finding time to practise for their next, non-paying gig or finding enough money for food.
"The humour is dry, smart and sharp," said Morrow. "Flight is one of those rare gems on cable TV that gets everything right.
"The main plot gets a terrific reprieve with the songs. The stories are always tangy nuggets of oddness."
And the New York Times reviewer, Alessandra Stanley, said the pair's music parodies were clever, "but part of the series' appeal is the sheer novelty of New Zealanders as comic heroes".
New Zealand as an obscure and backward country that no American can find on a map is a recurring joke.
McKenzie befriends Coco, who says brightly, "New Zealand, there's Vikings there, right?" McKenzie politely agrees.
- NZPA
