RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The New Zealand comedy band "Flight of the Conchords" is taking to the air once again. The HBO series about the adventures of this funny folk duo returns for a second season this Sunday. As NPR's Robert Smith reports, the goofy show is taking a slightly darker turn.
ROBERT SMITH: If you missed the first season of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords," do not worry. The two stars can sum up a year's worth of shows in just 11 seconds.
MONTAGNE: Two guys from New Zealand come to New York, and they're a band. And they fail to...
MONTAGNE: Weekly.
MONTAGNE: They fail every week, yeah. At 10 o'clock.
SMITH: You see, the band has no gigs, only one fan and a hapless manager. And through it all, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie greet their failures with awkward silence.
MONTAGNE: Stereotypical sense of humor in New Zealand is dry and understated.
MONTAGNE: Even to the point of having none at all.
MONTAGNE: We've definitely used that.
MONTAGNE: It's kind of bordering on boring. We keep it at that edge.
SMITH: Which makes it all the more delightful when the boys burst into song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
SMITH: It's business, It's business time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
SMITH: And then Bret brings on his rap alter ego, the Rhymenoceros.
MONTAGNE: (Singing) Other rappers dis me Say my rhymes are sissy Why? Why? What? Why exactly? What? Why? Be more constructive With your feedback, please Why? Why?
SMITH: They do psychedelica, reggae, new wave, French pop.
MONTAGNE: (Singing) Camembert Jacque Cousteau Baguette
SMITH: And a whole riff on what it would be like if NASA launched David Bowie into space.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
SMITH: While the show was on hiatus, an album by The Conchords debuted at number three on the billboard chart. And the band has been selling out their tour dates, which puts a lot more pressure on the boys for their second season on HBO. How do you play convincing losers when you're already a hit? At a sound stage in Brooklyn, they're filming the last episode of season two. It explains how The Conchords got together and their early days in America - or at least a fictionalized version of the story. Jemaine and Bret are practicing a scene about how they came up with the idea for their very first song.
MONTAGNE: Let's go to this party
MONTAGNE: We have to finish this song, man. We don't have any songs.
MONTAGNE: You've forgotten how to rock the party.
MONTAGNE: You know who likes to rock the party.
MONTAGNE: SINGING ...likes to to rock the party?
MONTAGNE: That's it, man. That's it. Who likes to rock the party?
SMITH: It didn't really happen that way. During a break in the filmmaking, Jemaine and Bret explain that they were college students and then roommates together in New Zealand.
MONTAGNE: We weren't really planning on playing to an audience. We were just messing around mainly for our flat mates. Even they didn't like some of the songs, but we continued to play them while they were making their dinner.
SMITH: All the while, the two were auditioning for acting roles on New Zealand TV, and never getting the parts.
MONTAGNE: I remember us one day saying, let's forget acting. Let's make a band. And this is the band we made.
MONTAGNE: And then by making a band, we got a TV show.
MONTAGNE: Ironically.
MONTAGNE: Hmm.
SMITH: And now they joke that they're one of New Zealand's top exports after lamb, butter and Lord of the Rings DVDs. Just don't expect their real-life success to spill over into the sitcom.
MONTAGNE: It seems like the second season, if anything, has some darker themes. Like perhaps by Jemaine and I living in America for a couple of years now, we've lost a little bit of our naivety.
MONTAGNE: It's almost - actually in this series, almost every episode is about losing our innocence.
SMITH: Jemaine even tries to become a gigolo, although he's so bad at it he has to solicit his customers over the phone.
(SOUNDBITE FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
SMITH: In order to rescue him, Bret croons his own version of that song by The Police, "Roxanne."
(SOUNDBITE FROM "FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS")
MONTAGNE: You don't have to be a prostitute, No, no, no, no, no, You can say no to being a man ho, A male gigolo, You don't have to be a prostitute, No, no, no, no, no, You can say no to being a night looker, boy hooker...
SMITH: "Flight of the Conchords," season two, debuts on HBO this Sunday. And if you don't have cable, well, the band has learned some tricks from their online cult status. They'll now offer the shows' songs for download on the Internet after every episode airs. Robert Smith, NPR News, New York.