"There's scheduled meetings, and then there's chance meetings.What I've done is scheduled a chance meeting."
-- Murray (Rhys Darby)
Spoilers. The songs are the worst I've ever heard spill from the Conchord's lips, but this was otherwise a funny episode (even though it once again included a tragic romance), primarily because of Brian Sergent's brilliant performance as Brian, the befuddled Prime Minister of New Zealand...
Murray (Rhys Darby) gets the Conchords a "gig" at an impersonation club, meaning Jemaine (Jemaine Clement) and Bret (Bret McKenzie) are forced to attend as a Simon & Garfunkel tribute act. Jemaine's bobble-haired costume attracts the attention of a woman called Karen (24's Mary Lynn Rajskub), whom he later discovers is an obsessive superfan of Art Garfunkel and only using him to fulfill her weird fantasy. It's a situation Jemaine doesn't actually have the strength to resist, and proves particularly annoying for his own stalker, Mel (Kristen Schaal).
Meanwhile, Murray has been chosen by the NZ consulate to be the visiting Prime Minster's personal aide and arrange the politician's activities when he arrives in New York, to include a meeting with President Obama. Murray doesn't have much luck arranging said trip, and is forced to ask Jemaine and Bret to act as the man-child PM's city tour guides. The Prime Minister (Brian Sergent) himself turns out to be just as eccentric as his dimwit compatriots; terribly old-fashioned (he owns an '80s brick-phone, loves fondu parties), has difficulty expressing his emotions ("I'm feeling that feeling where you go grrrr"), and is a firm believer that the philosophy behind The Matrix is the truth.
There's not much for Bret to do this week, and the Jemaine/Karen storyline felt a bit flat once the obvious joke had been delivered -- although it was nice to see 24 regular Rajskub in a different context, no longer sneering at a laptop. Shame the comedy potential of the impersonators was also a little lacking (especially with Patton Oswalt on hand as an Elton John-alike), although I liked how Murray employed an Obama double to trick Brian into believing his diplomatic trip had been a success. And the final gag -- where two Elton John's fool the PM into believing the Matrix has just "glitched" was priceless.
Ultimately, there was more bad than good here, while the two songs were particularly limp (a karaoke-themed ditty, sung in
1 March 2009
HBO, 10pm
Writers: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie & James Bobin
Director: James Bobin
Cast: Bret McKenzie (Bret), Rhys Darby (Murray), Kristen Schaal (Mel), Arj Barker (Dave), Jemaine Clement (Jemaine), Frank Wood (Greg), Frank Wood (Greg), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Karen), Brian Sergent (New Zealand Prime Minister), Patton Oswalt (Elton John Impersonator), Louis Ortiz (Obama Impersonator), Patton Oswalt (Elton John Look-A-Like), Art Garfunkel (Himself), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Karen), Brian Sergent (Brian) & Susan Blommaert (Tour Guide)
