TVSquad

Back in the day, before Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie became America's favorite Kiwi musician-comedians, they did a six-episode radio series for BBC Radio 2. The audio has been floating around YouTube for a while, pleasing the fans desperate to get as much folkin' action as possible. To make things a little more legit and extra-fun (thanks to bonus materials), BBC Audio is about to re-release a bigger CD set of the Flight of the Conchords radio show.

I've listened to the radio show, and it's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the TV series (especially the first season). That dry delivery is twice as nice when it's designed just to be heard and not seen, and it's very interesting how the strongest aspects of the televised series manage to come through as just dialogue and sound effects, as well.

A lot of the actors we've come to know and love are not present, though Rhys Darby still plays the guys' manager and gives a fantastic performance. His character is named Brian Nesbitt in the radio show, which is actually infinitely less hilarious as "Murray Hewitt" (at least with the way Darby says it).

As for the music, it was tweaked before it landed on HBO, so hearing previous incarnations can be quite fascinating. In some cases, like with "Bowie," it actually works better than the TV version.

Strangely, there doesn't seem to be that much information about the new release. The series was released on CD a while ago, but this is the Director's Cut with outtakes and full-length songs. According to the show's page on Wikipedia, it's set to be released on October 8. Again, that's Wikipedia, so make of it what you will.

And just for the hell of it, here's a clip from the television show that never fails to make me laugh (and maybe cry a little too).