Flight of the Conchords Find Success and the New American Douche Bag
Monday night I got to see Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, better
known as the comedy act/digi-folk band, Flight of the Conchords. It was the first
night of their latest tour and it was obvious. They missed their cue
to take the stage. They fumbled with equipment and
didn’t know some words. They were rusty. However, this is not the
negative portion of the review. They are so damn adorable and seeing
them occasionally wing it was a treat since most of the act was
familiar if you watch their HBO series of the same name. They are not
as naïve on stage as they are on their show. Brett’s character is so
innocent on television, I liked hearing him say dirty words.
The series allows The Conchords to take their music to an even more ridiculous
place and I can’t get enough of it. In the vain of Mr. Show with Bob
and David, the FOTC series is HBO exercising the freedom a premium channel has to
bring what would otherwise be underground comedy to the masses. Well,
the masses seem to be digging it, and that made for a nearly intolerable
show.
After my friend and I took our seats, I mentioned to him how I was
surprised to see so many Brodies filtering in. Brodies… you know,
bro’s, white hats, frat dudes, whatever. My friend laughed and agreed,
but I immediately felt guilty for judging. I was happy for FOTC. I
thought their show was only popular with weirdos like me. “Good for
them,” I thought. But I learned a lesson that night. Some people are
stereotyped because they deserve to be.
It started out with some innocent requests being shouted in between songs
but the yelling got more and more ridiculous. Not a big deal if FOTC
was just a band, but they’re a comedy act so you really need to hear
the banter in between songs. Like with any comedy show, the setup is kind of
important to the joke. A Duck! Get it? I didn’t think so.
This is their first American tour since the success of
the HBO show and I could tell that Bret and Jemaine were a little
confused by their new kind of fan. The New American Douche Bag, I like
to call him (although it’s not gender specific. There are certainly
female douche bags and they were in full effect Monday night). For
some reason, if you’re in your 20’s right now, it’s cool to be a douche
bag. And it’s not like I’m some grandma calling these young whipper
snappers disrespectful. I’m only 31 years old for Christ’s sake. The
yelling out got so out of control that there were moments when the
guys were just at a loss. I thought Brett was going to rub off
what was left of his scraggly beard in frustration. Just rubbing his
face, and shaking his head not knowing how to handle this because
these screamers were so disrespectful, but at the same time they were obviously
deep fans. They were yelling show references and song titles and they
paid nearly 50 bucks to be there! Brett and Jemaine didn’t get it. I
didn’t get it. I was sitting in my seat with a pit in my stomach,
feeling guilty that I was part of this crowd. I wanted to somehow go to
them and say, “Hey guys! We’re not all like this! Some of us are cool
and respectful! We sit and listen until it’s time to laugh and then we
do!”
The Conchords still managed to entertain but I have to say, in
general, the show made me feel old and a little depressed. Now is the
time of The New American Douche Bag. All I can do is wait it out and
pray that the pendulum will eventually swing back the other way. That
someday being cool will be cool again and that being a douche bag will
once again be lame.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Sally,
Although I can’t comment on FOTC since I haven’t seen it, I couldn’t agree more about the douchebags. These dicks are the reason I don’t really go to certain popular bars anymore, especially later at night. It seems the later it gets, the greater the douchebag population. And they’re drunk. Drunk douchebags. Ouch… Sounds like one of those Bug Jar bands. Oddly enough, there seem to be less douchebags at the Bug Jar than in many of Rochester’s other drinking establishments. Maybe I’ll head over after work. Cheers!
May 27th, 2008 at 10:35 am
God I hate that fuckin show but you are definately right about the Douchebags!!
And You KNOW I luv you my Sal Pal!!!
Your Friend, Boston Scott
May 28th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Sally,
I tried watching FOTC, but I could never quite get into it. There were funny bits that had me rolling, but the rest of the time I was just annoyed or worse bored with the show. I feel the same way about “The Office” I guess it just goes past me as far as humor, or it’s too close to my actual life to be really funny. (yikes?)
As for the douche bags, yeah we are in total agreement. The fact is that I had to get out of a lucrative job because of these idiots, I’m not a patient person with ignorant people to begin with, but throw a drunk douche bag into the mix and my blood pressure skyrockets and it’s all I can do to keep from taking a poke at them. The sad part is that as they grow out of it (or most of them at least)there will be more to follow them, as there always are. It too bad that modern society has stopped evolution or nature would take care of them.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Hey Sally- I heard you talk about the blog on the air (via iTunes) and I’m glad to have checked it out. You write well and have more time to make your point than when competing with the guys for time. Thanks for providing another site for my surfing rotation.
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
This pisses me off too. I go to a lot of small club shows, and it pisses me off when people either heckle the bands or even just stand there talking to friends and texting. UGH TEXTING! It pisses me off. Yeah, you may not have been there for the opening act, but you’re there & they’re there, you might as well listen. I have found some of my favorite bands opening for other bands. After one excruciating set at Water Street, I actually went back to the merch booth and apologized to the guitarist of the band I was seeing. I explained that this crowd isn’t always this shitty to the bands they go to see. Not only did they come back a short time later, but they guy gave me a free CD.
Long story short… yeah douche bags don’t make life easy for anyone!
June 9th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Sally,
I really hate to have to break this to you, but the American Douche bag has never been endangered. They have been a constant since the first school-yard bully pushed a smaller kid down for his lunch pail. The problem is that today they are emboldened by the fact that society has become so wussy-fied. Anyone who stands up to them risks going to jail for rightfully smacking them upside the head like they truly need. In trying to make our “civilized society” more “civil” we have legislated and lawsuited ourselves into a corner where we can no longer stand up for ourselves or the people around us with out being subject to either prosecution or litigation. Too bad, because every day I meet someone new who would seriously benefit from a solid knuckle sandwich as a reminder to treat people better.
As for the Conchords, I really did try to watch the show, but I never really got it. It reminded me of The Office, and I never really enjoyed the either. I do remember that they are from New Zealand and not Australia. Maybe that’s why I didn’t get them.
Keep writing, I enjoy your style.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Sally,
I heard the show today and the conversation about Festival Guy, I had to look because I saw him at the Jazz Fest last weekend.
The man is a giant pig! He used to jog down Norton St, near the old ball park, every afternoon. He’d run through the parking lot where I worked and go behind the building and pee on the wall. EVERY DAY!! THis is broad daylight.
One day I waited till he was mid-stream and went back and told him to get the hell out and pee on his own house. He gave me a wise remark but I didn’t see him peeing on the building again.
You don’t want to see his junk, I have and it ain’t all that!!!
July 18th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Sally,
I couldn’t agree more. Although I was not at the show, I am unfortunately part of this douchebag generation due to my “young” age of 25. These kids are beetch-asses who can turn any activity into such a delightful task. I find it hard to find anything common with these kids other than my age and as a result find myself chilling more often with people much older than myself, with whom I seem to have more in common.
I hope this generation wakes up as I am scared to death of my peers. I don’t understand the joy in becoming inebriated EVERY night of the week once anyone is over the age of 21. These kids are lost, hopeless and BORING.
It’s always nice to see I am not alone in feeling “old”, even at 25 years of age.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
You’re so beautiful, you could be a Part Time Model…OMG LOL
September 4th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Your so beautiful like a dream, or a high class prostitute! LOL…
I laughed out loud for the first time in ferever when he said “but you’ll prolly have to keep your normal job.” So cute…
www.myspace.com/onehandwavingfree