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Who did you look up to when you were starting out?
I had an obsession with BBC comedy, mainly sitcoms and Monty Python. The Goodies was a big one for me. It was all sketch, absurdity, silliness. I didn’t get into standup until my university days because I just didn’t think it was a vocation, especially not in New Zealand.
You served four years in the New Zealand army when you were a young man. Did it inform your career in comedy at all?
I grew up watching Dad’s Army with my mum, and that’s one of the reasons I joined up. I thought all the action would be fun. I brought my sense of humour with me so got told off a lot. Turns out, it wasn’t really Dad’s Army but it was the New Zealand army, so it wasn’t too far off. We had moments where we were literally rescuing sheep. I’ve taken some of the skills with me into my career: self-discipline, drive, getting up on time.
Can you recall a gig so bad, it’s now funny?
I did a gig on an aeroplane just after 9/11 for a brand-new airline. They wanted to have me on the inaugural flight as an entertainer. It was at 8am. People started looking at me like I was a threat. I did some weird stuff about clouds and some of the airline upholstery. One thing you’d never do as a standup is go and sit with your audience if it goes badly. But I had no other choice. One guy said to me, “Why’d you do that?” I said, “I got paid.” No one believed it.
What has inspired your latest show, The Legend Returns?
It’s about me fighting against artificial intelligence. Back in the day it was fun when robots were robots, but now it’s actually getting quite scary. The future doesn’t look good – especially in creativity. AI should just leave us alone because all it’s doing is plagiarising us, stealing our stuff, and people are then taking advantage of that.
It’s a huge subject matter, but I do it in a very silly way, a very human way. I think there’s no robot that could do what I do, and that includes all the flaws. When I screw up, when I break the fourth wall, take the mickey out of myself or laugh at myself or what I’m doing, that’s very human.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
I stretch because I do a lot of physical comedy. Drink water. I normally have one beer to make me remember the good old rock’n’roll days.
What’s one of the strangest encounters with a fan you’ve had?
I’ve had a lot of things made for me. Depending on my material, they’ll find something in the stories I tell. Back in the day, I said I was the freestyle dance champion of a small town called Ohakune in New Zealand. So someone knitted me a woollen jacket that had “dance champion” on the back. Also, someone made a small bust of me once. I remember with Flight of the Conchords, Jemaine Clement once received a plaster impression of his lips. I don’t know how they did it, but to present something to you that is of you is insane. Luckily, no one’s given me a full clay model of my nose or anything like that.
Did you have any idea when filming that Flight of the Conchords would have such lasting cultural impact?
I don’t think we did. And that was good, because we really felt like we were making this thing for ourselves. Because we were young and it was our first time in the States making something with their money and their brilliance, we got caught up in it all. We just concentrated on how could we be so funny that we’re cracking each other up and have to redo the scene?
As we had some control over the show, we could improvise and do seven or eight takes. And that was really the key, because I got funnier every take. I know that for a fact. I still say this to people when I do shows. I say give me a couple more because I’ll peak on the sixth take.
With Our Flag Means Death, you went from “that guy from Flight of the Conchords” to a Tumblr sex symbol overnight. What was that like?
I’m a comedy guy, not a sex symbol. [Pirate character] Stede wore some very attractive attire but is still a very insecure, bizarre, weird little man who has to try and find himself. The character was perfect for me because I like dressing up, being the captain, and I do overcompensate with authority because I really have no idea what I’m doing. There were definitely some similarities there, but I was not expecting anything on a sexual note from fans. The audience are amazing. They really come to the table, but it was a little bit too much for me.
You’ve long had a passion for cryptozoology. What draws you to creatures like Bigfoot and Mothman?
It’s the mystery of the unknown. I think I’ve always thought of myself as someone that mysteriously shouldn’t be here. I was a mistake as a child, as I was born nine years after the rest of my siblings, so I think I’ve always had this belief in what else is out there.
I think these things are real. Not all of them, but I love the idea that we don’t really know and we can search. The search for stuff that we don’t know yet – I think that’s one of our purposes here.
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Rhys Darby: The Legend Returns is on tour in the UK and Ireland until 29 June, and at Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 1-10 August
