Two Kiwis taking flight in New York

Kiwi comedy-musical duo "Flight of the Conchords" have hit the big time here in the US with their new comedy show that just launched on HBO.

The New York Times last week heaped a gentle dose of praise on the boys for their dry, witty show - you can tell the writer didn't want to jinx the future success of the show by focusing too much attention and pressure on the program.

The show follows Jemaine and Bret (two characters named after themselves) as they search for their big break into the New York City music scene. With plenty of references to their homeland New Zealand - their deadpan flat Kiwi accents will for sure leave some viewers wondering "what the f__k" - the show is sure to be a runaway underground success. The guys have had a cult international following for some time - but can they go mainstream? Or should they even bother?...

I was at a marketing presentation this week focusing on the latest trends in consumer behavior. One of the key trends was that people are looking to discover brands or elements of popular culture that are maybe a little underground thereby proving their sophisticated edge - rather than simply responding to a blatant advertising message that any idiot could receive. Hence the growth of brands like 42 Below in the US (that's mainly had its growth through viral marketing, the internet and word of mouth) .

HBO took a similar route with FOTC in the early promotion of the show - they released the first episode online (even before if aired on TV) allowing the widespread internet community to spread the word. They've put up the lyrics to the songs (hilarious), and clips from the show on their website so that bloggers like myself can embed them on their sites (and hence spread the viral word), and the boys have appeared as the final musical act on the David Letterman and Conan O'Brien shows in the past two weeks.

Given that the humor is very Kiwi (a little exotic and hard to understand?), even drier and edgier (and maybe at times for some a little hard to understand) than even The Office, the potential for these guys to become a sensation is highly likely. Read: you've got to be cool to get this show.

The cringe factor in the first episode was the boys visit to the consulate office where their unofficial manager "Murray" (and he's a real Muuuurry - short sleeve polyester shirt, geeky persona, and New Zealand poster on the wall behind his desk) made pains to take a roll call, even though there were only three of them in the room.

Maybe that could be our new Kiwi edge that we should be promoting internationally - especially here in the US. Rather than try to compete on the mainstream stage let's celebrate our uniqueness (especially our humor). These guys could be bigger than Peter Jackson....let's wait and see...

You never know, the impending release in the US of the New Zealand big-cringe-factor movie "Black Sheep" may well be huge ("this summer...get ready for the silence of the lambs"....!). Heaven forbid.