Flight of the Conchords – Drive By

TELEVISION Several weeks ago Bret and Jemaine were singing about the "Tape of Love" and how we should all stick together. This week our dynamic duo get a real taste of America when they become the victims of discrimination when attempting to buy fruit. It’s too bad the street vendor who denies them an apple and a banana because they are from New Zealand didn’t hear that song before pushing them to the brink of tears. But then we wouldn’t have had my favorite part of the show, which was Dave (who says there is a lot of "prejudism" in this country then wanted to frame the vendor in retaliation for murder) teaching the guys how to flip the bird – without using wings. (Don’t you think they really needed a back light to project the birds onto a wall?)
This episode had a moment that was close to feeling like an After School Special, with Bret and Jemaine sniffling when watching "Albi the Racist Dragon" (who lives in a cottage cheese cottage and cries jelly beans.) But every sentimental moment is balanced with lightness, like when they use hip hop to project anger but sound more like they’re burping when singing that "there's too many mutha uckas uckin' with my shi-…"
I hated seeing the guys getting picked on, especially when the cruelest thing Jemaine can think of for revenge on the street vendor is to think mean thoughts. And I was a little surprised that Jemaine knew the word xenophobe when he said that’s what the vendor was – instead of a racist.
I missed running into obsessive fan Mel this week, but that only gave us more time with Conchords manager Murray, who had a school-boy crush on the tech support girl. Maybe Murray is onto something creating an un-convoluted one-word love song "Hi". But you know he’ll move on when, at the end of the show, he sings, "Goodbye" to the leggy blond accompanied with cool sound effects from the office, like snapping scissors or tape. (The sticky stuff.) Murray will have to be content with the gift from his mother, the DVD, or Dubbed Video Dub.
So, in order to live in a better world, we should remember the profound words spoken by Jemaine: You’re a person and I’m a person and each person deserves to be treated… like a person.