Antipodean fun

April 23, 2008 5:40 AM

In celebration of my antipodean homesickness I've spent the morning catching up with some great Australian and New Zealand musical comedy acts I've been to. You've already met Flight of the Conchords previously on mefi. Now come and meet some...

Flight of the conchords have appeared previously on mefi (as well they should) but you might be excited to know they aren't the only antipodean musical comedy act!

Come and meet some of the others.

We'll start with the original bad boys of musical comedy: the Doug Anthony Allstars (DAAS); as likely to leap into the crowd to pash someone as spit on them, DAAS live shows were an anarchic mix of foul songs(NSFW), spoken word, actual great singing and, if you were lucky enough to catch one of their later gigs, this song.

More recently we have Tripod who continue the three piece theme but are a bit more user friendly and who are gonna make you happy.

Women represent in the form of the Kranzky sisters who...well, defy description really.

Across the water we also get the foul mouthed Ms Peacock

They're not exactly musical, but unusual sound does play a big part with The Umbilical Brothers

posted by steerpike (15 comments total)

The Umbilical Brothers do (did) the sound effects for the British kid's TV show, Maisy. Now that you know, listen more closely next time you hear the bus door, or a toy fire engine squeaking or something. Those guys are amazing.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 6:02 AM on April 23, 2008

I saw DAAS in Glasgow ages ago and they were everything I was hoping for and everything you said about them, steerpike. And I remember that all, as in every single one, of the women I was there with almost fainted every time Paul scrunched up his nose. And he did it a lot.

Awesome show.
posted by jackiemcghee at 6:10 AM on April 23, 2008

Paul McDermott can do anything he wishes to me. And then write a funny song about it.


That is all.
posted by Jilder at 6:41 AM on April 23, 2008

Awwwww, DAAS getting a MeFi plug warms the cockles of me 'eart.

My fave Dougies song is Krishna, the chorus of which you can experience about 45 seconds in, here.
posted by wildilocks at 6:42 AM on April 23, 2008

Scared Weird Little Guys!
posted by aeschenkarnos at 6:45 AM on April 23, 2008

Saw the DAAS in Shepherds Bush (or was it Hammersmth? can't remember) ages ago. Their rendition of The Auld Triangle was chilling, the rest of the gig, hilarious.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 8:56 AM on April 23, 2008

I like Tim Minchin. Try this one.
posted by mosessmith at 10:58 AM on April 23, 2008

The Kranzsky Sisters blew me away!!! Check out their version of "Born to Be Wild"!
posted by birdhaus at 11:23 AM on April 23, 2008

What, no Cosmic Wheels?
posted by ikahime at 11:26 AM on April 23, 2008

There's also the musical comedy of The Bedroom Philosopher. He's best known for the song I'm So Post Modern.

Of course now that I read my own link it turns out he's from Australia, not New Zealand. So feel free to disregard this.
posted by PM at 4:06 PM on April 23, 2008

Another vote for the Kransky Sisters. The rest, feh.
posted by Wolof at 5:42 PM on April 23, 2008

This is my favourite Kransky sisters piece: they do a cover of Pink Floyd's Another brick in the wall.
posted by dhruva at 9:01 PM on April 23, 2008

How to sell a car.

We should never have given John Clarke an exit visa.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:56 AM on April 24, 2008

And, how to buy a car.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:01 AM on April 24, 2008

In the 1980s or so, the Doug Anthony Allstars did a TV show on ABC (Australia's equivalent of the BBC, not the US network) titled D.A.A.S. Kapital. It was like a more anarchic Goodies, with the premise being that DAAS had been assigned to guard the world's art treasures aboard a submarine named Titanic 2, in the event of a global nuclear war or other catastrophe. Maybe one day they'll rerelease it on DVD?
posted by acb at 10:36 AM on April 24, 2008