Flight Of The Conchords - The Distant Future (EP)

Business Time - 4
If You're Into It - 4
I'm Not Crying - 4
The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room [Live] - 3
Banter [Live] - 4
Robots [Live] - 3
Total - 22 stars / 6 tracks = 3.67 stars

Some of these tracks weren't exactly new to me. "Business Time," "The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room," and "Robots" all appear on the Flight Of The Conchords full-length album... although, this EP was released first, so I guess that was my bad for listening to them backward. Regardless, this is a really funny release that is worth repeat listens.

"Business Time" is the band's most successful song. I heard it for the first time when the guys were playing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien back in '07. On the recording, the track is a bit more refined, with the polish making it even more hilarious.

"If You're Into It" is a delightful folk ditty that escalates into pervy absurdity.

"I'm Not Crying" takes a comedy idea that's not entirely original (a man trying to convince a woman that he's not crying), but the cleverness of the lyrics makes it nonetheless still very enjoyable.

"The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room" shows how Flight Of The Conchords is best enjoyed. Much like how a laugh track can make a sitcom seem more forced, or insistently structured, the live audience during this track (and the following ones) seem like they're the ones performing, as if they knew that this was a comedy song, and that they needed to laugh at some point, but they weren't actually sure what was funny. As performers, the performers are flexible, shifting the song to accomodate the crowd's reaction, but ultimately I found that it took away from the experience.

On the other side of this coin is "Banter," where the guys offer up banter discussing banter. It's silly, and pretty funny, and shows how absolutely comfortable they are in front of an audience.

"Robots" has never been my favourite. It's loosely structured, without any real comedic payoffs. The audience really doesn't know what to do with it, keeping mostly quiet until the very end, when they're sure it's appropriate to applaud.