Rhys Darby: 'It's that complete sandbox of play on the stage that I really, truly miss'
The LA-based comedian is back home to serve up his "silly physicality and playing off himself in various characters" on stage for the first time in nearly 10 years.
Comedian and actor, Rhys Darby, is invigorated to be back in front of a live audience, he says.
Darby returns to New Zealand with his first stand-up comedy special in almost a decade, The Legend Returns, with shows in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Los Angeles-based Darby has been working on new material in the US where his stand-up work is less known, he tells RNZ's Nights.
Rhys Darby as Captain Stede Bonnet in Our Flag Means Death.
HBO Max
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“The gigs I've been doing in the States in the last six months have essentially been my own show. They haven't been line ups, I haven't been slotting myself into gigs.
“So, they've been my audience, fans of Our Flag Mean's Death and Jumanji and various other things I've done in the States.
“In fact, since I did that pirate show, so many people have found me, a brand-new audience, and they’re captivated that I actually do live stand up as well.”
Stand-up is where it all started for Auckland-born Darby over 25 years ago, who has since built a busy and successful film, TV and voice-over career, perhaps most famously as dorky manager Murray in Flight of the Conchords.
Being back on stage has been “invigorating,” he said.
“I think it's that complete sandbox of play on the stage that I really, truly miss.”
After a decade in the “Hollywood game” Darby is enjoying being back were it all started.
“The thing I did miss for about eight years was the energy of the audience and the instant of having to do it, you don't get a second take or a third take,”
Not that he isn’t partial to a tangent, he said, something AI, a topic he explores in The Legend Returns, is unlikely to ever master.
“Failing, or the fallacy, being able to screw up and laugh at it, and have everyone laugh at that, breaking the fourth wall, all of that kind of stuff, all of these human things that that humans love to watch.”
He started imitating humanoid robots in his stage shows 25 years ago he said, and now “they're actually arriving on our doorsteps.”
“So, it's about me being 50-51 and dealing with, as a creative, this life that has been thrust upon us.
“I've never been massively tech savvy, but this massive AI revolution, we can't help but be swept up in it, whether we like it or not, and so that's what the show's about.
“I do talk about Tesla and cyber trucks and stuff like that, but, everyone knows what they are here, so it should be fine, most of it is Rhys Darby doing his silly physicality and playing off himself in various characters in awkward situations.”
The Legend Returns runs at The Opera House Wellington on 27 March, Theatre Royal in Nelson on 28 March, Issac Theatre Royal in Christchurch on 29 March, and Bruce Mason Centre in Auckland on April 3 and 4.
