Rhys Darby
Science and technology are the keys to both our longevity and our demise. Our entire existence on this planet is a double-edged sword.Collection: Science
Halloween is bigger than Christmas in America. I've experienced it in New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., and if you're in the right neighbourhood, every house is decorated with spooky ghosts, spider webs, and jack-o-lanterns.Collection: Christmas
It's my mission to get the New Zealand accent into a Hollywood show. I'm proud of the way we talk, and I'm here to represent it. Kiwis are everywhere: they're in every city of the world. I've checked. We have a voice... it's a bit of a funny one at times, but it's one that I want to promote.Collection: Funny
Comedy helped me out in my teenage years. It saw me through puberty and helped me to deal with dating.Collection: Dating
My favorite crypted is definitely Yeti because it's once removed. It's not as popular as Bigfoot or Sasquatch, but it's more exciting. Yetis are of Tibetan origin, China or so, around Russia. They're more of a snow-based giant hominid. Apes living up in the snow? That doesn't make any sense! Well! People have seen them.
We live in a digital world where all is available at the touch of a screen. Money has been simplified, changed subtly over time from tangible bills to numbers in cyberspace. Cash is no longer in a cloth bag; it's numbers on a screen. Numbers that can be manipulated and modified. If you run out of numbers, you can just buy some more, right?
There comes a time in every man's life when he realises he will never be James Bond.
In New Zealand, we have a thing called 'tall poppy syndrome,' which, you might not have heard of it, but it's essentially where - it happens in small populations usually, but can actually happen in the U.K. - where, if someone sticks out, they get their head cut off because they are being outside the ordinary or they are showing off.
I don't think you can beat a costumed monster. It's brilliant. I'll take that over CGI any day.
I love that feeling you get once you leave a cinema having just watched a movie during the day. Your eyes slowly adjust to the natural light, and your mind, being a little slower, takes its time to separate the images of film from the reality you are suddenly facing.
When I was a kid, I thought I saw a ghost in the forest when I was on a bush walk, like a walk through the forest. I saw something weird pass from one side of the track to the other, and it was sort of a white, blurry... it's hard to describe, really - something that was almost see-through, but it just moved in front of me.
When I do the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I always go across to Loch Ness and stay there.
I've had a couple of ghost experiences, but I'm not a big fan of the spiritual side of things, of the ghost type thing. I don't know why; maybe it freaks me out a bit, or I'm more into tangible, physical beings rather than things that can pass through walls.
For anyone who's a fan of the 'X-files' show - I mean, I have the ultimate role. I got to deal with Mulder. I got to talk to him; I had a fight sequence with him. Really, for anyone who is a fan of the show, I think I fulfilled a lot of young boys' dreams.
I have a radio show/podcast called 'The Cryptid Factor,' which is about the search for creatures that may or may not exist.
I had been laughed at my whole life through school, and I never really thought of it as a vocation. I mean, I started off as a soldier, and then I went into the university thinking I was going to be a journalist, but comedy kind of fell on my head and demanded I pursue it.
Being a perfectionist is really difficult. You're never really happy with what you're doing, no matter how good it is. When you can just release that pressure and be in someone else's work and still have the respect of those creators to bounce off the page and give your ideas that they can take or leave? I really enjoy that.
Artists that are perfectionists? We find it hard sometimes to be happy a lot.
I'm used to sort of improvising a lot when I do my comedies.
I had dreams of becoming an officer and a gentleman. But hey: One out of two ain't bad.
I can't stand going to those sandwich bars where you've got to choose your own stuff, because I don't know what goes together. It does my head in. I'd rather them tell me. I'm not the expert. I haven't spent years learning these different combinations.
As a man, you think, 'Hey, man, I want to be like Bond or Tintin.'
Whether it be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or dealing with your children, life is an adventure, and it's how you perceive it.
I think I'm probably a monster-of-the-week guy, and that comes back down to my old favorite show, which as a kid was always 'Scooby-Doo.'
I believe that there are definitely creatures out there in this world that we haven't classified yet, and whether or not they can transcend dimensions is yet to be seen, but I... well, to put it simply, I want to believe in that kind of stuff.
'Greatest American Hero,' I really dug that as a kid because it had an alienation to it, where he was given a gift and didn't know why, and yet he was forced to do something with it, and he was very much an out-of-place character who was trying to cope with his own surroundings, and I can kind of relate to that guy.
'MacGyver' of course, that's probably my favorite show of all time because it was a guy who was so, so smart and could use his wits, and his technical know-how could get him out of any situation.
Certainly, when I left New Zealand, there was no career there as a comedian. I was doing more live gigs than anyone, and I was maybe doing three a week. Even then, it would often be the same people in the audience, going, 'I saw you on Tuesday, mate!'
I've always had a passion for acting, without really realising that that's what I should be doing.
I can be a bit movement-orientated and flamboyant because, essentially, I'm a physical comedian.
Hopefully, the guys will work on a 'Conchords' film because the world deserves it. That's up to them, because we're all keen to do it. It's about finding the time and the right story. All I can do is encourage them and then wait for the phone call.
I haven't done a lot of voice work, but I know that a lot of shows will just bring in the actors individually, and they will just do what is on the paper. You miss out on that connection of having everyone there.
I think of myself as an underground name. Quite a cult comic.
When I grew up, one of comedy idols was Rowan Atkinson, who of course is Mr. Bean and uses physical comedy. Same with Jim Carrey. Both of those guys. And Peter Sellers. Most of my comedy idols are physical comics.
I think what I'm gonna do is keep being international and not being grounded to any one particular thing. As long as I'm entertaining people in one way or another and maintaining some sort of adventurous life with my family in tow, then I'll be happy.
I've never thought of myself as a writer. I still don't, despite all the writing I've done.
To be honest, I struggle with words. I often forget them, you know, the official ones. Instead, I make words up. I use home-made words that sound similar to the real thing. Usually, they're some sort of confused hybrid of two existing words.
I don't know what it is about 'Godzilla,' but as far as I'm concerned, the more versions of it, the better.
I find Godzilla exciting because he/she/it comes from the sea. It's entirely plausible that it could be real. Yes it is! It doesn't take a huge stretch in the imagination to imagine that something may be living at the deepest depths of one of our oceans.
We were Londoners for about seven years during the decade they called the naughties. My first son, Finn, was born over there. He's actually very proud of that fact.
Remember the Y2K bug? Ahhh, those were the days... I'll never forget that New Year's Eve. My wife and I were in Golden Bay dancing with her parents to Abba songs when suddenly, the rain began to fall. I took it as a sign from Mother Nature that everything was gonna be okay. Sure enough, the clock struck 12, and life went on as normal.
I remember when I got my first (and only) iPad - excitement filled the air as I opened the box and stared at what was essentially a big iPhone but without the phone part. I knew I really wanted it, and at the same time, I knew I didn't need it.
Here's my take on Andy Kaufman... For Kaufman, comedy was a skill that was open for examination. He didn't just do comedy, he deconstructed it like it was a transistor set. He pulled out all the wires and switched them around, often in front of our very eyes.
Comedy shouldn't be restrained under the belt of normality.
My turn on 'Letterman' turned out to be a blast. The audience were delightful, and they lapped up my silly Kiwi humour. Even the big man himself came over to shake my hand after my set.
The touring comic is a lonely soul, sometimes dabbling into conversation with a colleague in the green room, but on the whole, we just stand around and try to cope with the random diversity that comes with the 'job.'
A touring comic's typical day roughly amounts to an hour of being laughed at and 20 minutes of being photographed. The other 22 hours and 40 minutes are spent in silence.
Commercialism in the Western world has got us by the scruff of the neck. It's a technological takeover, and we can't even see it happening because we're too busy enjoying it.
I do enjoy walking, but there's got to be a goal at end of it. It's one of the reasons I hate treadmills. All that jogging and going nowhere - it's too frustrating.
Timing is a very important part of being a father. You should never show your kids things before they're ready. Especially with movies. Toys like Lego are okay because the fact that your 3-year-old can't understand the instructions ultimately leads you to constructing it yourself... the secret plan all along.