The Actor

Infobox Television episode
Title=The Actor
Series=Flight of the Conchords


Season=1
Episode=11
Airdate=August 26, 2007
Production=111
Writer=Damon Beesley Iain Morris
Director=Michael Patrick Jann
Guests=Will Forte (Ben) John Turturro (Credits cop) Dan Bakkedahl (Waiter) David Costabile (Doug) Eugene Mirman (Eugene) Frank Wood (Greg)
Prev=New Fans
Next=The Third Conchord

"The Actor" is the eleventh episode of the HBO comedy series "Flight of the Conchords". This episode first aired in the United States on Sunday, August 26, 2007.

Plot synopsis

Bret and Jemaine ask a "semi-professional" actor to cheer Murray up after a gig doesn't go well, but the actor gets a little too much into his part and offers the band a record deal.

Plot

The boys play a gig in a club to just a handful of people. After the gig when Bret and Jemaine are at the bar, a "semi-professional" actor named Ben introduces himself. He thinks they are a comedy act and that Bret and Jemaine are just playing characters. He offers them his card expressing a wish to work with them in the future. At a post show debriefing Murray gets depressed about the lack of success he has had promoting the band to record companies.

Bret and Jemaine visit Ben at the dry cleaners where he works. They ask him to call Murray posing as a record company executive and let him down gently. Ben calls Murray posing as "Stefan Gucci", but after Murray starts begging and crying, he breaks down and agrees to give the band a record deal.

Murray and the boys go to dinner with "Stefan Gucci". Despite Jemaine's attempts to get them out of the mess, Murray and Bret agree to the two million dollar deal that the carried away Ben offers them.

Following the filming of a "Lord of the Rings"-themed music video, the boys try to tell Murray about the mistake, but his excited mood causes them to postpone the bad news. They finally get around to telling him the following night after Murray throws them an expensive wrap party. A fuming Murray storms off.

Bret and Jemaine visit Ben again to discuss the mess. He gives them an I.O.U. for the money Murray has spent. He tells them he will be able to pay them back soon because he has got a part in a Martin Scorsese movie about a dry cleaner, but they don't believe him. They visit Murray at his office and make up with him. They even manage to cheer him up a little.

During the credits, we see Ben playing a scene with John Turturro in the aforementioned film, titled "Dry Cleaner".

Notes

* David Costabile (Doug) is listed in the credits but does not actually appear in the episode, except perhaps as the unseen driver of Mel's car.
* In the opening nightclub scene, Bret is wearing a t-shirt made from the picture of Sally he embroidered for her in the "Sally Returns" episode.
* Although Mel officially quit the fan club in the previous episode, "New Fans", she is back again at the beginning of this episode.

ongs

The following songs were featured in this episode:

"Cheer Up, Murray"

Bret and Jemaine sing "Cheer Up, Murray" to Murray after the disappointing concert. They attempt to cheer him up by describing all the good things in his life, although they can't help slipping in some not-so-good things as well. The scene takes place in the store room of the night club. During the song we see a number of short sequences featuring aspects of Murray's life depicted through animated pictures in a photo album.

"Frodo"

In a park, the guys film a music video parodying "The Lord of the Rings". The lyrics summarise the story from the and the end of the . [http://www.hbo.com/conchords/img/episode/11_theactor/lyrics_ep11.pdf Lyrics from Episode 11: "The Actor".] Official HBO Website] Greg acts as cameraman whilst Bret plays both Frodo and Legolas, Jemaine plays Sam and Gimli, Murray plays Gandalf, Mel plays Arwen, Eugene plays Saruman and Dave plays Aragorn. "Frodo" [http://www.smokecds.com/cd/31015 Track listing of Folk the World Tour album] SmokeCDs] [http://www.whatthefolk.net/lyrics.htm#02 Lyrics for Folk the World Tour album] What the Folk! website] (a.k.a. "Frodo, Don't Wear the Ring" [http://www.conchords.co.nz/ BBC Follows Conchords] Post on official website, August 1, 2005.] ) is sung in a mix of styles including folk, heavy metal and rap. The song sounds similar to the Led Zeppelin song, "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You".

Cultural references

This episode features a prominent reference to "The Lord of the Rings" movies, which were all filmed in New Zealand and featured Bret in a small role. Several other episodes have contained references to "The Lord of the Rings" as well, usually in the context that it is one of the few things for which New Zealand is famous.

Filming locations

* [http://www.fontanasnyc.com/ Fontana's Bar] , 105 Eldridge St, New York
* Top Hat Tailors & Cleaners, 592 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn, New York
* The scene in which Bret and Jemaine seek advice from Dave was filmed on the [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=bowery&sll=40.718567,-73.985077&sspn=0.006717,0.013239&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=40.719095,-73.990967&spn=0.006717,0.013239&z=17&om=1&cbll=40.717702,-73.992362&cbp=1,106.3799999999999,0.5,0 corner of Grand St and Eldridge St] in Manhattan, New York.

References