Billy T’ Billy: Rhys Darby on finding success in New Zealand and overseas

Rhys Darby has gone from performing in New Zealand to leading his own HBO show, Our Flag Means Death.

Rhys Darby is one of New Zealand’s biggest entertainment exports of the last 20 years, going from performing local standup to co-starring in Flight of the Conchords, and now is a regular fixture in Hollywood blockbusters.

He has become such a success story that it’s easy to forget he lost one of New Zealand comedy’s top prizes - twice.

Darby was nominated for the Billy T Award, which recognises rising talent in the New Zealand comedy industry, back in 2001 and 2002, but lost the prize to Jan Maree and Dai Henwood.

Speaking to the Billy T’ Billy podcast from his home in Los Angeles, Darby told host Rhys Mathewson it was something to strive for while young, but not something he wanted to sit around for “waiting for some dude to tick me off on his chart”.

“As soon as you find out in your own head through the power of realisation that awards are not the be-end-all, and in fact, are just a pain in the arse, they’re not the finish line, then you’re gonna do better,” Darby said.

“And I think people are still struggling with that idea today because it gives them some sort of recognition, uh, and then they can get their next step up. But we’ve seen from experiences in the past that it gives you about five minutes’ worth of recognition, and then what are you gonna do?

“The most important thing to do is recognise yourself, not through an award, but through hard work. And a show that has sold out, a show that has reviewed really well, and that will tell you that you are a winner, not some dude with an old gumboot on a bit of wood.”

That’s a reference to the Fred Dagg Award, which goes to the winner of the Best Show award at each year’s festival and is indeed a gumboot on a plank of wood. Darby joked that the accolade does count - after all, he won it in 2012.

Darby said his goal always was to go to the United Kingdom, where he was able to break out and start his international career. He credits the New Zealand International Comedy Festival with helping him get there, as many of the international comics who came over for the festival told him he’d do well on the UK circuit.

Getting into the Comedy Store in Leicester Square in London was when Darby knew he’d made it.

“I had one chance to get in there. And I knew I had to prove myself and you get 15 minutes, or not even that, it might be a 10-minute spot in front of the big cheese. And after that, you’ll come off stage and he’ll bring you into the office and he’ll either say, ‘keep at it’, which means, you’re not there yet, or he’ll do what he did to me and which was, ‘I want to give you a paid weekend and I haven’t really done this with anyone that I’ve only seen for 10 minutes before in a long time’.

“And once you’ve got your spot on a Friday, Saturday night, then the rest of the comedy world knows that you’re a major player, and then you’re getting booked in for all these clubs left, right, and centre.”

Listen to the latest episode of Billy T’ Billy from 40:05 minutes in for more from Rhys Darby on his comedy beginnings and memories of local comedy.

Billy T’ Billy is a NZ Herald podcast celebrating local comedy, in partnership with the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. New episodes are out every Tuesday.

The festival is now on in Auckland and Wellington, and runs until May 28th.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.