Rhys performing in LA - July 23, 2009

Heather!

I personally don't assume that a whole group is an asshole just because one of them is.

I'm sure Rhys has dealt with way bigger dicks than that and I seriously doubt it had any reflection on what he thought about you. He's a smart guy.

You did just fine.

Thanks for sharing everything with us.

THE dance!

Heather,you did everything fine! I'm positive Rhys didn't think you were a douche
Your friend (or boyfriend's friend) that acted like a douche was lame,but that shouldn't ruin your good time

Aww Heather I love your photos and your account of the show As I've said to you already, it is so unfortunate your encounter with Rhys didn't go to plan but you have much more happier memories of the show to dwell upon

Okay I have finally got an account together. I was going to post this in the London thread but I might as well post here to keep all the posts together so here it goes!

I went to see Rhys live at The Bloomsbury Theatre in London on 28th July and what can I say? I loved every minute of it! As well as being hilarious, I just love Rhys for who he is- a sweet guy who doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously.

The Show
I arrived at the theatre early with my friend after having dinner at Leicester Square after work so we just hung around, eagerly anticipating the show. Took a couple of pictures before the show started:

View from upstairs:

View from my seat in the third row:


I’ll try not to give too much away as I’m aware Rhys still has more UK and NZ dates to do but it was great to see of Rhys’ characters, both old and new. Loved the way he kicked off the show with one of his classic characters and then welcomed on Glenn Wool.

I thought Glenn Wool was a pretty funny act. The crowd warmed up to him. At first he actually mocked typical reserved British audiences and gave an impression of the ‘cold, icy stares’ he got from members of the audience as he walked on stage and said good evening. He got a really good reception thereafter anyway. I suppose the biggest laugh he got was when a guy turned up about 20 minutes late and practically jogged across in front of the stage, perhaps for attention. So Glenn just stopped his routine and totally ripped into the guy by saying, “Are you doing a f*cking lap? Do you want to do 4 more? Oh and by the way, your t-shirt is ridiculous” (the guy was wearing a green and white striped polo t-shirt with his collar up). Haha! His routine was good and overall and focused on bashing a particular group of people. Another big gag he had was whilst he was introducing Rhys on stage by bigging him up and then saying, “He’s the 3rd best Flight of the Conchords actor…unfortunately Arj Barker is unavailable tonight but…” ;
)

Rhys came on to huge applause and performed his comedy routine which focused on his experiences in LA as well as his legendary sound effects. We all loved the NZ jokes he threw in there. There was one time when he was talking about museums and he had a slight slip of tongue because instead of saying “There is a museum in NZ”, he said “There is a NZ…” but instead of correcting himself when he realised his mistake, he carried on by saying “There is a NZ in a museum. It’s about half the size of this theatre. Yeah there’s a Bret, Jemaine a few sheep and the odd Rugby ball flying about” and carried on with the joke which the audience loved. Afterwards he said “I’m glad I got out of that one alright” ;
)

Rhys came across really well. He definitely seemed comfortable up on stage as he should be and acted as if he was just having a comfortable chat with the audience especially when talking about his experience as a NZer in LA. He came back on stage for an encore after the audience continually gave him a rapturous applause towards the end of the show so he performed a few crowd favourites.

Classic quote: “I’m hot in bed but sh*t at spelling”- don’t know why but I loved that quote so much! I think it was the way he nonchalantly said it towards the beginning of the show. I also loved the way he’d scrunch up his eyes whilst closing them, give a big smile and a silent laugh and sort of hunch his shoulders after a few of his jokes- it was so cute and endearing!

The Meet and Greet

The show ended, it was getting quite late and both my friend and I both had early starts the following day and we were travelling home by ourselves since we live at opposite ends of town. After deliberating about it for a while, we eventually settled on staying after I convinced my friend that Rhys would come out lol. We asked for directions to the stage door and as soon as we arrived there, there was Rhys signing autographs and taking photos with a few fans (weren’t many people there at all, maybe about 7 other people).

We waited for a few minutes and were the last people to see him. Everything seemed pretty chilled and relaxed whilst I was starting to get nervous. I whipped out by FOTC DVD and marker pen and handed my camera over to my friend. My encounter with Rhys went pretty much as follows:

Me: Hi Rhys!*we shake hands* My name is Vesna and I’m a huge Flight of the Conchords fan so I’d like you to sign this *I hand over my FOTC season 1 DVD*
Rhys: *smiles* Hi. Ah right *signs DVD*
*a bit of an awkward pause as I watch him sign my DVD*
Me: I’m also looking forward to Diagnosis Death.
Rhys: Oh yes. I haven’t actually seen that yet!
Me: Oh really? *giggles*
Rhys: Nah I haven’t *laughs*
(I wish I made eye contact with him to see what he looked like whilst he was laughing cos he sounded so cute but I was too busy getting in to position for the photo)
*My friend takes a picture of me and Rhys*
Me: I really enjoyed your show tonight.
Rhys: *smiles* Aww, thank you. Yeah, it was alright.
Me: Are you enjoying your time in London?
Rhys: Yeah it’s great. I’ve lived here for 5 years so it’s good to be back.
Me: That’s good. Let me take a picture with you and [my friend].
*I take a picture of my friend and Rhys*
Me: Thanks Rhys, good luck with the future! And your new film, ‘Coming and Going’ right?
Rhys: Thank you. Yeah, the one with the cock (in reference to what he was talking about during the show )
Me: *giggles*

So on that note, we parted ways as we walked with him out of the building! It seems like a bit of a haze now and it went by so quickly! I had the biggest grin on my face all throughout that encounter and Rhys just seemed so laid back and very friendly, looking directly at me although I looked away on a few occasions cos I was getting shy. He was probably quite tired as well, bless him. I was telling Heather that the fact that I was fairly nervous around Rhys probably means that I may faint when it comes to meeting B & J but I shall be mentally preparing myself in the meantime ;
)

Here are some photos taken during our encounter with Rhys:
Rhys signing my FOTC Season 1 DVD:


Rhys!:

My signed DVD and my show ticket:

Signed DVD, show ticket and the Diagnosis Death postcard available at the venue:


The main gist of this account is that Rhys is a funny, sweet, cute, friendly and relaxed kinda guy who I have a lot of respect for. Overall, it was a very enjoyable night and I hope the rest of his shows go well! Go Rhys!

HEATHER
i am sure that rhys knows that you arent an asshole!
he is smart enough to know that!


VESNA
i love your recap!!! i am so glad that you had a lovely time!

Thank you lovely girls for making me feel better It's been a week now. I'm not angry any more, though still a little disappointed.... but HUUUUUGELY thankful that I got to shake his hand, say thank you for his brilliant work and got to watch his amazing show I don't feel like an idiot anymore...it wasn't my fault. Thank you for making me realise that!

Vesna, your pictures are brilliant! I can't believe he hasn't seen Diagnosis Death " title="" border="0"/> Did you get a picture with him? You should post it if you did, don't be shy, I've seen your twitter pic you are gorgeous

I pre ordered it on BluRay...but amazon managed to send it to my sister's old flat...600 miles away! I won't be getting it until September now

I love that Glen Wool used that opening about Arj after trying it out on us in the car to see if we thought it was funny

.....Now, my plan is have to convince my boyfriend to stay in Auckland for an extra 3 days, so I can catch Rhys' first show there in December and this time, without the friend!

Good luck with trying to stay the extra 3 days. Boyfriends are easy to convince

Thank you for the excellent recaps and photos, Heather and Vesna!!

Can't wait to see him live someday.