Arj Barker is back, without " Conchords"

[size=133:6fyekok3]Arj Barker is back, without "
Conchords"

By John Wenzel
The Denver Post
Posted: 06/26/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT

[size=100:6fyekok3]"
Flight of the Conchords"
fans know Arj Barker as the loopy shop owner Dave from the cult HBO series, so it makes sense that Barker opened for the New Zealand musical-comedy duo of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement at a sold-out Red Rocks Amphitheatre in May.

The 34-year-old San Francisco stand-up returns to Denver this weekend for a series of headlining shows at Comedy Works downtown. We talked to him backstage at Red Rocks last month about the "
Conchords,"
touring overseas and being a tech-savvy promoter.

Q: You were one of the first comedians to have a website, and lately you've really embraced Twitter over blogging.

A: After a while blogging became like homework. With Twitter I find it's not too laborious for me to check here and there. I try to make my messages funny, but I can't always. I don't want to be one of those people who's like "
I'm eating a sandwich"
or "
I love cats!"
I want to give people a chuckle, at least.

Q: I read once that you consider Australia to be a second home. Why is that?

A: I went there for one gig around 1998 and for some reason it was really fun and I just kept going back.

Q: Why do they like you so much over there?

A: It's a little easier to be remembered by the general public because there's less TV channels, so there are more people watching. I also had an advantage going in because I was an American and they thought, "
Oh, he must be a big deal in the States."
Little did they know. ... But that was before I was on "
Conchords."


Q: How would you explain your act to people who have only seen you on "
Conchords"
?

A: It's based somewhat in observational (humor), but it's seen through a very personal lens. I would just say go on YouTube and look at a couple of my sets. But don't go crazy! People put stuff up that's so current, it might be the material I did last night. I don't want people to come see me and be like, "
Well, I already saw that."
I can't write a new act every night.

Q: Who did you look to as inspiration when you first started doing comedy?

A: I never really idolized a single comedian, but the first stand-up I saw that blew me away was Eddie Murphy in "
Delirious."


Q: Do you make a point to watch a lot of other comedians?

A: I watch bits here and there, but I just want to come up with my own thing. I don't want to be too influenced by what somebody else is doing. I like Dave Attell, whose CD was recorded at Comedy Works, and Mitch Hedberg is great. Dave Chappelle is amazing. They all bring something different to the table. Almost any reasonably OK comedian has some skill that you can appreciate. Mine is yelling.