Rhys Darby

Did You Know?

• Darby is the youngest of five children and grew up with a single mother.
• He met his wife Rosie Carnahan while performing stand-up comedy at her café in Christchurch.
• Darby says that he is on the spectrum and has ADHD.

Career

Rhys Darby first appeared in a 2000 project called "Night Groovers," part of the third collection of rADz, which were radical art haiku films from Yeti Productions. His comedy duo Rhysently Granted played at two international comedy festivals, after which he returned to Auckland to build his solo stand-up skills. He performed his first solo show at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and then moved to the UK to advance his career. In 2004, he played Brian Nesbit, the manager of the band, in the Flight of the Conchords BBC radio series, working with comedians Rob Brydon, Andy Parsons, and Jimmy Carr. For the television version, the character was renamed Murray Hewitt. Darby sang on the track "Leggy Blonde" from the band's self-titled debut album and on "Rejected" from the second series, the latter featuring tenor Andrew Drost during the episode "A Good Opportunity." He portrayed Norman, the boss of Jim Carrey's character, in the film Yes Man. In July 2008, he acted in a Nike commercial with Roger Federer, playing a fake coach. He also appeared on the children's show The Slammer in its first series, on Soccer AM on 18 October 2008, and on Never Mind The Buzzcocks on 23 October. His stand-up show It's Rhys Darby Night ran at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 6 to 15 August 2009, at London's Bloomsbury Theatre from 27 July to 1 August, and toured New Zealand in October and November 2009. He played Angus in Richard Curtis's film The Boat That Rocked, released in the UK on 1 April 2009 and later in some countries as Pirate Radio. While back in New Zealand in 2009, he filmed television ads for the mobile network 2degrees and appeared on Rocked the Nation 2, Jaquie Brown Diaries, and Intrepid Journeys. With his wife, he started producing live comedy through their company Awesomeness International, putting on shows for local comedians at the NZ International Comedy Festival. Darby also became a climate ambassador for Greenpeace's Sign On campaign, contributing a poem and a video. He joined the fifth season of the New Zealand TV series Intrepid Journeys, traveling to Rwanda. On 10 August 2010, Entertainment Weekly mentioned that Darby was being considered for a role on NBC's The Office after Steve Carell's departure, but the opportunity never came to pass.