Something heaps of fun this way comes. Best rattle your dogs and gather your friends for the most original - and hilarious - comedy series to hit town in a long while. Flight of the Conchords (HBO Signature; tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday, at 10pm; four episodes a day) is the name of the show - and the band it features and their album (which won a Grammy for best comedy album this year). It chronicles the adventures of a musical pair from New Zealand as they seek fame and love in New York. Real-life duo Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie play fictionalised versions of themselves. Imagine a place where 'talking about getting with a lotta hot women' is something to be proud of, where synthesisers are still cool and where pulling out a rap song (Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros) is a reasonable way of dealing with back-alley muggers - that's the world Jemaine and Bret occupy in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The two have frequent appointments with their manager, Murray (Rhys Darby), a moonlighting deputy cultural attache at the New Zealand consulate who is more concerned with roll call than booking gigs. Their one and only fan, a married woman named Mel (Kristen Schaal), forces her husband to drive her around, stalking the boys. Their friend Dave (Arj Barker) lives with his parents - who he pretends to sublet to - and gives advice that pongs on American women and culture. When they are not busy wasting time, the hapless duo often break into song to deal with people they meet, drawing from a sound they describe as 'guitar-based digi-bongo a-capella-rap-funk-comedy- folk parody'. For each song - such as the low-budget electro music video Robots or the faux French bossa nova Foux Da Fa Fa - the two transform into genre-specific superstars with 'awesome' outfits, dedicating their gyrations to all the ladies of the world. When asked during an HBO podcast interview how the two 'broke out of' New Zealand to gain an international audience, Clement is almost able to conceal the twist of confusion on his face. Only his eyes betray the emotion. 'It's not a prison,' he explains. 'It's just a country.' But to answer the question: Clement and McKenzie met in the late 1990s at university in Wellington, the country's capital, and started jamming to better their shaky guitar skills. After trying to tackle material way beyond their capacity, they decided to write their own songs. As their live-performance repertoire grew, so did the local fan base for their unique combination of musical parody, caricature and back-and-forth wit. In 2005, the BBC created a six-episode radio show about the band's fictional struggle to 'make it' in Britain, which caught the attention of the people at HBO. The American company kept the premise, brought British writer and director James Bobin on board, switched the location and voila! The duo now claim on their MySpace site they are 'so popular in New Zealand that most New Zealanders will deny ever hearing of us, just to seem alternative'. Anyone who misses this show will be ropeable - have a squiz. Another dynamic duo return this week, with their easy-rider antics, in Long Way Down (Nat Geo Adventure; Sundays at 7.30pm). In 2004, actors Ewan McGregor (above left; Trainspotting, Star Wars) and Charley Boorman (above right; an overgrown sprog) rode from London to New York, documenting the trip in Long Way Round. This time, a 22,950km tiki tour takes them from McGregor's hometown in Scotland through the wops of the African continent to Cape Town, South Africa. The usual issues with visas and bad weather compete for airtime with the beautiful, arid landscape as they revisit some of the sites where Star Wars prequels were shot. While McGregor is as sweet as ever (he talks about childhood camping trips and the brotherly bond he shares with Boorman), it's mostly the back of his helmeted head we see as his BMW R1200GS Adventure bike leaves us in the dust. The show is self-inflicted torture for bikers and rambling and repetitive for the rest of us. Also, fans of Lost (below) should be aware the show has moved to the newly launched, sci-fi-focused AXN Beyond (Tuesdays, at 10pm), so update your TV packages before the fourth season of this island-intrigue saga is home and hosed. Glossary of Kiwi slang: Rattle your dogs - hurry up Pong - emit an unpleasant odour Ropeable - angry Squiz - a look or peek Sprog - child Tiki tour - scenic route The wops - a place off the beaten track; an out-of-the-way location Home and hosed - successfully finished; completed