Rhys Darby: If I don’t do the robot, people start complaining

Rhys Darby: If I don’t do the robot, people start complaining

The Flight Of The Conchords star has just the right approach to comedy â€" if it’s funny, he’ll do it.

Renowned for his sound effects and robotic miming, Rhys must now appease fans by continuing to include them in his set.

The joker laughs: “It’s got to the point where, if I don’t do the robot impression, people will complain.”

I’m keen to know his first ever sound effect.

“It has to be the helicopter,” he says. “I used to write a lot of stories for my set. It’s amazing how many of them ended up with helicopters flying past.”

Rhys has always enjoyed brightening up his life, even in the “boring job” days. Literally, when it came to working in the cinema.

“When I’ve had normal jobs â€" like at the barbecue factory, the body shop, in a cinema â€" they’ve been short-lived. I was fired for blowing up the popcorn machine. But I think any job I have done, I have had fun with and been flamboyant with. You have to take whatever hand you’ve been dealt and put a shine to it and don’t just be a drone, which is funny because I’m obsessed with robots.”

And while the flame-haired wit merchant can pull off a dazzling Terminator impression, he can also offer insight into how to mimic a coffee machine. As you do.

“I can also do similar sounds for other types of machinery,” Rhys says.

He immediately pouts and furrows his brow, before making a sound that can only be described as schwooosch.

His face looks hilarious and I tell him so. “Ah, but I’ve got the advantage of not noticing my face,” he says.

“I like doing those sort of things in a crowded cafe. They’re so realistic people won’t notice, or they might think it’s a machine. It’s not until they walk past and notice the intensity of the face that they know it’s me doing it.”

With such dazzling social entertainment skills, you would think Rhys finds it easy to impress at parties, but it’s not always the case. In his book, This Way To Spaceship, Rhys offers advice on life, told in an oddly sci-fi way. It’s about the world ending and there are only three spaceships to take people away.

“In order to get on to a spaceship they have to do a series of things ‘correctly’, so I guide people on how to behave by using what has got me this far.”

So what does he advise for parties, then?

“I like to enter into interesting lines of inquiry. So instead of asking ‘What music are you into?’ or ‘Who are you here with?’ I might say ‘What are your feelings on aquariums?’ or ‘I’ve got my dancing shoes on, if your keen?’ or ‘I’m wearing my political debate sneakers’ or ‘No, I’ve just checked, they’re my Shut The F**k Up, Move On boots.”

Rhys Darby will be touring This Way To Spaceship from July 1. See ents24.com. Follow Rhys on Twitter @Rhysiedarby