Flight of the Conchords: Are you watching yet?

Although the only other new summer shows that I've watched with any regularity have been On the Lot and Hidden Palms, which aren't exactly daunting competition, I'm ready to call Flight of the Conchords the best new show of the summer. Tonight's episode of Conchords was just as funny as last week's, and made clear that the show has the potential to soar to even greater comedic heights. (Get it? Concords?? Soar??? Hahahacough.)

One of the hallmarks of a great comedy is the depth of the supporting cast. Although Bret and Jemaine are certainly the best thing about Conchords, and have incredible chemistry and timing due to their years working together, they aren't the only characters that will keep me tuning in. Murray the band manager, in particular, stepped up in the second episode. I loved him at the expo pimping the toothbrush fence, I loved him when he was figuring out the pros and cons of replacing Bret, and I loved him when he was auditioning new Brets. Just hysterical. Melanie the super-fan is also a great character, and the show has done a really good job so far of allowing her to push the crazy envelope without being too over-the-top.

I'm pretty excited to see what they do with Eugene the landlord, too, now that I've figured out where I know him from. It's Eugene Mirman, the comedian! Eugene Mirman, other than being a generally well-respected comedian, is the creator of The Marvelous Crooning Child, which I used to find hilarious. And, looking at the site again for the first time in years, it seems I still find it hilarious. Awesome. So yeah, there's definite potential for the landlord character.

Tonight's episode of Flight of the Conchords -- in which Jemaine and Bret realize that being poor sucks, Bret gets a job holding signs, and Bret gets fired from the band because of job conflicts (and then rejoins the band) -- confirmed several things I have long suspected, but never known for certain.

#1: Aussies and Kiwis hate each other. And if you're going to be exhibiting in an expo, you should totally have "Wet 'n Wild Welcome Girls," because alliteration is awfully attractive.

#2: Sign-holding is actually a pretty sweet job. As the sign-holding boss said, "People who hold signs go on...to hold many things." I think my arms would probably get tired after a while, though.

#3: Already hilarious songs can be made even better with colorful animation. Although I kind of already knew that from Homestar Runner.

Speaking of hilarious songs, my favorite lyrics of the night were in "Boom Boom," which finds Bret singing about his hot sign-holding colleague: "She’s so flippin’ hot, she’s like a curry / I want to tell her how hot she is, but she’ll think I’m sexist / She’s so hot she’s making me sexist...bitch." My only complaint is that at times it was tough to hear the lyrics over the music, which is a shame, because these guys' lyrics seem to be uniformly hysterical.

Did you hear that, world? Hysterical. Seriously, start watching this show now. NOW!!!