You’d have to have some fairly sizeable cahunas to give your show a title like this, but fortunately Rhys Darby has the goods to back it up. The Legend Returns sees the Kiwi comedian, actor and star of such terrific screen hits as Hunt for the Wilder People, Flight of the Conchords and Our Flag Means Death is also a gifted stand-up performer – highly skilled in the arts of mime, vocal effects and other elements of physical comedy.
But all that means little without an original comic brain that can come up with some truly imaginative scenarios upon which to hang those skills. For The Legend Returns, Darby has been thinking a lot about the rise of one of the biggest threats to the creative mind in decades – AI. How this may or may not be able to replace a genuinely human creative remains to be seen, but his ruminations lead him down a rabbit hole or two that take us to a fantastic place where thoughts – including ‘second’, ‘after’ and, yes, even ‘dirty’ – are required to climb down his throat, delve into his larynx, find the vocal chords and then cling on for dear life.
If you can’t quite picture that, don’t worry. Darby’s physicalisation is remarkably credible. And hilarious.
This is a well-crafted show that has a beginning, a middle and an end, and takes the time for a detour or two into musings on the realities of ageing – the chestnut about being over 50 and going into a room only to immediately completely forget why you’re in there may be a familiar one, but Darby gives it his own unique spin. There’s also some diverting work with a beat boxing voice replicating machine (OK, that’s probably not what it’s called on the box, but it’ll do), using it for similar comic effects as Gillian Cosgriff does in her show this year.
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If the whole thing runs on just a little bit longer than it needs to, well that’s OK, because Darby is a naturally funny chap who takes the audience on a circuitous route, while letting us in on the very merry and decidedly original way his mind works, and we’re more than happy to come along for the ride.
Tickets: $59.30
Rhys Darby: The Legend Returns will be performed at the Athenaeum Theatre until 13 April as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF 2025).
