Rhys Montague Darby (born 21 March 1974) is a New Zealand actor and comedian. He is known for his energetic physical comedy routines, telling stories accompanied with mime and sound effects, for example machinery and animals. He was nominated for the Billy T Award in 2001 and 2002; he won the 2012 Fred (Dagg) Award for best NZ show at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival.
Darby is best known for playing Murray Hewitt, the band manager of Flight of the Conchords in the television series, a role he originally played in the BBC radio series under the name Brian Nesbit. He has appeared in films including Yes Man (2008), The Boat That Rocked (2009), Love Birds (2011), What We Do in the Shadows (2014), Trolls (2016), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), Guns Akimbo (2019), Relax, I'm from the Future (2022), Uproar (2023), and Next Goal Wins (2023). From March 2022 to October 2023, he starred as Stede Bonnet alongside Taika Waititi in the HBO Max period romantic comedy series Our Flag Means Death.
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Early life
Darby was born on 21 March 1974 in Auckland and grew up in the eastern Auckland suburb of Pakuranga. He attended Edgewater College in Auckland. A former soldier, he left the New Zealand Army in 1994 and began studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 1996 he formed a comedy duo, Rhysently Granted, with Grant Lobban. After winning an open mic contest at Southern Blues Bar in Christchurch, the duo began performing at local venues.
Career
Rhys appeared in "Night Groovers" – 3rd collection of rADz – (radical art Haiku films by Yeti Productions) in 2000. Rhysently Granted performed at two international comedy festivals which led to Darby moving back to Auckland to seek more solo stand-up experience. After performing his first solo show at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Darby moved to the UK to pursue his career.
In 2004, he appeared in the Flight of the Conchords BBC radio series as the band's manager Brian Nesbit alongside comedy stars such as Rob Brydon, Andy Parsons and Jimmy Carr. Darby's character was renamed to Murray Hewitt, the band's manager, for the Flight of the Conchords TV show. He provided vocals for the track "Leggy Blonde" on their self-titled first album and also in the second series of the show on the track "Rejected" during the episode "A Good Opportunity" alongside tenor Andrew Drost.
Darby played the role of Norman, the boss of Jim Carrey's character in Yes Man. In July 2008 he appeared in a Nike advertisement featuring Roger Federer; he played an impostor posing as Federer's coach. Darby appeared on a British children's television programme The Slammer during its first series. He appeared on Soccer AM on 18 October 2008 and on Never Mind The Buzzcocks on 23 October.
Darby performed his stand-up show It's Rhys Darby Night at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on 6–15 August 2009, at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London from 27 July to 1 August, and toured New Zealand in October and November in 2009. He played the role of Angus in the Richard Curtis film The Boat That Rocked released in the UK on 1 April 2009. This film was released in some countries in November 2009 under the name Pirate Radio.
In 2009, while home in New Zealand, he began filming TV ads for NZ's new mobile network, 2degrees, and appeared in shows: Rocked the Nation 2, Jaquie Brown Diaries and Intrepid Journeys. He branched out into producing live comedy with his wife and their company, Awesomeness International. At the NZ International Comedy Festival they produced shows for local comedians. Darby became a climate ambassador for Greenpeace in its Sign On climate campaign. He published a poem and video in support of the campaign. In 2009 Darby became a part of the New Zealand TV ONE series Intrepid Journeys, Season 5, touring Rwanda. On 10 August 2010, Entertainment Weekly claimed that Darby was in consideration for a role on The Office on NBC after Steve Carell left at the end of the 2011 season; however, it did not materialise.
Personal life
Darby is the youngest of five children and grew up with a single mother. He was particularly close with his sister Linda, who helped mother him after their father left.
He met Rosie Carnahan while performing stand-up comedy at her café in Christchurch. She became his manager, they married in 2004, and they have two sons. As of July 2014, Darby and his family live in Los Angeles. Darby says that he is on the spectrum and has ADHD.
Filmography
Comedy specials
Imagine That! (2008)
It's Rhys Darby Night! (2011)
This Way to Spaceship (2012)
I'm a Fighter Jet (2017)
Mystic Time Bird (2021)