What Goes on Tour

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“What Goes on Tour”

Flight of the Conchords episode

Episode no.

Season 1
Episode 9

Written by

Paul Simms

Directed by

Paul Simms

Guest stars

Betsy Morgan (Blonde Girl)
Emily Swallow (Becky)
David Costabile (Doug)
Kate Pierson (Club Owner)

Production no.

109

Original airdate

August 12, 2007

Episode chronology
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"Girlfriends"	"New Fans"

"What Goes on Tour" is the ninth episode of the HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords. This episode first aired in the United States on Sunday, August 12, 2007.

1 Plot synopsis
2 Plot
3 Notes
4 Songs
- 4.1 "Mermaid"
- 4.2 Other songs
5 Cultural references
6 Filming locations
7 References

[edit] Plot synopsis

Murray organizes a warm-up tour in preparation for a big gig in Central Park. However, the boys' carelessness and an encounter with a women's water-polo team threatens to ruin the tour and their relationship with Murray.

[edit] Plot

At a band meeting, Murray has some really good news — a gig in Central Park. Since they will, in Murray's opinion, need to be at the top of their game, he has organised a warm-up tour for them. When Bret asks how they can afford to go on tour, Murray says he has dipped into the band's "emergency fund". He flashes an envelope of cash but won't tell them where he got the money.

In the car on the way to their first gig, Murray gets a call from his wife Shelley. They had been separated but are back together now. We learn from his phone conversation that the 'emergency fund' came from their joint cheque account, and he hadn't told his wife that he had taken it to use for the tour. We also discover that Mel and Doug have been tailing their car.

The first gig of the tour turns out to be in the lounge of a hotel at LaGuardia Airport. After the gig, Murray gives the boys a per diem but is annoyed when he discovers they have spent all the money on leather suits. He intended the "per diem" to last all week. They try to give Murray a gift they had bought for him, but an annoyed Murray refuses without looking at it.

Up in the hotel room, Jemaine is trying to watch TV; however, Bret has to hold it in the air in order to get a decent reception. When his arms tire, he puts the TV down on the window sill, but it falls out the window. This results in Murray having to pay for a new TV out of the tour funds. Later at the next gig in Passaic, Jemaine damages a club amplifier, leaving Murray further out of pocket.

When they turn up at their next gig, they find their reputation for damaging equipment has preceded them and the club owner turns them away.

That night at the bar, Bret and Jemaine are invited to sit with the members of the North Jersey University Women's Water Polo team. After finding out they are in a band, the girls ask for their autographs and suggest partying in the boys' room. Bret and Jemaine head upstairs first and, on the way up to their room, sing "Mermaid".

The guys wait all night, with Murray banished to sleep in the bathroom, but the girls do not show up. The next morning, they discover that the water polo girls have used their autographs and room number to charge a large bar bill to the band's room. However, that is not the end of the bad news for Murray — Bret manages to drive Murray's car into the hotel swimming pool.

A furious Murray quits as manager and storms off to walk home. Left without a way home, Bret and Jemaine are forced to ask Mel and Doug for a lift. When they catch up with Murray on the highway, they successfully manage to make up with him by giving him the gift they had bought for him earlier. It turns out to be a leather suit just like theirs.

The happy threesome head for their final gig in 'Central Park'. The band discovers, however, that Murray has misled them. The gig turns out to be in "a central park" in Newark.

The concert is titled Newark Summer Jam '07.

Over the end credits, we see Murray on his mobile phone trying to explain to his boss why he has been absent from work all week.

[edit] Notes

Bret reveals his 'secret' last name^[1] - McClegnie - a scrambled version of the actor's real name.
We learn that the name of Murray's wife is Shelley.
Becky of the water polo team has the same trouble with Bret's first name that Coco does in the "Bret Gives Up The Dream" episode.

[edit] Songs

The following songs are featured in this episode:

[edit] "Mermaid"

There was only one full song in this episode, "Mermaid"^[2] (a.k.a. Mermaids^[3]). The boys imagine the girls of the water polo team are mermaids and sing an ode to the mythical creatures in a lounge act vocal style.

[edit] Other songs

Bret and Jemaine play a fragment of "Rock the Party" at the gig in the hotel lounge. In the park at the end of the episode, when Murray is on the phone, we can see the boys on stage in the background playing the intro music for "Robots".

[edit] Cultural references

The club owner that turns the band away is played by Kate Pierson, founder and lead singer of The B-52's.

When blaming Jemaine for dropping the TV out the window, Murray likens him to Keith Moon, drummer for The Who and notorious destroyer of hotel rooms. There is also a famous, possibly apocryphal, tale where Moon drove a car into a swimming pool — as Bret ends up doing later in the episode.