When a friend recommended the HBO series Flight of the Conchords (currently showing on BBC4) by claiming it featured “comedy songs that are actually funny” I was sceptical. I had visions of whimsical ditties fresh from an airing at the Edinburgh Festival, where alcohol and the slight hysteria of a live show commingle to extract laughter from the lamest performances.But no, no, Flight of the Conchords is still funny when you’re sober and sitting in front of the box on a Tuesday night. Along with the show’s rather sweet storyline about two fish-out-of-water New Zealanders trying to break their “band” in a supremely indifferent New York City, the quality of the songs won me over. Wonderfully true to the singers’ guileless personas, they often start with empathetic warbling characteristic of James Blunt’s supermodel-coaxing ballads before running it over with the sort of literalism a high-functioning Aspberger’s sufferer brings to his to-do list. Even without the pitch-perfect delivery, the lyrics for “I’m not crying”, performed in the first episode, still makes me go “Ha ha ha-ha ha”:”I'm not cryingIt's just been raining on my faceAnd if you think you see some tear tracks down my facePlease don't tell my matesI'm not cryingNo, I'm not cryingAnd if I am cryingIt's not because of youIt's because I'm thinking of a friend of mine who you don't know who is dyingThat's right, dyingThese aren't tears of sadness because you're leaving meI've just been cutting onionsI'm making a lasagnaFor oneOh, I'm not cryingNoThere's just a little bit of dust in my eyeThat's from the path that you made when you said your goodbyeI'm not weeping because you won't be here to hold my handFor your information there's an inflammation in my tear glandI'm not upset because you left me this wayMy eyes are just a little sweaty todayThey've been seaching aroundThey're like searching for youThey've been looking aroundEven though I told them not toThese aren't tears of sadnessThey're tears of joyI'm just laughingHa ha ha-ha ha”And here’s the obligatory YouTube clip of the duo “in concert”: