January 22, 2010

The Cryptid Factor: Live from New Zealand

This Sat 9:30am on George FM (click here for live streaming).

Rhys Darby vs. David Farrier cryptid pop quizz smackdown. The winner gets an original Day Of The Animals 1-sheet movie poster. The loser gets attacked by Peter (“Day Of The Ninja”) Hassall with nunchakus.

The Cryptid Factor airs 8:00am-10:00 (New Zealand time) each Saturday This equals:

7:00-9:00pm Fri (London time)
11:00am-1:00pm Fri (Los Angeles)
1:00pm-3:00pm Fri (Chicago)
2:00pm-4:00pm Fri (New York)
6:00am-8:00am Sat (Sydney)

It is a weekly radio show hosted by actor and comedian Rys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, Yes Man, The Boat that Rocked, etc.) and David Farrier.

Rhys has a great interest in cryptozoology in real life and David self-funded his own expedition in 2009 to make a documentary about the Mongolian Death Worm.

They are assisted by Leon “Buttons” on the studio controls and Peter Hassall (a new Zealand cryptozoology, fortean, and UFO researcher who writes regularly for Fortean Times magazine) does a segment 3/4 of the way through the show called The Vault. It highlights a cryptozoology report from the past (1800-1950). This Saturday only,The Vault is replaced by Peter grilling Rhys and David in a quick-fire quiz to find out who has a superior knowledge of cryptozoology!

If I ever had the time in my busy Hollywood schedule to listen to radio, this would be the show I would listen to, it’s a show about mystery, adventure, monsters and bollocks. Two of New Zealand’s greatest minds combine to bring you two hours of ‘must watch’ radio. This radio show is about keeping alive the spirit from the golden age of mystery and adventure and gives the public a rare glimpse at my serious side as I discuss things like the migration patterns of Yeti – arguably the most important thing to hit New Zealand radio since Bad Jelly the Witch. And the opportunity to work with David Farrier is…something I have to put up with to do this show.Rys Darby

The Cryptid Factor is a show about cryptids – that is, animals unknown to science like the Yeti, Loch Ness monster and the Mongolian Death Worm. It’s an area of obsession for both Rhys and myself and we’re both mutually tickled we’ve met someone else who’s into it. And that a station like George will let us share it with New Zealand. So yeah, we’ll be chatting about the subject in amongst playing our favourite tunes.

There’s never been a radio show in New Zealand celebrating cryptozoology. This has always stunned me a bit, and when I found Rhys was equally passionate about the issue, planning a new show seemed pretty logical. Of course saying “planning” makes it sound really planned – all we’ve really done is given the show segments various names. We’re a particularly proud of a segment called ‘vocalisations’. This segment will be both sexy and chilling.

We’ll be breaking a few radio rules… we’re having a very visual section about cryptid art. The fact you can’t see pictures on the radio won’t be stopping us. As for music, well, Rhys has just this minute handed me his Daft Punk CD – what could go wrong?!?Rys Darby

Filed under Bigfoot Report, CryptoRadio, Cryptotourism, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Forteana, Men in Cryptozoology