Why the Star of ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Was ‘De-cruited’ from the New Zealand Army

New Zealand Army veteran Rhys Darby finally gets the leading role he deserves in HBO Max's "Our Flag Means Death," a comedy series very loosely based on the career of the real-life gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet.

Darby may be best known for his performance as adventurer Nigel Billingsley in the recent "Jumanji" movies, but comedy fans revere his roles as Anton, leader of the werewolves, in the "What We Do in the Shadows" movie and as Murray Hewitt, the idiot manager of the idiot music group on HBO's cult classic, "Flight of the Conchords." He's got dozens of other credits that include guest spots on television series and voices for animated movies.

Darby appeared on the "Late Night with Seth Meyers" show in March to talk about the show and his own military career. He started in an Air Force once-a-week training program for kids when he was 12 and switched over to the Army, because there were "more fun toys to play with there."

At age 17, he signed up as a full-time Army cadet and served as a signals operator for four years. Unfortunately for his long-term military career prospects, Darby brought along his wicked and very dry sense of humor. His commanding officers say that he was "good for morale, but if there's an actual war about to happen, we're worried that you're going to ruin things for us."

Darby's CO brought him into the office and asked Rhys, "How do you think the career's going?" The future actor replied, "Pretty good, sir!" The CO replied, "Have a seat. I've got a pamphlet for you."

It was a university pamphlet. The CO continued, "It'd be good for you with your English skills. You're a good communicator." Darby wondered if the military would give him time off to attend school. "Oh, yeah, I think we'll give you a lot of time off," replied the officer.

We all know the military sets up booths on campus to recruit college students. Darby was the rare soldier who was shipped off to college to get him out of the Army. As Meyers says, "They de-cruited you."

Darby wraps up by saying, "It was a soft let-go. But I did manage to keep the jacket. I wanted all the kit, but they said, 'We need that, but you can take the jacket. There's a stain on it.'" Darby ends the bit by proving that he can still speak in Morse Code, unleashing a torrent of dits and dahs.

The military talk starts at around 3:46 in the clip below.

Darby is joined in "Our Flag Means Death" by his fellow New Zealander, the talented actor and director Taika Waititi ("Thor: Ragnarok," "JoJo Rabbit" and "What We Do in the Shadows") as the pirate Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard. The real Bonnet and Blackbeard collaborated in real life before the Gentleman Pirate was arrested and met a gruesome end at age 30.

"Our Flag Means Death" has generated a lot of buzz online since it began its run early in 2022. Even though HBO Max doesn't release exact ratings for its streaming content, the show seems destined to return for a second season after season 1 ended in a cliffhanger.

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