Rhys Darby’s 3 Favorite Paranormal Creatures
As Said by Rhys Darby
Rhys Darby is best known as the character actor behind Flight of the Conchords’ Murray Hewitt, but he has perhaps one of Hollywood’s most unusual side gigs: monster hunter. The New Zealand comedian has traveled to the far limits of the earth (and scientific understanding) in search of cryptids—creatures yet to be documented by science. You know, like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and the mysterious Jersey Devil.
It’s a fitting passion for Darby, whose oeuvre consists largely of oddball characters relegated to the edges of society. I’m thinking of his delightful turn as a monster-turned-into-a-man—indeed, a cryptid—in this year’s bumpy new season of The X-Files, as well as his recent role in Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Darby plays Psycho Sam, a bushily bearded jungle hermit, who helps the protagonists—Sam Neill and Julian Dennison—on their journey. He also co-hosts a radio show, The Cryptid Factor, dedicated to the paranormal.
Last week we shared an in-depth conversation with the actor/stand-up/adventurer, who also hosts the comedy night Rhys Darby’s Saying Funny Things Society at Largo in Los Angeles almost every month. Darby’s fascination with these mysterious, inexplicable, possibly nonexistent beasts is so strong, though, that we thought it deserved its own thorough investigation. So here, in his own words, are Rhys Darby’s top three favorite cryptids.
3. The Chupacabra
“I’ve been on an expedition to find that one, and to a certain degree it does exist, because they’ve got a hybrid animal down in Texas that can be captured. I’ve seen the actual thing. It’s kind of a monster that started in Puerto Rico—they had wings and big legs in the back, small ones in front, they could leap into the air. And then slowly, over time, that changed, and now it’s a hybrid animal between a wolf and a coyote.”
