If Steve Harvey ever visits New Zealand, he’s probably going to have a hard time understanding what everyone’s saying. Rhys Darby confused the hell out of the Celebrity Family Feud host this week with some hilarious Kiwi slang.
The Our Flag Means Death star was facing former Saturday Night Live comedian Jay Pharoah on the U.S. game show when things swiftly got confusing.
In an early round, Harvey asked for the top six not-so-nice ways to say that some has died. Pharoah was quickest, answering “croaked”, which turned out to be the top answer.
After his teammates could only provide one more answer – “kicked the bucket” – it was the turn of Darby and co.. Looking sheepish, the actor said, “I’d like to say ‘carked it’.”
Harvey’s respond was priceless: doing his best impression of Jim Halpert in The Office, he stared blankly into the camera, wondering how he ended up here. “As in, what happened to that guy, he’s carked it,” Darby attempted to explain. “Because it’s short for ‘carcass’.”
His teammates, including New Zealand journalist David Farrier, tried to help Harvey understand, pointing out that the word had an “r” in it that Darby’s strong Kiwi accent kept missing out, but it was no use.
“What the hell’s going on?” Harvey comically pondered. “This game’s going to hell right here.” When they then went to the board, “carked it” was unsurprisingly not one of the top six answers.
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Darby and all New Zealanders can have the last laugh on Americans though. In a 2019 survey, Big Seven Travel hailed the Kiwi accent as the sexiest in the world, calling it “outrageously charming.”
Darby played mediocre pirate Stede Bonnet in period romantic comedy Our Flag Means Death, which earned a cult following after hitting HBO earlier this year. The series was renewed for a second season, although it’s not clear when this will air.
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