Most critics like it a good deal, and the warmth is spread fairly evenly. The praise clusters on the tone: a low-key, deadpan style in which two New Zealand musicians drift through New York and songs break into ordinary conversation at odd moments. More than one review calls it the most charming or simply the best comedy on television at the time, and most single out the unshowy performances of the two leads and the manager, played by Rhys Darby, as its strongest assets. The musical parodies, ranging across a wide spread of genres, are admired almost everywhere.
The spread is narrow apart from one clear dissent. Variety finds the plots close to irrelevant and the episodes dragging whenever the music stops. Elsewhere the reservations are mild and concern the second series: Empire and Den of Geek both think some of the later songs are weaker than the first run, and The Independent notes that a slightly bigger budget costs it a little of its ramshackle feel, though all three still rate it well.