FOTC Q&A - 2007

So, do you guys consider yourselves musicians first or comedians first?

JEMAINE CLEMENT:  Hmm, well, I guess we're comedians now.  We started off doing music.

JAMES BOBIN:  I would say they are musicians who are also very funny.  I think that's the key to it.  They don't fall between two stools.  They are good at both things.  For us, it was all about trying to get their live act, plus their songs and the banter, into one sort of cohesive show.

JEMAINE: We started [eight years ago] as two guys trying to practice guitar—we lived in the same house—and we had difficulty memorizing other people's lyrics so we started making up our own.

BRET McKENZIE:  Yeah.  We met at University in Wellington, New Zealand.  And we were doing comedy theatre together.  And then, we decided to make a band because there wasn't much work around.


How do you rate each another as musicians?

JEMAINE:  Bret's better than I am, and I'm worse that Bret is.

BRET:  And I think we're both just above mediocre.


How did you go from a comedy band to a comedy band with a TV show?

BRET:  We did these comedy festivals like Aspen and Montreal and Edinburgh, which is where we met James.  And from doing those, we [were invited to do] the HBO one-night stand.  And then, from doing that, HBO asked us to write a pilot.


Your dynamic on the show is funny. You're best friends, but often don't even seem like each other. Jemaine, in particular, barely utters two words in some scenes. How did you come up with that on-screen relationship?

BRET:  Spending a lot of time together.


So you are your characters?

JEMAINE:  Well, I don't say much [in real life or on TV]. But the TV Bret's a bit stupider than real life Bret. I notice the difference.  It's subtle.

JAMES:  Their stage act is kind of like [who] the guys [really are]. When they're on stage in the live act, they're much more friendly together.  But obviously, when we came to write the show, we thought that wouldn't necessarily work very well for conflict and storylines.

BRET:  Yeah, I'm not sure that we're really aware of the differences in our characters.  We have exaggerated the stupidity, and Jemaine's much more of an asshole [on the show]. You know, we had to be really mean to create these situations. But there's a little bit of truth in them as well, which makes them believable on screen.


How have your lives changed since the show started airing?

JEMAINE:  A lot more people want photos with us.  Before, people didn't know who we were and so less of them wanted photos.

BRET:  Yeah, [before it was] just family and when we were at birthday parties.  But now, it's just strangers coming up, taking photographs with us.


Here in the States, how often do you have difficulty being understood due to your accents?

JEMAINE:  Here a lot.  But sometimes I'll use it to my advantage, and if I can't think of an answer to something, I'll just make a few sounds, and people will be polite about it, and that will be that.


The character of Mel: any basis in reality at all or just completely invented?

JEMAINE:  If she has a really freaky line, often someone has actually said that to us in real life.

JAMES:  The line in the first show where she shows Bret a picture of Jemaine's lips, that's true.  That happened.

BRET:  Yeah.  She's an amalgamation of a number of different fans.  We took little bits from each one and created a megafan.

JAMES:  Also, it's [the actress] Kristen [Schaal] who is very good at doing the character. We just brief her on what has happened in the past, and she brings a lot to it.


Obviously your Stateside following is growing, but what's your standing in New Zealand?

JEMAINE:  Well, we're on the news a lot for having a TV show in America.  So that's the weird. We've been on TV more in New Zealand from being on the news than anything we've done there. There's also great irony in that New Zealand doesn't make very many or very many good comedy shows, and we were turned down for a show there, so it's a great ironic story for them.


How are you finding life in L.A.? Did you adjust quickly?

BRET:  Yeah.  I remember when Jemaine and I first came to Los Angeles, we were walking down the street, and someone drove past and shouted, "
Get a car!"
That was shocking.

JEMAINE:  We walked for hours without realizing that people don't do that here.

BRET:  We didn't have a car.  We just walked everywhere. We walked three hours to go get dinner.

JEMAINE:  That is true.  We were staying at Hollywood and Highland, and we were like, "
Let's go to the Viper Room."


BRET:  It took two and half hours.  No one else was on the streets.


What's the best thing about living in America?

BRET:  Paying taxes to George Bush is a real treat.

JEMAINE:  What Bret means to say is, the people are friendly.


Can you tell me how you came up with the title "
Flight of the Conchords"
?  What does it mean?

JEMAINE CLEMENT:  We always avoid [answering this], but it's actually the toilet at the frat we lived at. It was a Conchord.  That really invites some bad headlines for reviews, doesn't it?  Please don't take advantage of that.