Look Who's Talking: Bret McKenzie

[???] means the text was too blurry to decipher.
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Look Who's Talking: Bret McKenzie
With a cult following in the US, a Grammy and a new LP of their satirical tunes out this week, can Kiwi comedy duo Flight of the Conchords do no wrong?

by Alison Grinter


Hi Brit, I mean Bret. You parody such an eclectic range of music--do you both have huge record collections?

Yeah, well I'm pretty much a fan of all music. I even love bad music, like C + C Music Factory, you know bad techno like [starts singing enthusiastically] 'Utah Saints! U, U, U, Utah Saints!'

Do you ever worry that some of your songs are so close to the originals that you'll get hit up for royalties?

Yeah, some of the HBO lawyers got a bit nervous about a couple of tunes -- like the David Bowie one. If the album's a success I'm sure we'll get [???]! They're close, but not direct rip-offs--they're tributes.

Well of course. Speaking of Bowie, what's your favorite Bowie period?

Probably The Laughing Gnome--one of Bowie's first tunes, it was a novelty hit about a gnome--you should check it out [laughs]. It's terrible!

Where were you when you found out you'd won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album?

Jemaine [Clement] was on the Internet and that's how he found out we won--a fan sent us an email--we weren't told officially. It was a big honour, not many Kiwis have won Grammys.

How does it feel to be in the same league as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa?

We thought we were the first ones since Dame Kiri in the 80s, but it turns out Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson's wife, won one when she co-wrote the Lord of the Rings theme with Annie Lennox and Howard Shore. And then there's a jazz pianist who lives in Los Angeles who's won a couple of times, so I'm hoping to get all those people together for a dinner. It would be a great dinner!

A British journalist described you and Jemaine as 'the next great archetype of male sexiness'. What do you think of that?

Well obviously she's never met us.

She has, she met you in the US last year ...

Oh, yeah. Yeah, um. I really don't know what to say to that. It comes as a surprise, um, because both Jemaine and I, um, are very useless, er, socially.

Where do your real life personalities end and your characters begin?

Well with our characters we take a part of our personality and turn it up to 11. Like I wouldn't run away from Jemaine if he was getting mugged, but it was funny for the show.

Bret always gets the girls while Jemaine misses out. Is it really like that?

What, in reality you mean? No, no, no, not at all! I would say Jemaine is more popular with the ladies, particularly with the older ladies.

Are you well known in New York? Do people stop you in the street?

A bit--if they've been drinking. Or if they want us to sign things, like a crumpled up receipt in their pocket. Yeah, it's pretty strange.

Do New Yorkers mistake you for Aussies?

No. I'm more likely to be mistaken for an English person. Like if I'm sitting in a cafe and ask for a cup of tea they'll very knowingly say 'English Breakfast!"
I'm trying to get Twinings on board to create 'New Zealand Breakfast'.

So New Yorkers don't do sheep jokes?

No, not in the way the Aussies and Irish do. We once did a show to 400 people in Ireland and it just collapsed into the entire audience making sheep noises for four or five minutes.

In your series you've cleverly distanced yourself from Aussies ...

Yeah, we've really created this false sense of Australia vs. New Zealand and the Americans really love that. It seems like inside knowledge.

What can we expect to see Bret and Jemaine getting up to in the next series?

Well, we're writing it at the moment and it looks like there's going to be a relationship with an Australian girl.

Oh no, this isn't going to be another three-way, is it?

[Laughs] No, no, I don't think there's going to be any more three-ways.

source: TNT Magazine

That was awesome. The sheep noises for four or five minutes is hilarious. I can just imagine them on stage like 'Ok, ummm.. we get it it... can we start the show now?'

Thank you!

hellomyfriend wrote:[???] means the text was too blurry to decipher.
--------------------------------------------------

Look Who's Talking: Bret McKenzie
With a cult following in the US, a Grammy and a new LP of their satirical tunes out this week, can Kiwi comedy duo Flight of the Conchords do no wrong?

by Alison Grinter


Hi Brit, I mean Bret. You parody such an eclectic range of music--do you both have huge record collections?

Yeah, well I'm pretty much a fan of all music. I even love bad music, like C + C Music Factory, you know bad techno like [starts singing enthusiastically] 'Utah Saints! U, U, U, Utah Saints!'

Do you ever worry that some of your songs are so close to the originals that you'll get hit up for royalties?

Yeah, some of the HBO lawyers got a bit nervous about a couple of tunes -- like the David Bowie one. If the album's a success I'm sure we'll get [???]! They're close, but not direct rip-offs--they're tributes.

Well of course. Speaking of Bowie, what's your favorite Bowie period?

Probably The Laughing Gnome--one of Bowie's first tunes, it was a novelty hit about a gnome--you should check it out [laughs]. It's terrible!

Where were you when you found out you'd won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album?

Jemaine [Clement] was on the Internet and that's how he found out we won--a fan sent us an email--we weren't told officially. It was a big honour, not many Kiwis have won Grammys.

How does it feel to be in the same league as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa?

We thought we were the first ones since Dame Kiri in the 80s, but it turns out Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson's wife, won one when she co-wrote the Lord of the Rings theme with Annie Lennox and Howard Shore. And then there's a jazz pianist who lives in Los Angeles who's won a couple of times, so I'm hoping to get all those people together for a dinner. It would be a great dinner!

A British journalist described you and Jemaine as 'the next great archetype of male sexiness'. What do you think of that?

Well obviously she's never met us.

She has, she met you in the US last year ...

Oh, yeah. Yeah, um. I really don't know what to say to that. It comes as a surprise, um, because both Jemaine and I, um, are very useless, er, socially.

Where do your real life personalities end and your characters begin?

Well with our characters we take a part of our personality and turn it up to 11. Like I wouldn't run away from Jemaine if he was getting mugged, but it was funny for the show.

Bret always gets the girls while Jemaine misses out. Is it really like that?

What, in reality you mean? No, no, no, not at all! I would say Jemaine is more popular with the ladies, particularly with the older ladies.

Are you well known in New York? Do people stop you in the street?

A bit--if they've been drinking. Or if they want us to sign things, like a crumpled up receipt in their pocket. Yeah, it's pretty strange.

Do New Yorkers mistake you for Aussies?

No. I'm more likely to be mistaken for an English person. Like if I'm sitting in a cafe and ask for a cup of tea they'll very knowingly say 'English Breakfast!"
I'm trying to get Twinings on board to create 'New Zealand Breakfast'.

So New Yorkers don't do sheep jokes?

No, not in the way the Aussies and Irish do. We once did a show to 400 people in Ireland and it just collapsed into the entire audience making sheep noises for four or five minutes.

In your series you've cleverly distanced yourself from Aussies ...

Yeah, we've really created this false sense of Australia vs. New Zealand and the Americans really love that. It seems like inside knowledge.

What can we expect to see Bret and Jemaine getting up to in the next series?

Well, we're writing it at the moment and it looks like there's going to be a relationship with an Australian girl.

Oh no, this isn't going to be another three-way, is it?

[Laughs] No, no, I don't think there's going to be any more three-ways.

source: TNT Magazine

hahhahahaha
Jemaine is popular with the older ladies, lol!

oohh i can't wait to see the austrailian gf!!!

aww, jemaine is more popular with the ladies in real life.....it's ok bret!! some of us are still here for you, baby!! :-*

hellomyfriend wrote:


A British journalist described you and Jemaine as 'the next great archetype of male sexiness'. What do you think of that?

Well obviously she's never met us.

She has, she met you in the US last year ...

Oh, yeah. Yeah, um. I really don't know what to say to that. It comes as a surprise, um, because both Jemaine and I, um, are very useless, er, socially.

Where do your real life personalities end and your characters begin?

Well with our characters we take a part of our personality and turn it up to 11. Like I wouldn't run away from Jemaine if he was getting mugged, but it was funny for the show.

awww, "
useless socially?"
i think we find them very useful. ;
)

aww! Spinal Tap Reference! "
this one goes to 11."

this made my day!

thanks for posting.

lixxx wrote:
awww, "
useless socially?"
i think we find them very useful. ;
) ...

I know! The "
socially useless"
part made me want to give them hugs. " title="" border="0"/>

ines wrote:hahhahahaha
Jemaine is popular with the older ladies, lol! ...

I assume that's what Jemaine was suggesting with his remark about mothers preferring him and daughters preferring Bret.

But Jemaine is diplomatic, and Bret is ... Bret. " title="" border="0"/>

"
A British journalist described you and Jemaine as 'the next great archetype of male sexiness'. What do you think of that?

Well obviously she's never met us.

She has, she met you in the US last year ...

Oh, yeah. Yeah, um. I really don't know what to say to that. "


HAHAHAHA

awww brety!

ohjeez wrote:"
A British journalist described you and Jemaine as 'the next great archetype of male sexiness'. What do you think of that?

Well obviously she's never met us.

She has, she met you in the US last year ...

Oh, yeah. Yeah, um. I really don't know what to say to that. "


HAHAHAHA

awww brety!

Yup ... adorable. " title="" border="0"/>

For anyone who hasn't read it, this is the article she's referring to: