Flight of the Conchords (TV series)

Updated on Nov 19, 2023

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Flight of the Conchords is a British-American-New Zealand television comedy series that was first shown on HBO on June 17, 2007. The show follows the adventures of Flight of the Conchords, a two-man band from New Zealand, as its members seek fame and success in New York City. The show stars the real-life duo of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, who play fictionalized versions of themselves. A second season was announced on August 17, 2007 and shown from January 18, 2009. On December 11, 2009, the duo confirmed that the series would not return for a third season.

Throughout its run, Flight of the Conchords received positive critical reception, with its second season scoring 80/100 on Metacritic. The show has received 10 Emmy Award nominations, including "Outstanding Comedy Series" and "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" for Jemaine Clement, both in 2009.

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Plot

The series centers on the day-to-day lives and loves of two shepherds-turned-musicians, Jemaine Clemaine and Bret McClegnie (Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, playing fictionalized versions of themselves), who have uprooted themselves from their native New Zealand to try to make it big as a folk duo in New York City. The two have frequent appointments with their officious and ineffectual band manager, Murray Hewitt (Rhys Darby), a Deputy Cultural Attaché at the New Zealand Consulate. Jemaine and Bret constantly fend off the amorous attentions of Mel (Kristen Schaal), a married woman who is their sole fan and stalker. Their friend Dave Mohumbhai (Arj Barker) works at a pawn shop and gives them advice on dealing with American women and culture. Other recurring characters include their landlord, Eugene (Eugene Mirman), Bret's short-term girlfriend Coco (Sutton Foster), Jemaine and Bret's ex-girlfriend Sally (Rachel Blanchard), Mel's husband Doug (David Costabile), and Murray's put-upon assistant Greg (Frank Wood).

Most episodes center on the five main cast members. The antagonists outside of this small group are usually either Doug (Mel's husband), their girlfriends, or Australians (see "Bret Gives Up the Dream", "Sally Returns").

Jemaine or Bret break into song in each episode. The songs are built into the narrative structure of the show in several different ways. Some songs form part of the plot of the show. In these instances, Bret or Jemaine sing to another character. Other songs serve as the internal monologue of one of the two. Typically, at least once per show, a song is shot in the form of a music video. Some songs use a combination of the styles. For example, in the first episode, "Sally", the song "Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" is a mix of Jemaine's thoughts and his spoken invitations to Sally to get a kebab and to go back to his place. The music video for "Business Time" (from "Sally Returns") depicts a daydream that Jemaine is having. As the series evolved, other main characters also had their own musical interludes, depicted in a similar manner to Jemaine and Bret's own songs.

The enthusiastic manner in which the characters express themselves through song contrasts with the otherwise low-key tone of the show. Thus, when the characters cannot speak about their feelings, the songs serve as inner monologues.

History

The show was created by Clement, McKenzie and James Bobin, and was based on the successful improvised 2005 BBC Radio 2 radio series of the same name. Bobin serves as the show's main writer and director. The first episode of the series aired on HBO on June 17, 2007. The series received 100,000 views for the first-season premiere scored on MySpace.

On August 17, 2007, HBO announced a second season for Flight of the Conchords, originally set to premiere in 2008, but which was postponed to January 2009. Prior to the announcement, Jemaine Clement stated in an interview with The New Zealand Herald, "[HBO] is interested in doing another series but we have to think about it. It's not a definite offer but they have talked about us starting writing but we've got other things we want to do as well". McKenzie stated that the second season took longer to produce because the band had used most of their material in the first season. In an interview with The Star Ledger, he said "We'd need some time to develop new material. It's like the second album syndrome. It might take a lot longer". Shortly after the renewal announcement, Clement stated in an interview that the second season would likely consist of fewer than twelve episodes "so they could concentrate on "quality not quantity'".

McKenzie and Clement returned to their home town of Wellington to write for the second season, although the writing process was delayed by the 2007–2008 Writers Strike. Filming for the 10 episode second series began in September 2008.

The second season of the show premiered on January 18, 2009 on HBO. It gathered 250,000 streams in its first 10 days on FunnyOrDie.com. Unlike the first season, the second season was filmed and broadcast in High Definition. The first episode of the season has been made available for streaming at http://www.hbo.com/conchords.

In Australia, the second season of the show first aired on June 8, 2009 on SBS. SBS also made the episodes available for streaming (from within Australia only). The DVD of the second season was released in Australia on July 29, 2009.

On December 11, 2009, McKenzie and Clement announced that the show would not return for a third season. Clement had previously stated that writing the show took up a great deal of time.

The programme is currently seen as an interstitial program on HBO.

Main characters

Jemaine Clemaine (Jemaine Clement) is a band member of Conchords, who plays bass among other things, and Bret's roommate. He rarely smiles or laughs and typically overthinks even the most mundane situations.

Bret McClegnie (Bret McKenzie) is a band member of Conchords, who plays guitar and piano, and Jemaine's roommate. He often wears dated looking animal T-shirts.

Murray Hewitt (Rhys Darby) is the band's manager. His day job is Deputy Cultural Attaché at the New Zealand consulate. He has few friends and an on-and-off relationship with his never-seen wife, Shelley. While he is passionate about the band and aspires to be a successful manager, he is largely incompetent in his well-meaning attempts at promoting the Conchords and is not helped by his naivety and general ignorance of the music industry, such as opining that 'you don't hear of professional musicians with long hair' and being unaware of the proper name for the bass guitar.

Mel (Kristen Schaal) is the Conchords' lone fan and stalks them obsessively in pursuit of a romantic liaison despite the fact that she is married to Doug, her former college professor. In the episode "Bowie" she claims that she is a Junior Professor of Psychology. In "New Fans" it is implied that she has been through legal trouble for stalking.

Devjeet "Dave" Mohumbhai (Arj Barker) is a friend of Bret and Jemaine. He works at his family's pawn shop "Mohumbhai & Son" and dispenses off-kilter advice about women and life in America. He still lives with his parents, though tries to cover it up by pretending they are his crazy roommates who just think they are his parents. Bret and Jemaine overestimate Dave's pseudo-womanizing personality and often go to him for relationship advice.

Recurring characters

Greg (Frank Wood) is Murray's assistant at the consulate. In the episode "The Actor", it was suggested that he is Murray's only friend besides Bret and Jemaine, though Murray has stated otherwise.

Eugene (Eugene Mirman) is Bret and Jemaine's landlord, who often interjects into conversations in which he is not welcome. He has appeared in several musical sequences, and appears to be proficient in several instruments including saxophone & steel drums. He is often seen involved in fixing the plumbing in the building and in Bret and Jemaine's apartment as well as making questionable comments about his behavior such as admitting to breaking into the apartment in the night and kissing Jemaine while he sleeps.

Doug (David Costabile) is Mel's husband, who usually puts Mel to a band gig or stalking mission. In an episode "Bowie", he turns out to be previously the Senior Professor of Psychology at the university, where Mel attended, but was fired and is now unemployed. In an episode "New Fans", implicitly, he and his family had a restraining order against Mel at one point before he married her, and he also had a problem with addiction at some point in the past. Moreover, Doug lost his job for starting a relationship with Mel, who at the time was one of his students.

Coco (Sutton Foster) is Bret's girlfriend for only the first season. Bret and Coco meet while working as part-time sign holders. She appears in "Bret Gives Up the Dream" and "Yoko". In her last episode "Sally Returns", Bret still has feelings for Sally, so Coco and Bret end a relationship.

Sally (Rachel Blanchard) is Bret's ex-girlfriend. She dates Jemaine briefly in "Sally" and her last episode "Sally Returns". In her last episode, she eventually accepts a marriage proposal from a rich Australian.

John (Lenny Venito) is a mugger, who first appears in "Mugged". He mugs Bret and Jemaine, but then befriends Jemaine while they share a jail cell. He once killed a monkey in the past. In "Wingmen", he and Jemaine "mug" Bret in an attempt to make Bret look cool in front of a girl.

Bryan (Brian Sergent) is the laid back, uncouth Prime Minister of New Zealand. He appears somewhat aloof and disengaged regarding the affairs of his country, preferring to occupy his time with pointless capers in the United States. He often introduces himself by saying "Hi, I'm Bryan, the Prime Minister of New Zealand". He is fond of beer and sleeping and is easily influenced by recently watched films, such as Cars or The Matrix. He appears in "Prime Minister" and "New Zealand Town". He claims that his government only owns one gun, which is mostly used by someone in the New Zealand Defence Force.

Australian Ambassador (Alan Dale), the Australian ambassador who makes fun of Murray and Jemaine – "The Tough Brets" and "Bret Gives Up The Dream"

One-time characters

This section includes characters, including those portrayed by notable people. Ones that are already mentioned in episode list are not listed in this section.

Fruit Vendor (Aziz Ansari), a man who sells fruit outside of Bret and Jemaine's flat, but refuses to sell fruit to them because he is "racist" against New Zealanders (actually Australians). He starts a "race war" with Bret and Jemaine after Bret confronts him about his racism and his shouting racist stereotypes at them. Later, it is revealed that it is all a misunderstanding, as the fruit vendor has confused Kiwis with Australians. After it is explained that there is a difference, the boys come to friendly terms with the fruit vendor. "Drive By"

Pawn Shop Patron (Judah Friedlander), a man who tries to pawn a cake to Dave – "Sally"

David Armstrong (John Hodgman), manager of a greeting card company with which the Conchords sign a recording contract – "Bowie"

Fruit Stand Patron (Kevin Allison), a man who is served before Jemaine and Bret, although he was behind them in line, at a fruit stand run by an anti-Australian man who mistakes the duo for Aussies – "Drive By"

Club Owner (Kate Pierson), who turns the band away from a scheduled gig due to their reputation for causing damage – "What Goes on Tour"

Club MC (Daryl Hall), the MC of the Tuesday World Music Jam at which the Conchords play. He introduces them as "Flute of the Commodores" and ushers them quickly off stage several bars into "Rock the Party". – "New Fans"

Martin Clark (Greg Proops), president/CEO of an agency, which hires Bret and Jemaine to write a jingle for a new, "women-only" toothpaste – "A Good Opportunity"

Obnoxious Australian (Adam Garcia), an assistant to the Australian ambassador to the United States who makes fun of Murray and Jemaine – "The Tough Brets"

Keitha (Sarah Wynter), an Australian with whom Jemaine falls in love and plans to elope, but tricks him and robs their apartment while he's waiting for her – "Unnatural Love"

Bouncer (Randy Jones), who leads an all-male conga line in a nightclub – "Unnatural Love"

Elton John impersonator (Patton Oswalt), whom Bret and Jemaine meet while impersonating Simon & Garfunkel – "Prime Minister"

Art Garfunkel (himself), who saves Jemaine from a woman (Mary Lynn Rajskub), who makes him dress up like Art Garfunkel and have sex with her (aka "Garfunkeling" by Jemaine) – "Prime Minister"

Paula (Lucy Lawless), a New Zealand tourism official and old friend of Bryan, the Prime Minister – "New Zealand Town"

Ben (Will Forte), a dry cleaner and semi-professional actor hired by Bret and Jemaine to impersonate a record executive - "The Actor"

Critical reception

The show has received a generally positive reaction from critics. Season 1 has a 68/100 rating based on 15 reviews on metacritic.com, while season 2 has an 80/100 rating, based on 10 reviews. The best reviews were from the Detroit Free Press, whose critic described it as "TV's most original and irresistible new comic concoction" and the San Francisco Chronicle, whose reviewer stated that it "may well be the funniest thing you've seen in ages." On IMDb Flight of the Conchords has received a rating of 8.8/10.

Awards

In the 2007 Satellite Awards the show was nominated for "Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical".

The pair was awarded with the status of "2007 Wellingtonians of the Year" in their home town after their international success blossomed that year.

The show received four Emmy Award nominations in 2008. "Sally Returns" was nominated for "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series", "Yoko" was nominated for "Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series" and two songs, "Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)" and "Inner City Pressure", were nominated for "Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics".

Also in 2008, the Writers Guild of America nominated the show for three awards: "Comedy Series", "Episodic Comedy" (for "Sally Returns") and for "New Series". The Television Critics Association nominated them for "Outstanding Achievement in Comedy" and "Outstanding New Program of the Year".

In 2009, the show was nominated for six Emmy Awards. It was nominated in the categories of Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (for the episode "The Tough Brets"), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Jemaine Clement), Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics (for the song "Carol Brown"), Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half Hour) and Animation, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (for the episode "Prime Minister").

Filming locations

Filming for the series took place at a variety of locations and landmarks around New York City. Flight of the Conchords has, however, been consistent with its geography with respect to their neighbourhood. Some of the primary locations are listed below. Information on locations specific to particular episodes may be found on the page for that episode. Transition shots and out-of-studio location shoots have been in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. Most street scenes were filmed in Lower Manhattan or the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn.

For a more detailed map of filming locations for both seasons see External links

Feature film

On November 28, 2011, Bret McKenzie has stated that efforts are being made to bring the comedy folk duo to the big screen. He said: "We're going to try and do a movie. We just need a story". However, HBO has stated that it does not have plans for such a film.

References

Flight of the Conchords (TV series) Wikipedia

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