Bret McKenzie

McKenzie with Kermit and Ernie at a press event for The Jim Henson Retrospectacle.

Bret McKenzies guide to Wellington

Bret McKenzie (b. 1976) is an Academy Award-winning comedian, actor, musician and producer, best known for being one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, along with Jemaine Clement.

As music supervisor on the 2011's The Muppets, the native New Zealander wrote four original songs for the film, the first being "Life's a Happy Song." He won his Academy Award for the song "Man or Muppet."

In an interview for the Los Angeles Times, McKenzie revealed he taught Chris Cooper how to rap, got in an argument with Miss Piggy in a recording session over how to sing a song, and that his daughter would ask him in the morning, "Off to work, Daddy? Muppets?," with her considering Kermit a friend of her father's. He considered the whole experience "awesome" and goes on to say, "When I was recording Kermit doing "Rainbow Connection," it was a strange "I've made it" moment. Working with the A-list.

In 2018, McKenzie served as host for The Jim Henson Retrospectacle Live in Concert, a part of the three-week Jim Henson Retrospectacle.

Aside from his work on the HBO series, he also made a cameo, as an Elf escort, on two of The Lord of the Rings movies and in The Hobbit. He also guest-starred on the 22nd season premiere of The Simpsons, along with his Conchords partner Jemaine Clement.

McKenzie was caricatured as Burt in Episode 4236 of Sesame Street.

In 2019, McKenzie was signed to script and compose music for an adaptation of the TV special Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.

Kermit joined McKenzie during his Songs Without Jokes tour in October 2022, singing a couple of duets together.

Song Compositions

The Muppets (2011)

• "Life's a Happy Song"
• "Me Party" (written with Paul Roemen)
• "Let's Talk About Me" (written with Ali Dee Theodore)
• "Man or Muppet"
• "Life's a Happy Song (Finale)"

Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

• "We're Doing a Sequel"
• "I'm Number One"
• "The Big House"
• "I'll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)"
• "Interrogation Song" (written with Paul Roemen)
• "Something So Right"

Notes

• On November 12, 2010, Disney issued an early publicity image for The Muppets, showing the team behind the movie. Included was previously unannounced McKenzie with Rowlf the Dog on the piano, already hinting at the fact that he wrote the songs for the Muppet movie.
• In an August 20, 2013 interview with Collider in anticipation of 2014's Muppets Most Wanted, McKenzie revealed that he has never been on set with the Muppets, saying "I don't think I have seen a Muppet on set. [This time] they were filming in London and I was in the studio the whole time. So I work with them in the studio but never on set." He also revealed that "Piggy does a ballad. I can't say much more about it, but it's exciting" and "Ricky Gervais does a song with a green frog - it might or may not be Kermit. He's got a really good singing voice so that was cool. It's always more fun when the actors come in and they can really sing, like Jason Segel."

External links

• The New York Times - On Composing for Kermit the Frog by Adam Sternbergh (17 November 2011)
• The Film Experience - Interview: Bret McKenzie from The Muppets and Middle Earth by Nathaniel Rogers (10 January 2012)
• Bret McKenzie on how he got the Muppets to play four concerts in NZ by Karl Puschmann (01 February 2018)