Flight of the Conchords

Clement as Jareth

Caricatured Conchords

Flight of the Conchords is a musical comedy duo from New Zealand, comprised of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Formed in 1998, the duo produced a radio show (of the same name) for the BBC in 2005. The radio show was later adapted for television on HBO in 2007, running for two seasons.

References

• Episode 4236 of Sesame Street features a pair of Oscar the Grouch's employees in his "Dirtballs" company - Hiram and Burt, guitar-playing workers who are directly modeled after Clemet and McKenzie.

• At a 2018 press event for the Jim Henson Retrospectacle, Ernie claims that while visiting New Zealand, Bert has turned him onto a new music group - Flight of the Pigeons. Later, McKenzie asks Ernie where Bert is, to which Ernie quips back "Where is Jemaine?" At The Jim Henson Retrospectacle Live in Concert, Ernie claims that "Flight of the Pigeons" is instead what he refers to himself and Bert as in response to whether the duo are billed as "Bert and Ernie" or "Ernie and Bert."

Mentions

• In episode six of the television series, "Bowie," Bret receives advice from visions of David Bowie (played by Clement) in his various career stages. His final form is "1986 David Bowie from the movie Labyrinth." Dressed as Jareth, he enters and exits walking on the wall (in reference to a sequence from the film) while playing with glass orbs.

• In a promo short for the second season of the television series, band manager Murray has bought bootleg copies of movies that don't exist. When he calls to complain to Dave about them, he's suckered into buying another one, Labyrinth 2.

• Flight of the Conchords: On Air, a documentary feature included on "The Complete Second Season" features clips of the duo in a radio interview. In the interview, Bret cites the Muppets as one of his main comedy influences.

• For Red Nose Day 2012, the duo starred in a multi-part segment to launch a charity music video the for the cause "Feel Inside (And Stuff Like That)." After re-creating a band meeting from their HBO show, the two are seen interviewing children about ways to write the song and raise money. One young girl believes they can sell oil and cites The Muppets as the inspiration for the idea. McKenzie makes sure she enjoyed the songs in the movie, while Clement jokes that he found them derivative.

Connections

• Aziz Ansari played Sinjay in "Drive By"
• James Bobin co-created, directed, produced and wrote the television series
• Sutton Foster played Coco in three episodes of the television series
• Jim Gaffigan played Jim in "Murray Takes It to the Next Level"
• John Hodgman played David Armstrong in "Bowie"
• Judah Friedlander played Isabella in "Sally"
• Kate Pierson played Club Owner in "What Goes on Tour?"
• Paul Roemen was an assistant to the producers and writing assistant for the television series
• Kristen Schaal played Mel in the television series