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Flight of The Conchords

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Click the links below or simply scroll down to view the FAQ Conchords blurb

Who the folk are Flight of The Conchords?

How did the comedy genius that is F o The C happen?

What the folk is their sound?

Are they that folking funny?

Where the folk can I see them?

In their own words

Exclusive Q & A on What The Folk! with the guys in November 2005

Can I contact the muthafolkas?

Who the folk are Flight of The Conchords?

FoTC (as I shall type hereafter to save finger wear and tear) are Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. They used to be "New Zealand's 4th most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". Now they are "the almost award-winning fourth-most-popular folk duo in New Zealand."

They look like no one you know. Probably. If they do RUN... RUN AWAY...

Flight of The Conchords

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How did the comedy genius that is F o The C happen?

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, in a land far far away lived two guys.... Actually it was Wellington in New Zealand. And it was the late 90's. Bret and Jemaine were flatmates back then and both dropped out of university. Bret "dribbled on for ages" studying English and music at Victoria University while Jemaine attempted to study film and theatre but eventually gave that up. In 1998, they were sharing an old villa in Mt Victoria and performing in local productions around town.

Jemaine was writing and performing in Skitz and also teamed up with fellow comedian, Taika Waititi (Taika Cohen), as Humourbeasts, a comedy production which won the Billy T comedy award in 1999. McKenzie was a keyboard player, but both flatmates decided they wanted to learn the guitar also, and started writing songs.

Of their first gig at the Indigo bar Jemaine says "We thought we were going to be the band that played that night. We had about three songs we had written. But we just started being thecomedy act. People were laughing at our songs and we went back every two weeks".

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What the folk is their sound?

The Sonic Boom! Two guys with guitars (some other funny looking instruments have been known to put in the occasional appearance). They write their own lyrics and music, and are very humorous laid back performers who do a mean Bowie impersonation. It should be noted that chairs are a great deal more interesting with the guys sat on them.

A bit about F o The C material

   Conchords EP The Distant Future released on SubPop in August 2007. A full length Conchords album is due early next year.

Flight of The Conchords have released one CD of live songs. Their Folk The World CD was self funded back in 2002. Check out audio snippets of the Flight of The Conchords Folk The World CD at SmokeCd’s.

The Conchords have also made a 6 part BBC radio show and it was released May 1 2006. Online purchase info. Read more about the show on the WTF! forum

I tend to think of them as comedians first when it comes to material they put out. Don't yell at me for their lack of CD's. I don't expect them to release albums or DVD's of live shows like bands might. But thats just me. Comedians do release DVD's and CD's of their shows, so give the guys some time and I am sure it will happen. The guys have been around a fair whiles now, and tend not to rush anything. They also work on other projects outside of the Conchords and can be off doing other things for months at a time. Hence it sometimes goes very quiet on the Conchords front for months at a time.

New tracks available on What The Folk. To hear/see/download live tracks from the guys go to the Sound or Vision pages. MP3 and WMA format

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Are they that folking funny?

I could lie and say yes, but I won’t. They are better than *that*. They folk! Combining music with humour and the fact that they can play more than three chords apiece is another plus point. Met the guys back in 2002, they made me laugh, I had a vision and threw together this site. Rumors that they are paying me a fortune are completely (un)true. The sound of Jemaine’s voice crooning sexy French words is reason enough. *Le baguette* takes on a whole new meaning.

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Where the folk can I see them?

If you are lucky enough to live in New Zealand, occasional sightings have been known. The guys have been seen out and about performing at The Classic and also the Indigo bar (now known as the San Francisco Bathhouse) and BATS.

Flight of the Conchords

2002 - 2004 saw the guys performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. In Edinburgh, Scotland no less. (Yeah, well, YOU try writing this!) See Folk The Fringe for write ups from Edinburgh. They have also been known to do small tours, and play various other comedy festivals as far afield as NZ, Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, US, UK and Ireland. More recently they appeared in New York with Demetri Martin and also in LA

2005 saw them out and about in London, UK, recording a 6 part radio show for BBC Radio 2. It aired in September 2005 and was pretty popular. The guys became something of a cult hit with colleges and universities up and down the UK and quoting lines from the show the night before became the done thing. A CD of this show was released May 1 2006.

An HBO special, One Night Stand was also recorded the summer of 2005 and aired in the autumn in the US on HBO. 30 whole minutes of Conchord goodness. Read more about it HERE. Its been well received and is still proving popular. No news of it being released on DVD.

Flight of The Conchords have also had guest appearance on Conan O'Brian and ..... . Bret's jersey/sweater/jumper proved the biggest hit and has its own fan club.

2006 saw the Conchords back in New Zeland supporting Bic Runga on her national tour and in the US at various gigs and recording their HBO pilot show in New York. They were also in Austin, Texas at SXSW in March 2006.

2007 - Late 2006 saw the Conchords heading back to the US to write their HBO comedy series. It began filming in March 2007 in New York and wrapped in late June and the guys returned to LA to finish recording their first full studio album.

Check the Gig Info page for recent updates on gigs.

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In their own words

What The Folk! has an extensive online archive of all Conchords articles and interviews. View the full listings - Conchords articles and scans or Conchords HBO articles (for all news articles regarding the Flight of The Conchords HBO television series)

NZ Listener Conchords article and magazine scans - From Dec 2006. 4 page article.

"Most comedians are more serious about comedy than we are," says Clement. "What we do is a hybrid of us playing music and comedy."

McKenzie has a different way of putting it. Sucking another Snifter lolly, he says perhaps they appeal "because a lot of comedians actually want to be rock stars. They wear cowboy hats and make-up. We're not that way. We're a little bit country bumpkin".

Gone is their claim to be "the world's foremost guitar-based digi-bongo acapella rap-funk comedy fold duo." Now they are simply "the almost award-winning fourth-most-popular folk duo in New Zealand."

Bret himself admits "when you describe it as musical comedy…I wouldn't go to it!"

"Occasionally one of us writes the whole thing, but usually we write them together." explains Jemaine. "Sometimes it comes from a tune and sometimes just from a sketch idea or a concept. There is no reliable system, or we'd have a lot more songs if we knew the system".

North and South scan North and South magazine article May 2006. 9 pages of Conchord goodness here on What The Folk!

Bret: "We wanted to learn how to play guitar and we were learning together and started writing songs and we started doing gigs but only very occasionally".

Jemaine: "It's only been in the last couple of years that we've been doing it more often".

Bret: "We were going to be the band at a comedy night".

Jemaine: "A new comedy night was starting in Wellington".

Bret: "We were the band while the audience came in".

Jemaine: "We got up there and started playing in the background. The songs were quite weird and funny and…you just can't stop people from listening! Well, sometimes you can".

FoTC - London summer 2005

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Exclusive Q & A on What The Folk! with the guys in November 2005

You may remember a while back I mentioned about how The Guys/Bret and Jemaine/Flight of the Conchords/F o The C, had said yes to answering some questions put to them by fans here on What The Folk! <insert shameless plug here> As its What The Folk's! third birthday during November 2005 they were happy to help me celebrate by taking part in a Q & A.

After much merriment, sorting and agonising of questions sent in, and a few emails to and fro, I felt the guys would be running for the hills. But no! Jemaine emailed back again and asked if anyone had any questions for Brian their manager also. And some guy named Rhys. So those were duly added. Wahey This is almost too easy I thought....

Time passed slowly. Occasionally it felt like it had stopped. I double checked the earth was still spinning on its axis and was duly informed by the man at the Department for the Enviroment that no, time was not broken, nor did it need speeding up any, and yes, the last time he had looked out his window the earth appeared to still be moving round. I thought he might be faking the last part by sitting by the window and on a fancy desk chair that spins right the way round. You know the ones that make you go dizzy if you whizz round quick enough. Lots. Then stand up quick and watch yourself topple....or try to...

I poked the guys with sticks only once. And Jemaine dropped a line letting me know that Brian had answered already, he was working on his and who knew what Bret was up to. But we were getting there.

Anyways, this morning I awoke to an email from The Guys. Well, Jemaine to be exact. He said "Here are Rhys' and my answers. Bret's touring Aussie with the Black Seeds so I don't know when he'll get a chance to do his."

I smiled lots when I read this, and I have to admit, it did not come as a huge surprise. But yay and yayness, we got some much anticipated answers to some burning questions. Only not from Bret. Yet. I am hoping that he will answer sometime in the not to distant future though. In the meantime I thought it would not be fair to keep you all hanging on. So here, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, is the Question and Answer session with (Bret) and Jemaine. And Brian. And Rhys.

Please credit What The Folk! if you mention this Q&A stuff anywhere else online. Its always nice to credit the source. The guys gave their time, I gave mine, so take a minute of yours. Thanks.

READ THE EXCLUSIVE Q & A WITH THE CONCHORDS HERE

JEMAINE'S EXCLUSIVE Q & A HERE

BRIAN NESBITT'S EXCLUSIVE (Rhys Darby) Q & A HERE

BRET'S BEEN OTHERWISE DISTRACTED BY TOURING - His to follow later.

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Can I contact the muthafolkas?

In a word *snurglewafalobawhoosh*. But by all means email me. I threw together this site as I liked the guys and loved their show. Honestly? I was bored and needed something to pass the time. There is only so much I can tolerate before insanity sets in. A temple of folk, a place for the lost to find their way. If you find it here then I suggest therapy asap. There is an official Conchords site. Go there if you are looking to email them.

All comments/feedback are welcome from people who know what a spollchuck function is. And how to use it!

The 2003 tour poster for High On Folk

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New stuff

WTF! Conchords tees available

WTF Conchords tee shirt

WTF! Discussion forum - Still open, online and active - Visit it here

also

2010 Tour poster gallery online 

Twitter - What The Folk!

Order season 2 Amazon US & Amazon UK

Flight of The Conchords - Season 2 DVD

Order S1 DVD Amazon.com or Amazon UK

Eagle vs Shark from Amazon.com or Amazon UK

Eagle vs Shark US DVD cover

Find other Conchords CD's and DVD's here

 

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