Flight of the Conchords, the moniker New Zealand’s Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement assign themselves when collaborating, splits the difference between comedy act and band. They certainly don’t have a copyright on musical comedy, but unlike the aimless strumming that sometimes accompanies Demetri Martin’s one-liners, FotC’s music can actually stand on its own merits. Over years spent cutting their teeth onstage, a two-season series on HBO, and a handful of studio releases, they’ve honed their act to the point where they can get an audience in stitches, all while keeping feet tapping. While they brand themselves as “the almost award-winning fourth-most-popular folk duo in New Zealand,” songs like “Business Time”, “Rhymenoceros Vs. Hiphoppopotamus”, and “Foux Da Fafa” parody slow jamz, hip-hop, and French pop, respectively. Their inimitable style of anti-cool musicianship has not only earned them a loyal following among comedy nerds, but catapulted McKenzie to an Oscar win and Clement to a starring role in one of the year’s most deliriously funny films to date, the vampire mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows.
FotC faithful received a cause for hope on Friday, when Indiewire ran an interview with Clement in which the actor makes reference to a gestating movie vehicle for he and McKenzie’s act. Speaking with the site’s Kate Erbland, Clement confessed, “We have actually started writing one. But who knows if it will ever be made, we’ve written some notes for some different film ideas. We’re not down to the stage where we’re going, ‘The film is going to be like this,’ it could be this, this, this, this, this.” Admittedly, a rather wispy life preserver on which to hang our collective hopes. But an amorphous, partially-written script is better than no script at all!
How badly do you want a FotC film? Let’s hear it in the comments.
