Flight of the Conchords return to NZ stages after 14 years away – but Wellington is still obviously home

Résumé détaillé

Flight of the Conchords have the wonderful ability to make extraordinary success feel entirely unpretentious.

What is it about a musical comedy duo that formed in 1998 and describes itself as Aotearoa New Zealand’s “fourth most popular comedy folk duo” that remains so appealing?

After 14 years away from New Zealand stages, Flight of the Conchords – Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement – have returned for a sold-out tour.

Performing before a capacity crowd as they begin the tour in Wellington, McKenzie and Clement are in fine form. Even when they can’t remember every lyric or musical cue, they have the audience wrapped around their fingers.

Each mistake humanises them (ironically, considering the first song has them performing as robots). Mistakes are seemingly part of the act.

Through deadpan delivery and deliberately understated performances, the duo have cultivated the impression that they are ordinary people who have somehow wandered onto an international stage.

Their appeal comes from their ability to make extraordinary success feel entirely unpretentious.

At their core, Flight of the Conchords are simply two friends playing instruments and making each other laugh. The audience responds because they recognise something of themselves in that dynamic.

Classic songs such as Business Time, The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room), and Inner City Pressure, which found global success on their HBO sitcom (2007–09) and 2008 album, remain funny some 20 years after first being written, simply because they target human emotion and situations.

For anyone living in Wellington, seeing McKenzie or Clement around town is hardly unusual, since they both still call the city home. Despite winning a Grammy award, an Academy Award for McKenzie, and numerous high-profile international acting roles for Clement, both remain strongly associated with the city that helped launch their careers.

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