Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are The Flight of the Conchords Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo... also interestingly enough formerly Moustache and Vested Interest
The show revolves around Bret and Jemaine trying to hit the big time in New York as a comedy folk duo but alas it is not to much success as they, along with their band manager, Murray (Rhys Darby), a Deputy Cultural Attache at the New Zealand consulate and of Mel (Kristen Schaal), a married woman who is their sole fan and stalker move from one sad situation to another.
All the while punctuated by random outbursts into song and dance, in what seems to be a showcase of varying musical styles and with music videos to match.
Shot in mockumentary style and in real locations the down to earth flavour and personality of Bret and Jemaine seems to seep into the living room by virtue of osmosis.
The pair first teamed up at Victoria University of Wellington where both studied film and drama to create Moustache and Vested Interest which went on to become FOTC as a means to improve their guitar skills, though there was some ambition as they then toured Europe, USA, and Australia collecting several awards from the International Comedy circuit, including a nomination for the Perrier Award at the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, "Best Newcomer" at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and "Best Alternative Comedy Act" at the 2005 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
Much of the HBO show's style and content was created for a 6 part BBC radio show which aired in 2005. It had a fairly strong cult following.
 After a successful appearance in 2005 on HBOs One Night Stand, the Conchords were offered their own 12-part HBO series Flight of the Conchords. Its first season ran from June to September 2007, and it has been renewed for a second season.
They have toured internationally and released two CDs: Folk the World Tour in 2002 and The Distant Future (EP in 2007.)
Also locally The Dominion Post - Wellington's main daily newspaper - awarded Clement and McKenzie with the 2007 Arts Wellys, and named them the 2007 Wellingtonians of the Year and at the Grammys they were nominated for The Distant Future under the category Best Comedy Album.
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