The Flight of the Conchords boys (or should I say men), Jemaine Clement and Brett McKenzie are back – although they may seem somewhat unrecognisable rocking dad bods and grey beards as they tour the United Sates this July.
A series about two uncomfortably awkward, kiwi blokes, trying to get-a-clue, catch a break and on a constant quest for love adrift in New York, managed to tickle our fancy back in the 2000’s. With its naive, cringe-worthy segments (touching on the real modern day issues such as having a love interest with an epileptic dog) it successfully encapsulated two things we all love – humour and music.
Two New Zealanders with guitars and a sense of humour who were almost unworldly in character. Thus its appeal, there was nothing quite like it at the time, nor has there been since its unveil. Seven years on and the duo couldn’t be less enthused about the success of the series, as they spoke about life after Flight of the Conchords in a recent interview with The New York Times. Now both married with families, both openly admit to enjoying Jazz music (scandalous, I know) and are, in true Jemaine and Brett character – unapologetic regarding their “aging” appearance.
In true Flight of the Conchords spirit and in good comedic form, Brett and Jemaine were still able (ALL these years later) to maintain their candid banter and to poke fun at the expense of themselves and their “aging appearance”, apologizing for having “grown old” since their last tour (which was over three years ago).
While we understand people age, the visuals were still a shock to the system, and If you’re sitting there scratching your head thinking, “oh man how long have I been asleep for” – you’re not the only one. Can you believe it’s been a humourless seven years since Flight of the Conchords duo graced our screens? Yeah… SEVEN. So, given the amount of time, it seems pretty normal on the human scheme of things that they would, well, age. Nonetheless we’re all still shocked and appalled because anybody who possess some sort of celebrity status would not dare grow old – have they seriously not considered cosmetic surgery? Our vanity as an audience has surely reached a new pinnacle.
Receiving the news (that he’s now used goods) somewhat well, Mr. Clement, formerly known as Jemaine (in his younger days) said, “It ultimately reminds you of your mortality, and for that, we apologize.”
While we all wandered around aimlessly for a few months wondering why they’d chosen to abandon the success and the series, seven years later the truth has surfaced. Canny Casanova Jemaine explained in the recent interview, that the duo only viewed the gig “as a hobby and a side thing. This was just our learning-guitar project,” he said. “And then we had two songs. And then three.”
A pretty successful “side thing” if we do say so ourselves, and while there are no new plans for an album or Flight of the Conchord’s reunion (sigh), we think the guys might just need a little firm convincing (starts online petition). A mention of a few new songs, appearances here and there but no big plans other than to enjoy their lives (as they are evidently, aging rapidly). As fragile, dear old Brett pointed out, “Working at our own pace is not one of our strengths” – Brett’s dying words. So we could be waiting a while…
And while they did do other things with their lives – Brett won an academy award for a song he wrote for Disney’s “The Muppet’s” movie (not important at all) and Jemaine starred in Men in Black 3. That just didn’t cut it. It was still not our beloved Brett and Jemaine that we’d come to love and now, after seven years of mourning, time to go binge watch some Flight of the Conchords and sob for seven more.
Even with Grey hairs peeping through, Jemaine and Brett are still a couple of cool cats, with Flight of the Conchords highlighting their “young” legacy. Forgive them for “living their lives” and not entertaining us.