About 3 years ago, Jemaine together with Guy Capper did a couple of short films called The Pen. The characters, sheep made of clay, Sheepy (voiced by Guy) and Robert (Jemaine), were talking about different philosophical issues that concern sheep, like if there's life after death or how to baa.
This year Guy and Jemaine united their talents to create some more episodes for a comedy tv show Radiradirah (featuring such comedians as Rhys Darby, Taika Waititi or Naked Samoans). The show was running on New Zealand TV3 every Friday from May till July and soon will be released on DVD. Let's hope we'll be able to see it as well. In the meantime, we can watch The Pen new episodes on ThePenNZ. Keep an eye on this youtube channel, because a new episode is going to be uploaded every week.
Yes it is true, Bret and Jemaine will be guest starring in the season premiere of The Simpsons, titled "Elementary School Musical." It'll air on September 26th.
The episode is basically about Marge sending Lisa off to a music camp. Bret and Jemaine play artsy counselors.
If you're wondering what the guys will look like, the people behind Jemainiacs.com would like to know too. They're holding an avatar-look-alike contest; winner gets a FOTC decal. If I don't win, I plan to buy one myself.
I think I won't be wrong if I say that FotC's international carrier started at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2002. Last time they visited the UK it was five years ago and when they finally came back in May this year, the BBC asked them to perform the official opening ceremony for bbc.co.uk/comedy.
They also gave an exclusive interview for that website. Actually, I think it was the only interview they gave during the Mostly European Tour.
"BBC Comedy grabs an exclusive chat with the toast of New Zealand's folk parody scene, Flight of The Conchords, during their tour of Britain. Bret and Jemaine reveal what the UK means to them, and take a trip down memory lane to recall their BBC radio series, back in the days when they used to play to twelve people instead of twelve thousand."
Just recently I heard that there's going to be a complete collection of the show, Season 1 and 2 plus a ton of added features. I really am hoping for deleted scenes from season 1, since the original season 1 set never had any bonus features. You can pre-order it now for the price of $38.99. I'm guessing that the price is actually higher on the actual HBO site, since both seasons and their CDs were priced higher. Anyways, this wonderful DVD set comes out on August 24th.
Here are the special features:
Comes with 4 discs
All 22 episodes within the two seasons
Flight of the Conchords: One Night Stand--Never-before-released 30-minutes special
Flight of the Conchords - On Air Documentary feature
It's been exactly two months since Flight of the Conchords had their epic tour finale in Hollywood Bowl in L.A. with the audience of 17,000 people. The venue was almost sold out.
The Conchords were supposed to tour Europe only, but to the US fans' great surprise, they added three more shows in Berkeley, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, thus it came "Mostly European Tour". The Guys didn't have any problems with selling their shows in Europe. The pre-sale tickets were gone within seconds after the sale had started and Wembley Arena in London (12,500 seats) was sold out after about 15 minutes.
Having two warm-up shows in Wellington, NZ and L.A., the Guys started their tour in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This was pretty significant, considering where the name of New Zealand comes from.
Jemaine and Bret with the support of New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (or just Nigel); Amsterdam, May 3rd, 2010
Then, they headed to Dublin. That was a long journey, because Europe was under the constant alert about the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland and their plane had been cancelled. They were such a troopers that went by tour bus and gave the show on the same day.
From Ireland, the Conchords went to the UK where they performed in Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and London. I was lucky enough to see them in the last two cities. I still can't shake off the impression Jemaine and Bret made on me when I met them. And I don't want to. :)
Leaving the British Islands for a few days, FotC visited Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Their last show in Europe took place back in Wembley Arena in London on 25th May. Three days later the Americans had their feast.
A couple of words need to be said about FotC's supporting acts. For their two shows in Ireland, the Guys invited their old friend, David O'Doherty. In the UK, Eugene Mirman (their tv show landlord) joined them for a couple of shows just to be switched in London with Arj Barker (tv show Dave) who stayed with the band till the end of the tour. Kristen Schaal (tv show Mel) made it to support them in Hollywood as well as Eugene had his comeback in the US. It's worth to note down that at the two shows in Wembley Arena, the Conchords were supported also by their friend from New Zealand, Lawrence Arabia.
Two wonderful men who have been an important part of the FotC team for many years deserve a special paragraph. The first one is Nigel Collins a.k.a. New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. I can't imagine Jenny without his cello now. The second guy is Matt Shane, a sound engineer. Thanks to him we could hear every whisper of Jemaine and Bret in every corner of the venue.
With a new tour, there were new posters. Here's the Euro Poster Series. Have you got your favourites?
Highlights:
Banters with 'on the road' stories, especially the Muffin Story. It was the only banter that was noted down on the setlists, so important it was!
three new songs (check this entry); On the road was actually written on the road!
sparkling jumpsuits for the song Demon Woman;
London, May 17th, 2010
Korean karaoke with the multimedia;
an awesome version of Inner City Pressure;
singing Epileptic dogs in canon with the audience;
Jemaine doing different accents for Albi;
Matt's odd jobs;
mendley of Too Many Dicks and Rock the Party;
and of course, last but not least, Sexy Lady / Sugarlumps.
To sum up, I did some maths and here are the results, more or less:
7 countries
13 cities
21 shows
87,900 people (55,000 in Europe and 32,900 in the US)
Not bad as for the 4th most popular New Zealand folk band, ay?
Every show was unique and special. For more details, reviews, photos and videos check fan forums: FOTCmb (sign in first), WTF! and FOTCfanbase: 2010 Tour Archive.
