Bret McKenzie: Flight of the Conchords, Lord Of The Rings Cameos & Oscar Win

The Romesh Ranganathan Show

Ranga Bee & Platform Media

Society & Culture, Comedy

4.6 • 715 Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is comedy music the hardest art form to perfect? Comedian, actor and Oscar-winning musician Bret McKenzie — one half of the legendary Flight of the Conchords — joins Romesh to unpack life at the funny end of songwriting. From winning awards for work “Disney didn’t even like” on The Muppets, to touring his “serious” new album Freak Out City, Bret shares stories from the road, recalls his unexpected appearance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and throws himself into a UK vs New Zealand Marmite-eating challenge. A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Listen. 00:00 Intro 03:11 Hype men gone wrong 06:05 Bret's new tour 11:45 Marmite: UK vs New Zealand 19:58 Flight of the Conchords 23:00 Work changing with time 27:05 Comedy songwriting 28:44 Touring the new album: Freak Out City 33:33 Writing music for film 39:07 That's not cool dad 42:00 Misquoted 50:22 Lord Of The Rings Extra 57:51 Shanthi’s question for Bret 59:41 Oscar Win: Man Or Muppet 1:05:45 Oasis Exclusive Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm a man.
0:02.0	They didn't even like that song.
0:04.0	Disney didn't like that song.
0:05.0	Really?
0:06.0	They were like, they had another song, they were like, can you do this one?
0:08.0	I read them a script and had the word, the Riz. My son just looks like, he looks so horrified. Yeah, look, I've got to say the Riz. He's like, oh, dad, no, no, no. You should never say those words. I was like, there might be a billboard outside your school with me on it.
0:19.0	He's like, oh, mate.
0:21.0	Oh no, no, you can't do this.
0:23.0	You can't.
0:24.0	This would be so bad for me. There are these little robots that take sandwiches around. On the street. Along the streets. Yeah, there's a little box. You just go around. Like your Uber Eats gets delivered in a box. I thought you meant in a... Sorry, don don't have a shout though. I remember never been so loud
0:37.5	on the podcast.
0:38.3	I had a real
0:38.6	attitude that day.
0:41.6	The hell winner.
0:43.1	This interview's over.
0:45.1	And they name me
0:46.2	Figuit
0:46.7	which stands for
0:48.1	Frodo is great.
0:49.0	Who is that?
0:52.6	What's up?
0:53.2	You guys?
	...

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