Line #148 Music/FlightOfTheConchords


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_conchords_2031.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:That's Bret on the left, Jemaine on the right, relaxing at home.]]
3
4	->'''Bret:''' I don't think we're going to get sex ''and'' get paid.\
5	'''Jemaine:''' Why not?\
6	'''Bret:''' Because we never get sex ''or'' get paid.
7	-->-- ''On the prospect of making ends meet via prostitution'', "The New Cup"
8
9	Flight of the Conchords are [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo]], trying to make it big in America. The group is made up of Creator/JemaineClement and Bret [=McKenzie=]. They have had a [[Creator/TheBBC BBC radio]] series and an {{Creator/HBO}} TV series.
10
11	----
12	!!This duo (and their skits) provides examples of:
13
14	* AbhorrentAdmirer: Mel has an insatiable lust for both members of the band. They are repulsed by her advances, but can't spurn her outright because she's their only fan.
15	* AffablyEvil: The two muggers that Bret and Jemaine encountered. The more vocal one is outraged at the thought of anyone [[EvenEvilHasStandards running out on a friend]] and befriends Jemaine when Bret does this to him. The quiet one returns Jemaine's camera phone, develops some of their pictures and on the whole seems like a very pleasant man...who just so happens to be a White Supremacist. In "Wingmen," the first mugger comes back to help Bret with a ''very'' ill-advised scheme to impress his date.
16	* AffectionateParody: "Bowie" is an over-the-top, yet still somehow spot-on parody of Music/DavidBowie; "Inner City Pressure" takes on the Music/PetShopBoys; "Fashion Is Danger" - the entire [[TheEighties New Romantic]] genre; "You Don't Have to be a Prostitute" - "Roxanne" by Music/ThePolice; "Rambling through the Avenues of Time" - "Piano Man" by Billy Joel; "I'm Not Crying" - "I'm Not In Love" by 10CC; "Foux du Fafa" -French jazz in general; "Hurt Feelings (Reprise)" is a dead-on take of the "Wise Up" [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimee_Mann Aimee Mann]] montage in ''Film/{{Magnolia}}''.
17	* AllegedlyDateless: The boys often mention their woeful love lives, but half the episodes are about one or both of them dating, [[RuleOfFunny for obvious reasons]].
18	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: [[GenderFlip Gender-flipped]]: Jemaine points out that Bret tends to be attracted to "bastard girls" who mistreat him.
19	* AlliterativeName: Bret's the "'''p'''retty '''P'''rince of '''P'''arties."
20	* AlliterativeTitle: "'''F'''oux du '''F'''afa."
21	* AnalogyBackfire: in "Rambling Through the Avenues of Time":
22	-->'''Bret:''' ''(singing)'' She was comparable to Cleopatra...\
23	'''Jemaine:''' ''(talking)'' Quite old?\
24	'''Bret:''' ''(singing)'' She was like Shakespeare's Juliet...\
25	'''Jemaine:''' ''(talking)'' What, thirteen?
26	* AngryDance: In "The Third Conchord," this is how Bret expresses himself.
27	* AnxietyDreams: Bret has anxiety dreams about [[IAmAHumanitarian cannibalism]].
28	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: From "Think About It"
29	--> "Children on the streets using guns and knives, taking drugs and each other's lives. Killing each other using knives and [[ImprobableWeaponUser forks]] and calling each other names like dork."
30	* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Lampshaded in "Foux Du Fafa." where the title hook is described as a "Nonsensical French-sounding phrase."
31	* AwkwardFatherSonBondingActivity: "Father and Son" plays with this in a very [[BuffySpeak Conchords-ian]] way, depicting a father and son having an intimate and otherwise loving conversation after spending the day together... which keeps getting sidetracked with [[MoodKiller mood-killing facts]] like how the mom isn't [[MissingMom dead]], [[VisitByDivorcedDad but divorced and with another dad]], [[spoiler:or that the son is actually 33]].
32	* BlatantLies:
33	** "They call me the Hiphopopotamus, my lyrics are bottomless. [[{{Beat}} ... ...ahem]]"
34	** When auditioning for the Tough Brets, Dave claims that he was in the Navy SEALS for 15 years. To make things doubly obvious, his pawned camouflage jacket has "U.S. Army" written on it.
35	** Bret admits 95% of "Rambling Through the Avenues of Time" was completely false. The only true part is that he saw a girl.
36	* BrickJoke: One episode features the Conchords playing a couple gigs in an elevator at an office complex. The first time, many of the business people are looking on in utter confusion. The second, they manage to get a male and female employee to dance.
37	* BritishBrevity: The TV series lasted two seasons, a total of 22 episodes. The actors had too much difficulty writing songs to keep up with the pace of the series and ended it voluntarily.
38	* BunnyEarsLawyer: In-universe, Bret and Jemaine are complete losers who couldn't draw a crowd with their music to save their lives. Despite this, their songs are all quite catchy and clever. WordOfGod says they're better at expressing themselves in song rather than verbally.
39	* ButterflyofDoom: In "The New Cup," Bret buys a less-than-$3 cup for himself that winds up throwing the band's whole financial system out of whack and through a chain of events, the two wind up in jail.
40	* ButtMonkey
41	** Bret and Jemaine themselves tend to be screwed over in every episode.
42	** Murray is constantly humiliated and beaten down, though he generally brings it on himself due to making ''very'' poor decisions almost constantly.
43	** Greg is Murray's ButtMonkey, constantly sabotaged and treated poorly.
44	** Doug, Mel's UnwantedSpouse who placidly puts up with all of her craziness and abuse.
45	* CallingYourAttacks: Amazingly and subtly employed thanks to an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PHg1SMP0a0&feature=related epic maneuver]] busted out by Dave. Of course, if grilled by the cops, he would probably maintain that he was only there to [[BlatantLies water the geroniums.]]
46	* CanisLatinicus
47	--> '''Murray:''' The ''per diem'' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I gave you was for the week!]]\
48	'''Jemaine:''' ''Per diem'' means "for the day," though.\
49	'''Murray:''' Well, I don't know Latin.\
50	'''Jemaine:''' ''Per weekum'' would be the correct term.
51	** And again:
52	--->'''Murray:''' I can't go back there. I'm ''persona non regatta''. You know what that means?\
53	'''Jemaine:''' You're not at a yacht race?
54	* CannotTellFictionFromReality: The NZ Prime Minister thinks two people in the same costume is actually a glitch in ''Film/TheMatrix''.
55	* CasanovaWannabe: Both Jemaine and Murray insist that Jemaine is the ladies' man of the group, while Bret is shown to have much more frequent on-screen success romantically than he does. Even Mel seems to find Bret more attractive, at least in the episode "Bowie." Jemaine asks her to act like Bret's more attractive than him to build up his self-esteem. She manages to be too convincing, detailing almost every way Bret is more handsome than him.
56	* CassandraTruth: After screwing them up so badly in "The Actor", Ben (Creator/WillForte), a wannabe actor/dry cleaner, tells the boys he got a part in a movie. They dismiss it as acting. During the credits roll, we see a clip from said movie.
57	* CatapultNightmare: In a deleted scene from "The Tough Brets," when Jemaine calls Bret's name to wake him up, Bret suddenly sits bolt upright in bed, hands ready to karate chop someone, screaming, "[[BrickJoke Please don't chop off my penis!]]"
58	* CelebrityParadox: In several episodes, ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' is referenced. Bret was in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' as an extra (specifically an Elf) and accidentally became a cult character when one fan made a website about him calling him 'Figwit' (meaning "Frodo is great, ''[[DistractedByTheSexy who is that]]''?" A radio interview afterwards had the Conchords play their ''Lord of the Rings'' song, which featured in the series. It was such a popular thing that Bret was brought back and given lines for the extended cut of ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'' (as well as the [[AllThereInTheScript never-spoken-onscreen]] name "Lindir",[[note]]Which, fittingly, means "singer"[[/note]] and given his own trading card. Peter Jackson talks about it in the director's commentary.
59	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}:
60	** The entire main cast, as well as everyone from New Zealand, right up to Prime Minister Brian.
61	** Brahbrah is an eccentric woman who spends the episode looking for her epileptic dog she lost six years ago and whom she once dressed as a cat to sneak him into a party. At one point in the episode she thinks she found her dog, but it was actually another man's dog she was holding.
62	* TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight: In "Love is a Weapon of Choice," Bret, who is generally slightly more absent-minded and foolish than Jemaine, is convinced that the woman in the park they met was named "Brahbrah." Jemaine doesn't believe him, but the end of the episode reveals that Bret was right.
63	* ComplimentBackfire:
64	** "Sure you're weedy (and kind of shy), but some girlie out there must be needy for a weedy shy guy."
65	** And all of "Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)."
66	* {{Crazy\| Jealous Guy}}[=/=]ClingyJealousGirl: Mel.
67	* CulturalCringe: They were completely ignored by New Zealand's TV networks, until they made it big in America. Even then, they still struggle to get funding for follow-up projects as their humor is [[SmallReferencePools "too Wellington"]]. Averted, however, by their New Zealand fan base, who've backed them from the very start.
68	* CuteAndPsycho: Mel is definitely this. Stress on the "psycho" part.
69	* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: "I'm gonna juice the mutha 'ucker!/He's gonna wake up in a smoothie!"
70	* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Bret leaves Murray's car thinking he put the parking brake on without realizing that the handle is on the other side in American cars (turns out he only adjusted the seat).
71	* DenserAndWackier: The second season throws the few grounded elements of the first out the window and go full time into wall-to-wall absurdity.
72	* DescentIntoDarknessSong: The song "Petrov, Yelyena, and Me": The lyrics get more disturbing as the singer catches on that Petrov and Yelyena are eating him piece-by-piece.
73	* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: Played for laughs in-universe. Bret and Jemaine are completely unfamiliar with American swearing and Dave has to teach them how to flip someone off.
74	* DiscriminateAndSwitch: In "Drive-By," Bret and Jemaine are harassed by a racist greengrocer. The situation is resolved when they explain that [[spoiler:he's confusing New Zealand with Australia]].
75	* DirtyCoward: Bret is accused of being one after running away from a pair of muggers and leaving Jemaine behind when Jemaine got his clothing stuck on the fence.
76	* DisneyAcidSequence: Some of the song sequences, including one where they've actually taken acid.
77	* DissonantLaughter: Parodied in "Albi the Racist Dragon."
78	-->"What are you doing here? I thought I killed you yesterday," grumbled Albi quite racistly.\
79	"No, Albi, you didn't kill me with your dragon flame. I crawled to safety, but I was left very badly disfigured," laughed the boy.
80	* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale:
81	** The line "Britney... Britney hit me" in "Carol Brown." Granted, the song paints all of the ex-girlfriends in a negative light, but if it were gender-swapped, it'd be a rather abundant MoodWhiplash.
82	** Zig-zagged with Bret in "Girlfriends": Lisa dupes Bret into having sex with her by lying to him about being a sniper who's about to get shipped to Iraq, and Bret, who doesn't want to have sex, feels violated afterwards. This, plus Lisa continuing to lie to him once he finds out the truth, then laughing behind his back, is very obviously supposed to make her out to be a cruel, loathsome person regardless of her gender, but is played for BlackComedy (in fact, it's more or less a spoof on the ''portrayal'' of rape in a lot of media), and would be downright impossible to do gender-swapped.
83	* DownerEnding:
84	** The Season 1 finale could apply. [[spoiler:"The Crazy Dogggz," a band formed by Todd and [[Creator/DemetriMartin Demetri]] (two musicians who quit the Conchords), has hit the big time with a song Bret and Jemaine refused to play. Murray, who also manages the Dogggz, has almost totally stopped managing them. And, possibly worst of all, their former LoonyFan, Mel, has lost all interest in them.]] However, as this ''is'' the Conchords we're talking about, it's all played for laughs.
85	** The Season 2 ending is a subversion, perhaps a more [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet ending]]: [[spoiler:After Bret and Jemaine sing in Murray's musical that they're illegal aliens in front of a full audience, including some New Zealand ambassadors, they are all deported and resume their former careers as shepherds, fearing that no one will ever again want to listen to their music. However, they seem just as happy to play their music in the sheep pastures of New Zealand as they are in their apartment or in empty clubs.]]
86	* DreadfulMusician: Played with in the series. While Bret and Jemaine are shown to be talented musicians who can come up with elaborate and witty songs on the fly in [[ImagineSpot Imagine Spots]], the songs that they're actually shown playing in front of live audiences (like "Rock the Party") tend to be [[StylisticSuck pretty dreadful]]. Coupled with their [[DullSurprise robotic stage presence]], and it's easy to see why they're not popular.
87	* DullSurprise: Bret and Jemaine portray themselves as very understated and dim-witted people who rarely show any emotion. This is aided by their Kiwi accent, which is described as sounding flat and robotic.
88	* EasyEvangelism: Parodied in "Albi the Racist Dragon." All it takes is a few words of wisdom from [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext the badly-burnt Albanian boy]] and "suddenly he wasn't racist anymore."
89	* EccentricMentor: Music/DavidBowie, at least in Bret's dreams. He appears in various costumes, each time explaining, "Hello, Bret, it's 1973 David Bowie, from [as one example] the Ziggy Stardust tour!" Bret points out that he "looks a lot like Jemaine," but Bowie denies they are one and the same. Bowie does cop to the dreams being dreams, hoping Bret finds them sufficiently freaky.
90	* EpicRocking: Often parodied. For example, when the duo tries writing a jingle for a thirty-second commercial for Femident Toothpaste, they come up with an eighteen-minute long song. Another notable example is when Bret initially writes "Song for Coco" (which Jemaine helps him rewrite to "If You're Into It"), the song is ''two hours'' long.
91	* EroticDream: Mel has two (off-screen) about Bret and Jemaine in "Murray Takes It To The Next Level." She's completely giddy about the first one, but the second was apparently so lewd that she actually demands that Jemaine ''apologize for it''.
92	* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: The song "Angels" posits that angels live in the clouds above us, and primarily concern themselves with having sex.
93	* EverythingDances: The title sequence features various household items in the Conchords' apartment bopping in time with the theme music. In the second season, this expands to include New York landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge.
94	* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: The logic behind the Conchords’ attempt to impress women with the French language in "Foux du Fafa". They take elementary French words and phrases and try singing them as seductively as they can.
95	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Jemaine does this in "Unnatural Love" after the Victoria carriage driver tells him that he doesn't go to New Jersey like Keitha said.
96	-->'''Jemaine''': She said she'd done it before. ''(He realizes that Keitha tricked him)''. Oh no. ''Oh no''.
97	* ExtinctInTheFuture: "Robots" takes place in the distant future of 2000, where all elephants and humans are dead.
98	* ExtremeOmnivore: In "Bret Gives Up the Dream," Bret brings home a bag of food that he found on the street. Jemaine first goes to spit it out, then decides that he'll just eat it.
99	* EyepatchOfPower: Bret decides to wear one because of Bowie's advice. He feels cooler, but it backfires soon, as he [[AwesomeButImpractical loses his depth perception and stumbles into things.]]
100	* {{Fanservice}}: Or FanDisservice - "Business Time."
101	* FriendsRentControl: Dealt with in "Evicted," when the landlord realizes that he's been receiving checks in New Zealand dollars, not US dollars.
102	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: The New Zealand tourism poster in Murray's office changes every episode, usually saying something along the lines of "New Zealand: It's not Australia," or "New Zealand: Worth a visit."
103	* GenderFlip: In "Girlfriends," a girl [[BlackComedyRape coerces Bret into sex]] by saying she's going to ship out to Iraq, causing Bret to later [[HeroicBSOD curl up into a ball]] and [[ShowerOfAngst take a shower with all of his clothes on]]. Even the reason Bret didn't want to sleep with her too soon is a gender flip of MyGirlIsNotASlut.
104	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Summer and Rain attempt to invoke this in "New Fans" by [[{{Fanservice}} randomly making out]] in front of Bret and Jemaine.
105	* {{Glurge}}: Invoked and parodied with "Albi the Racist Dragon". After maiming a little Albanian boy with dragon-fire while trying to kill him, Albi realizes they're not so different, cries a single jellybean tear that turns "all the colors of the rainbow", [[EasyEvangelism and stops being racist]]; afterwards, he becomes friends with the boy (who's still stuck in the cave because he's so disfigured that everyone hates him), and they enjoy bubblegum pie together. In live performances, Jemaine's line of "because we're ''different"'' is usually followed by both Conchords [[CluelessAesop stopping and staring gravely at the audience for several seconds]].
106	* GratuitousFrench: "Foux Du Fafa," which is basically the fragments of French that they remember from school shoehorned into song form to try to impress women.
107	--> ''[[InherentlyFunnyWords Pamplemousse!]] ...Ananas! ...Jus d'orange! ...Boeuf!\
108	Soup du jour! ...Camembert! ...Creator/JacquesCousteau! ...Baguette!''
109	* HammerSpace: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8jaGs7xJ0 where Jemaine gets his instruments from, evidently.]] Since the show really blurs the lines of whether or not the musical numbers are really happening or not, instruments come and go fairly at random; the only time it's completely averted is at the beginning of "Boom," when Bret remarks that he needs his 1987 Casio electric guitar set to mandolin, and someone walking by hands it to him.
110	* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: The song "Bret, You've Got It Going On" is full to the brim with this, with such lines as "Why can't a heterosexual guy tell a heterosexual guy / That he thinks his booty is fly?" This leads to a discussion of the fact that, when Jemaine puts a wig on Bret while he is sleeping and spoons him, it's not gay because he's imagining he is a woman. Of course.
111	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Bret and Jemaine, of course. It occasionally drifts into HoYay territory.
112	-->"No doubt about it, we'd be gettin' crazy / if one of us was lucky enough to be born a lady..."
113	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Mocked in "Robots," in which robots kill all the humans for making them work unreasonable hours. However, [[NotSoDifferentRemark one line suggests that, by killing the humans, the robots are becoming like the humans.]]
114	-->"Robo-Captain, do you not realize that by destroying the human race because of their destructive tendencies we, too, have become like... well it's ironic because we--"
115	-->"Hmmm. [[HypocriticalHumor ''SILENCE! DESTROY HIM]]"''
116	* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: "My sugarlumps are two of a kind..."
117	* HypocriticalHumor: Mel gets jealous and this happens.
118	** One example:
119	--> '''Mel''': Those girls, I don't trust them, Bret. They have no interest in you as musicians. They just wanna...\
120	'''Bret''': Just wanna what?\
121	'''Mel''': They just wanna do it with you, Bret.\
122	'''Bret''': Sex?\
123	'''Mel''': Yes, and I know your policy on sexual relations with fans, Bret.\
124	'''Bret''': I got to go to the bathroom.\
125	'''Mel''': Bret, I know...\
126	''(Bret goes to bathroom)''\
127	'''Mel''': ''(opens bathroom door while he's still going)'' It's just that, Bret, I just hope that they respect your boundaries.
128	** Mel looks jealous again because Bret is watching a girl from the pet store. She responds by saying "Bret, if you really love someone, you have to get to know them as a person. You can't just watch them from afar." But it's later subverted when Mel uses the idea of "getting to know them better" to encourage them to invade her privacy.
129	* IceCreamKoan: Most of the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_tDNKYOwSI Sellotape/Pencils in the Wind]]:
130	-->People are like paper dolls\
131	Paper dolls and people, they're a similar shape
132	* IdiotSavant: Bret and Jemaine are both bumbling halfwits with NoSocialSkills and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} a strange perception of the world]], but they're very good at writing unique and excellent-sounding comedy songs. [[WrongGenreSavvy Unfortunately]], their poor understanding of their talents and what audiences actually want causes them to consistently play only their [[StylisticSuck most banal and forgettable music]] when on stage, preventing them from ever actually making any ''use'' out of their skills.
133	* ImAHumanitarian: "Petrov, Yelyena and Me," a song about a man lost at sea who is slowly eaten by his shipmates.
134	* IntercourseWithYou: "It's business... it's business time!" and "I'm the Boom King!"
135	* KillAllHumans: What {{Robot\|War}}s did in the distant future ([[{{Zeerust}} the year 2000]]) before the song "Robots."
136	* KnowNothingKnowItAll:
137	** Dave, though the guys are [[TheBlindLeadingTheBlind always seeking his advice]] anyway. Particularly impressive when he works on the tourist information point for New Zealand Town, which is odd because at no point during the series does he remember where New Zealand is...or what its name is.
138	** Murray, whose misconceptions about the music business and American culture are largely responsible for the Conchords' lack of success.
139	* LampshadeHanging: An amazing number of first season episodes involved Bret quitting the band, and in a later season 1 episode Murray quits the band, prompting Jemaine to tell him, "You can't quit the band. Bret normally quits the band!"
140	* LegFocus: The titular girl from the song "Leggy Blonde." Murray even mentions one of the things he likes about her is her legs before singing the song.
141	* LetsGetDangerous:
142	** Bret is a very shy and sensitive guy who usually feels uncomfortable around women, and if he gets laid it's mainly because it's DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale. However, ''BEWARE'' if you are his fancy and [[MakesSenseInContext he gets freak-ay]]: you may end up [[WallpaperCamouflage bodypainted to match the wall]], photographed with a goat on a boat, dressed as a squirrel in order to steal his nuts or performing foreplay with cardboard silhouettes of yourselves...
143	** [[invoked]][[DracoInLeatherPants Leather outfits]], [[RollerbladeGood roller skates]], [[EightiesHair hair gel]] or just [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench conversational French]] will make the Conchords feel more dangerous.
144	** The "gangsta raps" of the Conchords try to be this... and fail miserably.
145	--> ''Bret'' (singing):
146	----> Eminem! Is not very good...\
147	Fifty Cent! Is not very good...\
148	''But the Rhymenoceros is very very good!''
149	--->(insert your facepalm here ______)
150	** Also "Hurt Feelings," a rap about some times when their feelings were hurt: Jemaine cooked a meal for his friends and none of them said anything nice about it; Bret was told he should try on a women's size scuba-suit...
151	--->I'm not a lady--I'm a man! Bring me a small man's wetsuit, please!
152	* ListSong: "Carol Brown," being a PerspectiveFlip parody of "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover."
153	%%* LoonyFan: Mel.
154	* LousyLoversAreLosers: "Business Time," a largely spoken-word IntercourseWithYou tune about a couple making love every Wednesday. The narrator doesn't seem to understand his girlfriend is unimpressed by [[SpeedSex his poor stamina]] and even seems to think it's a ''good'' thing.
155	-->When it's with me, you only need two minutes, 'cause I'm so intense
156	* MagicFeather: Subverted.
157	-->'''Murray:''' Do you wanna know a secret? It wasn't the hair gel that made you cool. It was the confidence the gel gave you!
158	--->''[[GilliganCut [one terrible gig later]]]''
159	-->'''Murray:''' Yeah, it was the hair gel, guys. Sorry...
160	* ManlyTears: Bret and Jemaine both well up after watching their video of "Albi the Racist Dragon." They confess to it and get defensive about it.
161	* MistakenForGay: In one way or another, this happens throughout the entire series.
162	** In the Season Two episode "Love Is A Weapon Of Choice" in which Brahbrah admits she had remained oblivious to both Bret and Jemaine's advances because she thought they were a gay couple.
163	** Also "Bret, you've got it going on."
164	** "But how can that be gay, if you're pretending he's a woman?"
165	* MomentKiller: Jemaine or Bret sometimes ruin each other's dates by not realizing that the girl wants some alone time with the other one.
166	* MrFanservice: The guys have their share of admirers in the real world, especially for their song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ozSSseCh3U Sugar Lumps]].
167	* MundaneMadeAwesome: Reading the lyrics to the songs, or just hearing them described, you'd think they'd be terrible. But Bret and Jemaine put an awful lot of talent and brilliant homage into them, even their most ridiculous songs about the most trivial topics are great.
168	* MushroomSamba: "I'm the pretty Prince of Parties, you're a tasty piece of pastry!"
169	* MusicalWorldHypotheses: One of those musicals that are ''not'' Alternate Universe. Some of the songs are diegetic, such as "Robots," "If You're Into It" and "Albi the Racist Dragon"; some of the songs are All In Their Heads, like "Business Time" and "Prince of Parties," and some of the songs are musical adaptations of events that really do happen, such as "Foux da Fa Fa, "Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)," "I Told You I Was Freaky" and "Hurt Feelings." Sometimes, it's not really clear what happened. After the two spend a few minutes doing a ridiculous performance of ''Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros'' in front of two muggers, the only response they get is, "Were you guys dancing a little bit?"
170	* MyNaymeIs: "Her name is Barbara!" "No, it's Brahbrah" "There's no such name as Brahbrah!" - yeah, [[BrickJoke turns out]] her name really is Brahbrah.
171	* MythologyGag: The line in "Bret You Got It Going On" about the time on tour when Jemaine put a wig on Bret while he was asleep was a nod to an incident mentioned in the radio series.
172	* NegativeContinuity: The second season, where for instance the Conchords lose all their furniture in episode five and have it back without any explanation in episode six, Bret dates an admittedly rather loony woman at the end of episode six who vanishes without a trace in episode seven, and Bret and Jemaine fall down to "strangers" on Murray's friendship graph in episode four, with him even remarking that the next band meeting will be awkward because "you're strangers," but in episode five communications between them and Murray are back to exactly how they were before. The first season at least had a couple of developing subplots and included {{Snap Back}}s to restore the status quo before the end of each episode.
173	* NoodleIncident: "Albi" is apparently "part 6" of a children's TV program. It starts "[[PersonaNonGrata And so all the people of the village chased Albi the Racist Dragon into a very cold, very scary cave]]." The song also mentions "the badly-burnt Albanian boy from the day before," whom Albi tried to kill.
174	* NotSoStoic: One episode reveals that Bret sometimes spontaneously breaks into dance when he's angry enough. Murray also thinks he's a bit of a diva [[NeverLiveItDown because he briefly quit the band.]]
175	* OhCrap: Bret when he realizes he's taken LSD in "New Fans."
176	-->'''Bret''': Oh, [[GoshDangItToHeck flip]].
177	* OverlyLongGag: Bret performing a song he wrote for Coco that goes on for ''two hours''.
178	* OverlyNarrowSuperlative:
179	** The band often introduces themselves in live performances as "formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo." (The third-most-popular is claimed to be "Like of the Conchords," a [=FotC=] tribute band.)
180	** The song "Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)" is filled with these, serenading the subject with the fact that she's the most beautiful girl in the whole wide room, and could become an airline stewardess or a part-time model.
181	* PerpetualPoverty: Many jokes are made about their permanently dire financial situation. In the episode ''The New Cup'', even Bret buying a cheap cup manages to throw their finances out of whack.
182	-->'''Jemaine:''' We're poor and we've got no gigs.\
183	'''Bret:''' We're slightly poorer.\
184	'''Murray:''' Are you really?\
185	'''Jemaine:''' Yeah, Bret's only got one shoe.
186	* PersonAsVerb: "Garfunkeling"
187	* PissTakeRap: Pretty much any time the Conchords try to rap, it turns into this. Notably, "Hiphopapotamus vs. Rhymenocerous."
188	--> "There ain't no party like my nana's tea party\
189	Hey! ho!"
190	** In "The Tough Brets" they try to trash-talk other rappers but the only thing they can say is that they're "not very good."
191	* PoorMansSubstitute: In-Universe. At one point, Bret and Jemaine got a gig as replacement Music/SimonAndGarfunkel lookalikes. They look nothing like Simon and Garfunkel, but Murray claims they're practically identical to the Simon and Garfunkel lookalikes they were sitting in for.
192	* PrecisionFStrike:
193	** "Go fuck yourself, Bret." From Murray, whose usual version of this is "Stuff you" or "Stuff you twice" if he's particularly mad. It makes you go "Whoa, he's serious."
194	** "It's not a ''fucking'' school play production. It's the bird."
195	-->-- '''Dave''', Episode 7, "Drive By"
196	* RealDreamsAreWeirder: Mel singing "Why can't the world be more like in my dreams" leads to a DisneyAcidSequence including Singing SynchroVox cookies, human airplane propellers, Bret and Jemaine as adult infants, and teeth falling out.
197	* RefugeInAudacity: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8jaGs7xJ0 "If You're Into It"]]
198	* RhymingWithItself: "Hurt Feelings," especially.
199	--> I call my friends, say let's go into town,\
200	But they're all too busy, to go into town,\
201	So I go by myself, I go into town,\
202	Then I see all my friends, they're all in town.
203	* RobotWar: The setting of the song "[[KillAllHumans Robots]]." It [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters didn't end well]] for humanity.
204	* SandInMyEyes: The entirety of the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64a_1fWTsls "I'm Not Crying"]]:
205	--> There's just a little bit of dust in my eye\
206	Dust from the path that you made when you said your goodbye\
207	I'm not weeping 'cause you won't be here to hold my hand\
208	For your information there's an inflammation in my tear gland
209	* SeductionLyric: "The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room)" is a hilariously inept seduction song, designed as a {{parody}} of Music/{{Prince}}. As the title suggests, the singer really hasn't got the hang of flattering a girl.
210	-->''Why don't we leave?''\
211	''Let's go to my house and we can feel each other up on the couch...''
212	* SelfDeprecation:
213	** The entire plot is driven by how the main characters are unpopular, uncool, unlucky, unattractive to women, broke, meek, and failing to get anyone interested in their music; they're also from a country no one has ever heard of or cares about, and are frequently mistaken for Australians, whom they loathe.
214	** The series pokes fun of New Zealand, presenting it as a backwater filled with simpletons that is desperately clinging to its one claim to fame: being scenery in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''.
215	* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: While neither is exactly manly, Bret is more in touch with his emotions while Jemaine is more assertive. Played with to a degree, as Jemaine tends to have a bad case of CantTakeCriticism while Bret is fairly stoic.
216	** Murray is the Sensitive Guy to both their Manly Men, while Dave is the Manly Man to their Sensitive Guys.
217	* ShoutOut:
218	** The episode where Jemaine becomes a prostitute includes several references to ''Film/MidnightCowboy''.
219	** In the season one finale, Bret (and later Jemaine) dance out their angst a la Ren in ''Film/{{Footloose}}''.
220	* SitcomArchNemesis: Australians in general. In one episode, the guys become nemeses of a racist greengrocer, but it's discovered that he thought they were Australian. They unite against their common enemy.
221	* SlidingScaleOfContinuity: The second season had several episodes end with the guys having, say, lost all their furniture, or fallen below zero on Murray's friendship graph, with the next merrily restoring the status quo without so much as a mention. The first season, however, is level 2-3, making it an example of {{inverted\|Trope}} ContinuityCreep.
222	* SmallNameBigEgo:
223	** Dave thinks that he's a cool ladies man, but really he's a pawn shop owner who lives with his parents.
224	** Murray also delusionally believes himself to be a competent manager, when in reality he has absolutely no knowledge of what a band manager is even supposed to do.
225	* SmallReferencePools: The show frequently references ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' due to the fact that just about the only thing most Americans know about New Zealand is that the movie adaptations were filmed there. One of the promotional posters in Murray's office is a shot of a grassy rock formation with the words "New Zealand ... Like Lord of the Rings."
226	* SnapBack: The first ten minutes of the second season reverse all of the big changes that happened in the first season finale.
227	* SoundToScreenAdaptation: Originally a Creator/{{BBC}} radio series set in London and narrated by Rob Brydon. The {{Creator/HBO}} TV series reuses a lot of the same plots and songs, [[CulturalTranslation adapted (where necessary)]] to fit into [[TransatlanticEquivalent a NYC setting]]. Rhys Darby's character is exactly the same, but changes name from Brian to Murray.
228	* SpinningPaper: Used in the [[ShowWithinAShow musical-within-a-show]] that Bret and Jemaine perform in the last episode. To get this effect in real time, they just have Dave walk slowly to the front of the stage while spinning a newspaper around.
229	* SpoofAesop: Happens very often. A serious issue regularly gets gender- or race-flipped for laughs.
230	** The main plot of the episode "Drive By" gears up towards a "xenophobia/racism is bad" aesop, with Bret and Jemaine being picked on because they are from New Zealand, to the point of having to sit in the back of the bus. In the end though, the aesop turns out to be [[spoiler:xenophobia is bad, unless it's against people from Australia]].
231	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-jVAHAuiS4 "Albi the Racist Dragon"]]. The Aesop delivered ("racism is bad") is a perfectly good one, they just deliberately delivered it in the most ridiculous way possible.
232	** The protest song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmLHOGT0v4c&feature=related "Think About It"]]. Again, the Aesops themselves are perfectly reasonable ("sweatshops are bad ...") but the song misses the point completely (" because they don't actually make their products cheaper").
233	* StalkerWithACrush: Mel stalks the pair and hits on them shamelessly in front of her husband in spite of the band's obvious disinterest. In a later episode, it's revealed that this was her original relationship with Doug before they got married.
234	* StalkingIsFunnyIfItIsFemaleAfterMale: Mel's whole character is built on this.
235	* StarvingArtist: The Conchords themselves.
236	* TheStateroomSketch: Jemaine moves into a new apartment, which is really just an empty cleaning supply closet. The first thing he does is invite over everyone he knows for a housewarming party, which naturally spills out into the hallway.
237	* StatusQuoIsGod: Played straight and.... not. While the basic premise is always restored by the episode's end, some subplots (such as Bret and Coco's relationship) develop from episode to episode. [[spoiler:The season 1 finale leaves some minor loose ends, most notably the fact that Mel, their one fan, has moved on and become obsessed with another band. This leads to a very quick SnapBack in season 2.]]
238	* TheStinger: In the "Bowie" episode, the second half of the credits run alongside Bret and Jemaine performing an arrangement of the song based on Bowie's ''Let's Dance'' period, complete with matching pastel suits and funky dance moves.
239	* TheStoic: It takes a ''lot'' to rile Bret and Jemaine. And even then, they barely raise their voices when they're upset.
240	* StylisticSuck: If you can't understand how Bret and Jemaine are [[CelebrityParadox so unknown]] in-universe, just listen to the songs they actually ''perform''.
241	* SublimeRhyme: "Carol Brown" is full of rhymes.
242	--> Jan met another man\
243	Liza got amnesia, just forgot who I am\
244	Felicity said there was no electricity\
245	Emily, no chemistry\
246	Fran ran, Bruce turned out to be a man\
247	Flo had to go, I couldn't go with the flow\
248	Carol Brown just took the bus out of town
249	* SubvertedKidsShow: "Albi the Racist Dragon" is supposed to be the sixth episode of a children's TV show which takes place in a literal SugarBowl world, while also featuring a racist protagonist who badly disfigured an innocent Albanian boy in a failed attempt to kill him.
250	* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: From "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros"
251	--> They call me the Hiphopopotamus
252	--> Flows that glow like phosphorous
253	--> Poppin' off the top of this esophagus
254	--> Rockin' this metropolis
255	--> I'm not a large water-dwelling mammal, where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?
256	--> Did Steve tell you that, perchance?
257	--> Hmph, Steve...
258	* TakeThat: Parodied with Bret's attempt at a [[TheDissTrack diss track]]:
259	--> Eminem is not very good
260	--> Jay-Z is not very good
261	--> Snoop Doggy Dogg is not very good
262	--> Dr. Dre is not very good
263	** The band Crazy Doggz can be seen as a shot at one-hit wonders and performers who care more about their 15 minutes of fame than producing anything of substance.
264	* TechnologyMarchesOn: [[invoked]] New Zealand is shown to be completely behind the times, including their technology. Bret gets VHS cassette tapes of TV shows sent to him by his family. Brian the Prime Minister buys a VHS version of ''Film/TheMatrix''. According to a commercial on Bret's tape, New Zealand is still in the process of adopting the telephone.
265	* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: Used off and on in the TV show. Some episodes were written specifically to avert the trope, like making epileptic dogs a major plot point just so that the song about them would fit. Other times they don't even try, like the "Mermaid" song. Other times, the songs coming from nowhere and not making any sense actually works, like "Prince of Parties" (played when Bret takes drugs for the first time) and "Petrov, Yelyena, and Me" (played when Bret has a bad dream).
266	* TimeyWimeyBall: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR2L98gobTQ This]] introduction to "Bowie," they claimed to have gone back in time and taught Music/DavidBowie his ''own songs'', using an ''Easy-to-Play Bowie songbook''.
267	* TrainingMontage: In "Drive By," when Dave attempts to train Bret and Jemaine in the art of extremely rude gestures. It takes a while.
268	* UncomfortableElevatorMoment: One episode features the duo getting a gig playing in an ''office elevator'', and it's just as cramped as awkward as you'd think. Amusingly, they actually get a couple to slow-dance in the elevator in a later scene.
269	* UnsettlingGenderReveal: In the second season song "Carol Brown," there's "[[TheUntwist Bruce]] turned out to be a man."
270	* UnusualEuphemism:
271	** It's "Business Time."
272	** BOOM BOOM BOOM
273	** "Sugarlumps."
274	** Not to mention "mutha'uckas" and "mother-flipping."
275	* WallpaperCamouflage: Suggested as a potential kink in the song "I Told You I Was Freaky."
276	* WhatTheHellHero: Bret runs away, leaving Jemaine behind with the muggers. Everyone calls him out on this, even one of the muggers.
277	* WholeCostumeReference: In the "Fashion is Danger" music video, Bret and Jemaine are dressed as [[Series/BabylonFive EarthForce]] and [[Series/{{Crusade}} Excalibur]] officers. It's unknown if this is a case of PropRecycling.
278	* WimpFight: In "Love is a Weapon of Choice," the end of the titular song has Bret and Jemaine flailing at each other. The actual "duel" is a clumsy and childish brawl with Bret and Jemaine trying to hit each other with toilet rolls.
279	* WrongGenreSavvy: "I saw it in a sitcom." (Where it didn't work.)
280	* YaoiFangirl: Mel is happy to discuss her fantasies of Bret and Jemaine together and makes a collage showing them as a couple with a child.
281	* YokoOhNo: In-universe. Parodied and lampshaded when Bret dates Coco.
282	--> '''Jemaine''' (coughs): Yoko
283	--> '''Bret''': What did you say?
284	--> '''Jemaine''': Oh, nothing, just a bit of a cough.
285	--> '''Bret''': Hm, okay.
286	--> '''Jemaine''': No, it wasn't a real cough, I said "Yoko."
287	--> '''Bret''': Why did you say that? She's nothing like Yoko.
288	--> '''Jemaine''': Ohno, she isn't.
289	* {{Zeerust}}: "The Humans Are Dead" takes place in the distant future of 2000. They wrote the song in the 90s, but kept the line intact in the 21st century because it provided an easy parody of IWantMyJetpack.
290
291	----
292	''Who wanna rock the party?! Who wanna rock the party?!''
293

Context Music / FlightOfTheConchords