In 2005, he helped form the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra which was active into the 2010s. In the mid-2000s, he released music under the name The Video Kid, including his album Prototype. The Black Seeds had some minor radio hits during his tenure, and continue to be regionally successful. In the late 1990s, McKenzie joined the reggae fusion group The Black Seeds he put out four albums with band before leaving around 2007. McKenzie has contributed to a number of projects outside of Flight of the Conchords. Guest starring roles include him and fellow Conchord Clement as a pair of camp counselors in " Elementary School Musical", the season premiere of the 22nd season of The Simpsons, which aired on 26 September 2010, and other comedies. He had a supporting role in the 2013 film Austenland. McKenzie, together with Australian comedian Hamish Blake starred in a New Zealand feature film, Two Little Boys, finished in late 2011 and released in New Zealand in March 2012. In April 2011, McKenzie was cast as the elf Lindir for The Hobbit. His father Peter McKenzie played the role of Elendil in Lord of the Rings. His silent role in the first film as Figwit achieved some minor internet fame, which led to Jackson giving him a line in the third film. Outside the Flight of the Conchords television adaption, he is most notable for his appearances in the first and third films in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
McKenzie has acted periodically since making his professional acting debut in 2000, a small role in the UK series Dark Knight which was filmed in Wellington. More recently, the duo toured in 2012, 2016, and 2018. Along with Clement, McKenzie was featured as 2007 Salon "Sexiest Man Living" and 2008's "100 Sexiest People" in a special edition of the Australian magazine Who. Its first season ran from June to September 2007, and its second season premiered on HBO 18 January 2009. The Conchords produced a six-part improvisational comedy radio program for the BBC and have appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.Īfter a successful appearance in 2005 on HBOs One Night Stand, the Conchords were offered their own 12-part HBO series Flight of the Conchords. Īs Flight of the Conchords they have toured internationally and released four CDs: Folk the World Tour in 2002, The Distant Future (which won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album) in 2007, the Grammy nominated Flight of the Conchords in 2008, and I Told You I Was Freaky in 2009. They didn't complete their degrees but ended up living together and first were members of So You're a Man, and then later forming Flight of the Conchords. While studying at Victoria University of Wellington, McKenzie met Jemaine Clement, a fellow student who was also studying film and theatre. He later appears in The Hobbit as Lindir, a minor character who originally appears in the book of The Fellowship of the Ring. He served as music supervisor for two Muppet films, The Muppets(2011) and Muppets Most Wanted(2014), the former of which won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song " Man or Muppet".Īs an actor, he portrayed elves in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies: in the first he remained unnamed with fans naming him Figwit, a character originally cast as an extra who gained attention thanks to the trilogy's fan community. Primarily a musician, McKenzie has worked as a songwriter and music supervisor for film and television since the 2010s. Active since 1998, the duo released their most recent comedy special, Live in London, in 2019. In the 2000s, the duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an oft-lauded American television series, which aired for two seasons on HBO. He is best known as one half of musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie ONZM (born 29 June 1976) is a New Zealand comedian, actor, musician and producer.