Bret McKenzie

Bret McKenzie is a Grammy and Academy Award-winning artist, most well-known for his band Flight of the Conchords and their eponymous television show. McKenzie is internationally renowned for singing and writing funny, strange, and unique songs primarily for film and television. Bret’s songs have been sung by Kermit the Frog, Celine Dion, Lizzo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brittany Howard, Homer and Lisa Simpson, Fred Armisen, Miss Piggy, Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Ricky Gervais, Benee, Isabela Merced, Spongebob Squarepants, Tony Bennett, Mickey Rooney, and more.

McKenzie was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in a home that loved the arts. His mother ran a modern dance company by day and taught ballet at night, and his absent father was an actor/singer/lawyer/race horse trainer. Bret grew up with his Mum and spent most of his time in a dance studio and backstage in theatres around Wellington.

As a young adult, Bret was an active part of the Wellington music scene, playing in multiple bands across multiple genres. He was a founding member of the popular band The Black Seeds, a reggae funk phenomenon that went on to make multiple gold albums and tour extensively around the world. He also started the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, a surprisingly popular ten-piece ukulele group, played in Dub Connection, an experimental electronica ensemble, made an indie pop electro record under the alias Video Kid, and performed in various jazz groups from The Shrinks, a band made up of people playing miniature instruments, to corporate function quartet The Canapés. At the same time, Bret was heavily involved in the local theatre scene, performing regularly in countless devised comedy theatre productions, where he developed a friendship with a large community of theatre artists, including long-time collaborators Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.

In 2000, he was cast as an extra in the first Lord of the Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, and was unexpectedly catapulted to fame as a background elf that garnered an abnormal amount of attention from the Tolkien fans. He was coined Figwit – an acronym for ‘Frodo is great, who is that?’ Around the same time, The Flight of the Conchords emerged from this prolific Wellington artistic community, and Bret spent several years touring comedy festivals in Australia, Canada, and the UK with his bandmate Jemaine. They made a radio show for the BBC, followed by a TV show for HBO that became a cult classic and propelled the pair to international fame. They released one EP and three albums with Sub Pop Records, winning the Grammy Award for “Best Comedy Album” in 2008.

Bret’s work with Flight of the Conchords established him in the entertainment worlds of both comedy and music and opened the doors to working in the American film industry. He has consistently worked on film and television projects since. In 2012 he won the Academy Award for “Best Original Song” for his ballad “Man or Muppet” from the Disney film The Muppets.

During this time, Bret and his wife Hannah Clarke had three children, and Bret started to focus on projects that would allow him to be at home in New Zealand with his family. In 2022, Bret released a solo album called Songs Without Jokes that saw him explore songwriting without punch lines.FarOut Magazine described the songs as “like musical versions of a Kurt Vonnegut novel”.

This year, he is releasing his second solo record, Freak Out City, made up of songs developed while on the road with his eight-piece band. Freak Out City was recorded in both Los Angeles and New Zealand, and co-produced by Bret and his long-time collaborator Mickey Petralia. It was mixed by Michael Harris in Los Angeles at East West Studios. The musicians on the record are a mix of Los Angeles players Leland Sklar, Dean Parks, Drew Erickson, Chris Caswell, Joey Waronker, and New Zealand musicians Ben Lemi, Leo Coghini, Jacqui Nyman, Moana Leota, Iris Little, and Justin Clarke.

McKenzie’s album Freak Out City comes out on August 15th, 2025, worldwide on Sub Pop Records.