Jemaine Clement interview

April 3, 2021 6:19 PM

Jemaine Clement turned up on his bicycle for his interview with Moana Maniapoto, for this week’s Te Ao with Moana (19'11). And no one at Toi Whakaari, the New Zealand Drama School in Wellington, where the interview took place, seemed to recognise him. Or maybe they just didn’t want to make a fuss, this being New Zealand and all. Extended transcript.
posted by Start with Dessert (13 comments total)

I loved him in Flight of the Conchords. I've loved him even more what he's done since. He's a delight in everything he shows up in and I love how much he wants to make his Māori heritage present in what he does.

(I really sort of hated Eagle vs. Shark, but I've loved everything else I've seen by Taika Waititi & mostly everything else I've seen Clement in so we all grow as people.)
posted by edencosmic at 7:48 PM on April 3, 2021

I was today years old when I found out that he was going to be in the Avatar sequels.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:08 PM on April 3, 2021 [4 favorites]

If his entire contribution to the world was What We Do In The Shadows it's already more than enough, and he's done so much more than that.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:37 AM on April 4, 2021 [12 favorites]

Thanks, it was real nice.
posted by nicolin at 1:11 AM on April 4, 2021

Here he is in a rap battle with Jason Mantzoukas. Who is, for the purposes of said rap battle, a wolf.
posted by Grangousier at 1:17 AM on April 4, 2021 [7 favorites]

I'm looking forward to seeing the What We Do in the Shadows spin-off, Wellington Paranormal; it looks like it's coming to HBO Max and The CW this summer.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:11 AM on April 4, 2021 [3 favorites]

Spoilers: the interview has a rather emotional bit at the start.
posted by WhackyparseThis at 5:01 AM on April 4, 2021 [3 favorites]

Of course Moana has her own stuff you should check out
posted by mbo at 2:57 PM on April 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

Dance Fight!
posted by kokaku at 4:35 PM on April 4, 2021

But maybe the American studio system didn’t really sit with our collaborative style, that kind of marae-based style of us all pitching in together? So I’m taking a break from that show and the third season. I’m not writing for that one. I’m working on a new show.

Oh dang. That makes me very sad. I'm sure whatever he does will be amazing but I'm concerned WWDITS will lose a bit of its magic if he isn't involved.
posted by rednikki at 8:05 PM on April 4, 2021

I had no idea that he was Maori. There is something about the native pacific cultures that feels really familiar to me.
posted by ShakeyJake at 1:04 PM on April 5, 2021

"But, personally, I don’t like people to get uncomfortable when they’re listening to something I’ve made."

That's a really interesting comment, because I felt like Eagle vs. Shark and a lot of of Flight Of The Conchords was Dare-You-Not-To-Squirm Comedy. The best comparison is Napoleon Dynamite, but that had a bit of a wink to let you in on the joke, y'know? Jemaine is playing "unbearable dorkwad" absolutely straight. At the time, it felt like once you got it, you were being let in on a new kind of humor.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 10:22 PM on April 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm looking forward to seeing the What We Do in the Shadows spin-off, Wellington Paranormal; it looks like it's coming to HBO Max and The CW this summer.

It's good, although some of the humour is hyper-specific to Wellington (like for example a portal to hell opening in the Bucket Fountain, which to locals is an icon (I have a tshirt with it on) and to everyone else is an object of derision).
posted by Pink Frost at 3:45 PM on April 6, 2021