Jemaine Clement | |
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Clement performing at in Stockholm, Sweden in May 2010
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Background information | |
Also known as | Hiphopopotamus |
Born |
Masterton, Wellington, New Zealand |
10 January 1974
Genres | Comedy, folk, acoustic |
Occupation(s) | Comedian, musician, actor, director |
Instruments | Bass guitar, guitar, percussion, keyboards, ukulele, omnichord, drums, xylophone, accordion, vocals |
Years active | 1994–present |
Labels | Sub Pop |
Associated acts | Bret McKenzie, The Humourbeasts, Flight of the Conchords, So You're a Man |
Comedy career | |
Medium | Stand-up, film, television, theatre, books |
Genres | Observational comedy, satire, black comedy, self-deprecation, cringe comedy, deadpan |
Subject(s) | Jewish culture, race relations, human sexuality |
Jemaine Clement (born 10 January 1974) is a New Zealand comedian, actor, voice actor, singer, writer, director, and multi-instrumentalist, known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Bret McKenzie.
Jemaine Clement was born on 10 January 1974 in Masterton, New Zealand, and was raised by his Māori mother, in the Wairarapa region. He attended Makoura College in Masterton. After graduation, he moved to New Zealand's capital Wellington, where he studied drama and film at Victoria University of Wellington. There he met Taika Waititi (a.k.a. Taika Cohen) with whom he went on to form So You're a Man and The Humourbeasts. In 2004, the Humourbeasts toured New Zealand in a stage show titled The Untold Tales of Maui, a rework of the traditional Maori legends of Māui. The duo received New Zealand's highest comedy honour, the Billy T Award.
Clement and Bret McKenzie formed Flight of the Conchords while at Victoria University. They have toured internationally and released four CDs: Folk the World Tour in 2002, The Distant Future EP in 2007 (winner of 2008 Grammy for Best Comedy Album), Flight of the Conchords in 2008 and I Told You I Was Freaky in 2009. In 2005 the Conchords produced Flight of the Conchords, a six-part comedy radio programme on BBC Radio 2. They appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show. After appearing in 2005 on HBO's One Night Stand, the Conchords were offered their own 12-part HBO series Flight of the Conchords, which was based on their earlier BBC radio series of the same name. Its first season ran from June to September 2007, and was renewed for a second season, which aired on HBO in the US from January to March 2009. In December 2009, the Conchords announced the show would not have a third season.