Bret McKenzie: Flight of the Conchords, Lord Of The Rings Cameos & Oscar Win

19:27I would, I would. It's a massive one. Midnight snack, pop down the fridge, be like, what shall I eat? Which one would you do?

19:36Romesh Ranganathan:Well, I mean... You can go UK or New Zealand. Sorry, this is not OnlyFans. Are you demanding I now do it on the thing? Do I get a spoon? Oh, my God. If you give me a teaspoon as well, I'm going to try the New Zealand one. UK versus New Zealand. Okay, but it doesn't really... This is... What's the chicken wings show? Okay. Oh, hot ones. Hot ones, okay. Hold on. How long has this jar been here? I was expecting to open a new jar. Yeah, that's from my cupboard. It's almost empty. We didn't have time for this. Yeah, it looks flesh, but there's a budget out there. They spend a lot of money on the backdrop.

20:18Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. We want to do something with Brett, but we can only use stuff we happen to have around. What's the budget? What do you got in the cupboard? Oh, this will be great. This is actually really good. Well, I've got some pineapple lumps and a couple of times a moment. There we go. I smell feature. Okay. Okay. You both do New Zealand. That's fine. If it's not enough. How big a spoon? No, it's enough. What? I don't know about this. Oh, that's a bold move. That's loaded. I think that's... Do you think that's a mistake? I don't know. How often do you eat this stuff? Oh, my God. Wow. That's about as much as I would eat a year.

20:59I don't know what this is going to do to me. I'm bit more like... That's a lot of iron. That's a lot of folate.

21:08Romesh Ranganathan:How much folate are you supposed to have? I don't want to do all my folate in one day. I don't want to OD on folate. Wow. It's terrible. I love it. That is fucking delicious, man. I'm sorry. What a delight. That is good. it's like you're getting a massive hit of that delicious taste you get on toast I'm starting to come up a little bit fucking love you man it's very subtle thanks for doing the podcast that is so awesome to be here oh man such a cool guy I love your jacket this is a cool microphone man

21:56Romesh Ranganathan:it's really soft yum So obviously you sort of acquired legendary status from being part of the Flight of the Concords. Do you still do Concord-y stuff now? Do you still that way inclined? We haven't done it in a while. We haven't done it gig in a while. We've been jamming. We tried to do like a weekly band practice. Yeah. We don't really have. We're not very good at coordinating ourselves. but we've been writing having jam writing trying to write some new songs quite hard to write new songs when you've written a lot of comedy songs because sometimes we start a new song and then we're like oh this is pretty much the same as that other one just with different character names or different slightly like the same joke yeah okay don't do that one and so we found a couple of Jermaine's got a couple of jam ideas recently that we've been playing around with and And I think we haven't planned, we haven't booked anything in, but I think we'll do some, I think the idea of some live shows would be great.

23:02I'm not sure. People ask about doing more TV and stuff. I don't think it's going to happen. It's such hard work. And also we're weirdly, maybe I'm too self-conscious, but I feel like it's a weird age to be the two dudes trying to be a band. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we're kind of like not old enough. I think when we're a bit older, I'm getting quite grey. Then once we're fully grey, it'll be real fun to have a couple of dudes singing about too many dicks on the dance floor again. But at this point, it's just a bit creepy.

23:32Romesh Ranganathan:Do you still – I bet that's me. No, but I think creepiness is like – It's in. What? I just don't think – It's very cool. I just don't think you see enough of it. Do you know what I mean? People sort of – There's a gap on the market. Yeah. Carl Goss back with some real creepy sort of literate stuff. Do you want to feel, who wants to laugh? Who wants to feel slightly uncomfortable? I've got great news. They're back. Weirdly inappropriate way there. Yeah, that's my feeling is like the TV is not going to happen. We did it. We tried to write a movie for a while. We had one where it was like we were the New Zealand army.

24:09Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. There was a film out there about us going into space. There was an idea that we were strippers. which again is not going to age well. Or maybe age is better. I think, yeah, maybe it's better a couple of old dudes trying to make it in the male stripping industry. I think that would be good. Yeah. But live is super fun. So we did some shows. I mean, I don't know how seven years went, but I think COVID zapped out a few of those years. So it wasn't like we weren't trying to do shows. We just sort of did a big tour and then we took a break and then COVID. And then we tend to – we both live in Wellington, but often we travel a lot for work.

24:48Jermaine does quite a lot of the acting type gigs where he's away for quite big chunks of time. Yeah. So we're not very, yes, we're a pretty slow moving operation.

24:59Romesh Ranganathan:Are you still in love with, like, you know, what's your relationship with all of the material that you've created and all this stuff? I still love a lot of the songs. There are, it's funny, sometimes when we'd write the set list, it cracks me up because there's a lot of dick jokes and sometimes we have to build the set we can't do that with the next song we just did a song like Sugar Lumps just a song about balls now we can't do a song about dicks we should probably do something else in between before we get back to the next dick song we're backstage like yeah we can't do too many dicks next to Sugar Lumps so just a bit weird to just go on and on and so many of us but Lots of some real gems in there.

25:44But then the, yeah, I still love a lot of the songs. They're super fun to play. And what's weird, I'm sure you've found this, but it's amazing that thing of, you know, we wrote a lot over 20 years ago. Yeah. Like late 90s we started, 98, 99. Then early 2000s we were doing the Edinburgh Festival. And a lot of those songs were the heart of the show and stuff. And what's weird is the thing that you find funny that first time you're writing it, The little moment where you're like, that's funny, that little joke moment, it's still the bit that makes people laugh 20 years later. Yeah. Even in a big venue or a small venue, it's so surreal.

26:24They still laugh at the thing that makes you crack up that first moment. And the bits that don't work still don't work. Sometimes we're rehearsing a song. There was a song called Stanner that took us 15 years to write. Yeah. There was a couple of bits that were great. Couldn't really ever get the whole thing to work.

26:41Romesh Ranganathan:that um yeah it's it's um i think it's tricky because i i even think i mean i'm doing i do straight stand-up but even my last tour there's loads of stuff that i wouldn't want to do you know you don't want to do now well not not because of like tasering from that but just you fall out of love with it or whatever or some you know sometimes like it's a snapshot of how you felt about stuff at that moment in time yeah and then even you know i only finished the tour last year but there's certainly things that I did that I sort of think, if somebody said to me, can you do that whole tour show again? I would do, obviously, because I'm financially motivated, but, you know, I wouldn't want to.

27:19Romesh Ranganathan:I wouldn't want to. You sort of go, I'd rather write new. Do you know what I mean? We wouldn't rather write new because it takes us too long. Because if we do one song in 15 years, we've got three songs. Yeah, but songs is different, isn't it? Well, I guess so. But the one thing with the two of us, though, is that there are songs that I like doing that Jermaine doesn't like doing the songs that Jermaine likes to. Oh, really? But we do. We're like, oh, right. Here's one. Jermaine likes this. Oh, bloody Jermaine song. Here we go. He's a little girl. Here we go. Brett wants to do this one. So we kind of like trade off.

27:46Yeah. Yeah. He really doesn't like doing hip hopopotamus versus the Rhymenoceros. He doesn't like that. Doesn't really like doing that one. Whereas I have a ball doing that one. Yeah. And then I don't really enjoy doing business now because it's mostly just trot, trot, trot, trot, trot. That was a whole lot of riffing. Yeah. And it's like, oh, God, here we go. How long is it going to go to the chorus? But it's still really fun. I mean, the main joy is the audience, like, you do get a buzz out of the audience loving it. And I've been touring the solo record and just, it's still lots of Concordes fans come.

28:28And you see how much it, like, it's so, it means so much to people. And it's kind of cool that you can, like, there's this audience that have a lot of people watched it when they were kids and now they've grown up yeah and so they watched it with their parents so often people come up and go oh man i'm a big fan could i get a photo from my mom and then or a photo from my dad you'd take a photo to send like oh my god look and and so it's quite cool uh yeah you sort of forget sometimes when you're sort of off and you're out of the world a bit like at home and stuff you know how much this stuff um resonated with people.

29:03Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. That's really special. That's pretty lucky. It is really difficult to write funny songs, though, isn't it? I mean, like comedy and music, I know it gets done a bit, but it's tricky, right? Really tricky. Were you conscious of that? Or did you just think, we think this is funny, let's do it? Because I think it's harder than people think. The discipline of the song and then having a joke running through it or whatever. Yeah. it's very hard to do that in a way that doesn't feel eggy, I guess. Do you know what I mean? It's a tricky thing to do. Yeah, I know what you mean. You're asking the right person.

29:42I've spent my whole life doing it. But, yeah, I know what you mean. And we kind of, I think we kind of, like at the beginning, I couldn't be less of a fan of comedy music. So we were in comedy clubs a lot when we were starting off and people would get up and do a comedy song that was really barely a song. And it was like, so then we consciously tried to build the songs to have parts and shape and different layers so that they feel more like complete songs, not like a throwaway. A lot of comedy songs are really one little idea, a joke put to a couple of chords. and then that still can really work.

30:27But if you put a little more effort in, it helped that there were two of us because you could add these layers but you'd build sort of more complex songs and I think that's why some people repeat listen to the songs. Do you know what I mean?

30:44Romesh Ranganathan:So when you're touring now, are you touring the new album now? I'm touring the new album but I play a few old songs and songs from films and TV and stuff, yeah. So that's what the show looks like. So is it comedy and music? Yeah, it's still, yeah, it's like all the songs and then I chat sort of stories and then tell stories about the songs from Muppets or songs from Concords or songs from The Simpsons. Right. And, yeah, so it ends up being, yeah, I think the audience is like, what's it going to be? But it ends up being pretty much a sort of hybrid of music and comedy. but the songs aren't all comedy songs.

31:26Right. So there might be songs with a story behind them, but I kind of chat away in between so it's got a sort of life to it.

31:33Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. I'm always sorry. I'm always fascinated by because, you know, people expect something from you. It's easier to do whatever you want to do when you're unknown, right? Oh, my God, it's so hard. Yeah. People are so confused. It's like people can't cope. They're like, why is he not doing Concord songs? why is he not doing more dick jokes in his songs? And so that's really hard, actually. And I think, to be fair, if a comedian said they were going to do a serious album, I'd be like, oh, that sounds terrible. And then I'm like, oh, that's what I'm doing. But for people that know me, I was in lots of bands in New Zealand before I did Concordes, early on.

32:14So for me, I'm like, oh, I'm familiar with the music, but I'm just super well-known for doing Concords. Yeah I did this one That was one thing that got me It kind of encouraged me to do like something Like to try doing music that's not just comedy I did this show with Like I did a concert in New Zealand with The Muppets, Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock And we got all the puppets to come down to New Zealand And we had an orchestra And I did this concert where it was like Me and Kermit sang Rambo Connection And then Big Bird came out on stage and we did this amazing show with all the characters. And the audience was, you know, it's all quite a broad sort of mix of adults and kids.

32:58But these grown men are just weeping at like these, like Rainbow Connection. Yeah. Just weeping. And I was like, wow, it's so amazing to kind of, you know, as a comedian you do, you're like so familiar with making people, you're like, you get quite comfortable and quite confident and you can make people laugh. And it just amazed me to see connecting the audience on a different level, connecting with them emotionally. I was like, wow. And maybe that's something that sort of has become interesting because it's something different. I once worked with a guy who's a choreographer, and I was like, oh, this show's amazing.

33:34I was like, oh, this bit makes you just want to cry. He's like, oh, yeah, I can make an audience cry like that. What? He was like that about it? Yeah. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, I make people cry all the time. He wasn't fussed about that. That was normal for him, doing these deep... Sorry, I didn't know that existed. Yeah, he does these dance shows that he said the audience saw. He makes people cry a lot. And that's not exciting for him. He was more excited about people laughing. So anyway, maybe it's just something about trying something. Like if you try to make... I was like, wow, it's interesting to try and...

34:04I was kind of curious with connecting with honesty and emotion. Yeah. And that became like, oh, that's kind of different for me. So sometimes in the songs that I'm working on, The newer songs are like, oh, that's kind of interesting trying to do that. But then I think like because laughing is, I think, you know,

34:21Romesh Ranganathan:I do think comedy is like of all entertainment the most narcissistic because you're trying to get them to laugh and, you know, they're signaling to you that this is going well. It's like a constant pat on the head, right? Yeah. And then you can get to a point where you can make people laugh and you know they're going to laugh and you sort of know the mechanics of it. Yeah. But then when, you know, when I started doing stand-up in Edinburgh, they're all about giving somebody an emotional sort of, you know, a story. Yeah. Yeah. And that was Daniel Kitson was one of the first ones who started doing that.

34:51Yeah. When I was there. Yeah.

34:53Romesh Ranganathan:But then, but then you saying that the idea that somebody could do that in a, not a manual, but they can do it by that's that to me, I can't quite believe it. It freaked me out. I was like, Whoa, that's crazy. And then watching the, watching the way there's these Muppets songs. I think Jim Henson was really good at that. that he would get songs that connected just straight up emotionally. Yeah. And then anyway, that sort of stuff, I think that's what kind of caught me on to like, oh, maybe this is exploring a different side to songwriting. Yeah. Yeah. And so now you sort of feel like you've nailed it in terms of the balance.

35:28No, no. I feel like I'm still kind of learning that part of it. Right. But it's really interesting. But the songs that I get asked for film, they are still mostly kind of ridiculous. scenarios you know kind of strange like this is i have to write a song about i was writing a song about a pony that becomes a unicorn type thing or that's the i get the work calls that's my kind of work call so they call like we've got a we've got i did one for the minecraft they're like we've got a fight scene we need a song that's um one two one hundred and twenty three bpm uh has it was so specific yeah normally it's not that specific it's like a moment in a story they're like we've already edited it.

36:10We need a new song. And we don't want to have to re-edit it. So can you make the same tempo so it just cuts to the right beat? I was like, okay. So then it's going, doom, doom, doom, doom. And then they're like, we also like the, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. I was like, okay. They're like, can you make it about a hero? They're like, yeah, okay. And we want a female vocal. I was like, okay, cool. And then can you not have too many ch-ch-ch type sounds? Because we've got a lot of swords and we don't want to be able to hear the sword. This is real. This is real. And then they're like, can you do it by Monday?

36:38because we're kind of on a massive deadline. I was like, yeah, okay, guys. So then I was like, hang up the phone. They were like, okay.

36:46And then this is like riff the song about being a hero. And we got this New Zealand pop singer, Benny, who's really good to sing it. And it ends up in this thing called, it's called Zero to Hero, and it ends up in the fight scene. They're like, great. But that's a really, that's the most specific version of a request.

37:05Romesh Ranganathan:When you're getting the phone call, this is my sign for you on the phone, and they're going, it's got to be 123 BPM, not too many. You're being calm on the phone, but inside you're going, this is impossible, I can't do it. I quite like that. This is so crazy. I was like, okay, this sounds quite fun. Because it's almost like you're trying to solve a little puzzle. Because that film is, I mean, first of all, what was it like to be contributing to that? That film's like a phenomenon, right? Yeah, well, weirdly at the time, it was a lot of, I think a lot of things that end up being quite successful, they're not anticipating how good it's going to be.

37:43Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, they thought it was good and everything, but it was quite chaotic. They were just like, I mean, can you do a song about money because we've got this film? Yeah, it's a, well, how much do you need? Can we do it for, we've got a bit of money, but ideally just a. And you're like, what the hell? This is like the biggest movie of the year. Yeah, yeah. Surely they could have. And we were like, I don't know, just felt like we were scrambling to kind of get that thing together at the last minute. Yeah, yeah. Because we recorded the song a week. I don't know if you've worked on film much, but usually we recorded the song like the week before they mixed the movie.

38:16So there was no room. Like often you record and it doesn't work. Yeah, yeah. Because you're like, oh, that just didn't work. Sorry, we have to try again. There was no time for it to not work. Because they're mixing the levels of the swords and then sending it off. So it was so loose for such a big movie. It was hilariously loose. But that's quite cool, isn't it, in a way? No? It was really good because also it's kind of a win because they can't, you know, you don't want people meddling with it too much. Yeah. Do you see what I mean? Yeah. Anyway, it was super fun. And the other thing I got to do on that was I got to be a sort of sidekick for Jennifer Coolidge.

38:52Yeah. Like I did some, I'm like the digital double for her. like she's acting with this. I mean, I'm in the movie, but I'm barely in the movie because my face has been replaced and my voice got replaced with Matt Berry's voice. I think I got tricked. I got tricked. Basically, Jared, who made the movie, he wanted someone to act with Coolidge because I know Jennifer Coolidge from working with her in the past. He wanted someone to come and sit with her so that she would have fun on scene. So I was basically there being like I'm on a date with Coolidge and just riffing with her. I'm cracking gags.

39:25so she can be alive. That's cool. Yeah, it was a really good job. Yeah.

39:29Romesh Ranganathan:I was a voice in Despicable Me 4. Ooh, I love those movies. Yeah, they're great, aren't they? Yeah, yeah. I recorded my audio like a few years ago and then the film came out. I thought the film wasn't going to come out because it had been such a long time ago and the film came out and my character was in it. I saw my character come on but he was silent in the film. You animated a character? yeah so are you trying to do an accent no no they just cut the story I mean it happens all the time so good yeah but it was like I mean I really fucking picked it up to the kids yeah do you know yeah I'm in Despicable Me 4 should we go to the cinema yeah yeah I've got respect for you for the first time dad yeah let's go which one's yours that's me yeah when do you speak no yeah that was like me I'm a I can't see my face, but that doesn't sound like you did.

40:28No, they used Matt Berry because she was trying to get him to do that better. Yeah. Yeah, and I did a song, though. I did that. The other thing that's really depressing about the animated movies is, like you said, it takes so long. I'm working on one now. I'm like, oh, this is going to be great. It's sort of perfect for my 11-year-old because it's kind of about these barbarian-type characters. Him and his friends, I was like, they're going to love this. This is going to be good. But it's going to come out in 2030. So he's going to be like, he'll be 16 when it comes out. He'll be like, I'll be like, you ready to watch the movie?

41:02Romesh Ranganathan:He'll be like, can you not sit with me?

41:07Romesh Ranganathan:How excited do your kids get about your stuff now? They're pretty good. The other day was the first time. How old are your kids? 16, 14 and 11. Oh, my God. Exactly the same age. Really? Yeah, exactly the same. So last year, no, this year's the first time I've had the feedback from my kids of like, that's not cool, Dad. Yeah. That's not cool. I was like. What, something you'd done or something you said? No, something I got offered to do. Right. And I was like, look at this, I could do this thing. And I read them the script and it had these words like, had the word, the riz. Right. And my son just looks like, he looks so horrified.

41:47He's very chatty. so when he can't talk, when he stops talking, you know he's in complete shock. So you know it's bad. And he goes, I go, yeah, look, I've got to say the rules. He's like, oh, Dad, no, no, no, no. You should never say those words. You should never say that. And I was like, there might be a billboard outside your school with me on it. He's like, oh, mate, oh, no, no, you can't do this. You can't. This would be so bad for me.

42:12Romesh Ranganathan:Oh, it's really funny. Yeah, I tried to do that thing of like taking some of the, you know, some of the slang that they use and throw in it into, like I tried to internalise it and use it in normal conversations. Not even like, you know how sometimes an adult will go, I showed a bit of riz there. You know, I'd like to say it casually as if that was part of my vernacular. Yeah. And my son called me out on it straight away. Yeah. I said it and he goes, oh my God. It's like, oh God, I'm dying to cringe. That's what I was telling you. I said, is that the right way to use it? He goes, yeah, but not by you.

42:43Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. So I didn't use it wrong. And he's like, no. And I said, what's the problem? He goes, you just can't use it. He's like, don't ever say those words. Don't ever talk about that. You can't come out your mouth. Horrible. Horrible. This episode is brought to you by Apple Watch. Hands up if you think you're getting enough sleep. I can't see you, but I bet you haven't got your hand up, have you? And even if you have, why are you doing that? I can't see you. The worst thing is it can actually impact your health. And the thing is, not getting enough sleep genuinely affects your health. When you're tired, it's harder to focus.

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44:27Romesh Ranganathan:Right, we're going to play a game called Misquoted. Okay. This is where I'm going to give you some quotes that you may or may not have said. Okay, cool. And you've just got to tell me if you think that you've said this or not.

44:44Romesh Ranganathan:It's misquoted. Okay, so this is the first one. It's quite hard to grow up in New Zealand to be cynical. It's just too beautiful. Ooh. Did I say that? Yeah. Too beautiful? I don't know if I said beautiful. Do you think you said it? Yeah, I think I'm... I feel like the beautiful bit doesn't seem quite right. What's wrong with the beautiful bit? Well, it doesn't seem to relate to being cynical. But that might be why I said it. Yeah, it is. It's like it wasn't thought through. Yeah, you might have said it. I was on a roll. I was ripping and I landed at the wrong place. Yeah. You said it to The Guardian in 2018.

45:23Romesh Ranganathan:I did. There we go. Okay, yeah, it sounds like me. Bad quote.

45:30Romesh Ranganathan:So well done. Okay, one. People think Los Angeles is just glamour parties and celebrities. It's not like that. You maybe see one celebrity occasionally. it's mostly very lonely and a lot of driving that sounds true and post apocalyptic yeah you did say that independent 2019 do you like LA? I do like it I've lived there for almost 10 years so I do know it really well it is I was thinking that like London is kind of not your garage I guess London's a lot like a garage isn't it not very good lighting and leaky. This guy leaks a lot. But LA, there's a real robot thing happening there. Right. I don't know if you've been there.

46:17There are these little robots that take sandwiches around. Yeah. Have you seen those? Yeah, I've seen those. I haven't seen them in London. They don't have the robots delivering food here. Or is it just... They have them.

46:26Romesh Ranganathan:There's a couple of places they've got them, but it's a big deal. No, it's along the streets. On the streets. Along the streets? Yeah, there's a little box. They just go around. Like your Uber Eats gets delivered in a box. I thought you meant in a restaurant. Sorry, did I just shout? Yeah, the audio level was like, that's a... He's never been so loud on the podcast. In the street? Yeah, in the street. There's a little box with wheels that rolls along delivering a sandwich. And on the front of it, they have these little eyes, these little LED eyes, so it looks kind of cute. And the other day I saw one and the wheel had...

46:55The tyre had broken. It was just sort of limping along, delivering, struggling to get the sandwich.

46:59Romesh Ranganathan:So they've been around in LA for so long they've got... There's old ones. There's old ones. And then there are cars without drivers driving around. Oh, I've been in one of the, holy shit. Yeah, see how they put eyes on it? It's actually a bit Despicable Me, right? It looks a bit like a minion. I could have played that, no dialogue. Yeah, you did play that. They just didn't use your voice.

47:23And then it's just such a wasteland on the streets there now. It's like I used to walk to the studios to work, and then the last time I was recording there, I was like, I don't think I'm going to walk anymore. because it feels, I was walking, you know when you're walking and you think, oh yeah, I could outrun that guy. Yeah. You don't want to be thinking that all the time. That shouldn't be your... Just making all the calculations. No, I could run faster than I'm going to be all right to go down this block. So it's gotten real edgy. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, I do like it. I love how it's like the studios, like the music studios and the musicians and the artists there are unreal.

48:04or like the people are so good at what they do. But everyone just, the city itself is in a bit of a kind of, just sort of falling apart, yeah.

48:13Romesh Ranganathan:But by the by, you like it. I like it and I'm there a lot. That's where I go from. I live in New Zealand, but I work in Los Angeles, so I go there a lot. How long is that? What's that? It's 12 hours. That's all right. Yeah. That's okay. That's not bad at all, actually. How lazy. Okay, next one. The only thing holding me back from being a great rapper is the New Zealand accent. I've got mad flow. I think I might have said this because my wife said to me the other day, you can't say that because there's lots of New Zealand rappers who rap on a New Zealand accent who are really proud of their rapping.

48:47She was like, it's offensive to New Zealand hip-hop. I said that, didn't I? No, I didn't say mad flow.

48:53Romesh Ranganathan:No. No, you added mad flow. You said something like that, though. You actually said, I've tried to do the odd hip-hop track, like the Real Slim Shady by Eminem. One minute you're like, I've got the flow on, then it backfires because you realise I don't know all the words. Also, hip-hop just sounds terrible in a New Zealand accent. Yeah, that's the bit my wife criticised me about. Yeah, yeah. And now look at it as blowing up. Yeah. You know? There's a lot of good New Zealand hip-hop. Loads. Loads, yeah. There's loads of great, yeah. It's so funny sometimes when you see, because obviously UK's got a big hip-hop scene, but you occasionally get Americans that just can't, they're just not having the accent.

49:26Romesh Ranganathan:I think it was Aerie Spears that just does this clip of him going, put pop-a-dup-dup in a block. He's just going, shut up, man. I don't want to hear that shit I'm not going to lock on the block When I get locked All that I think it's good I like it Okay Hold on Would you do Would you do just a straight Would you ever come out with A straight hip hop album Someone asked me about that I reckon maybe I should give it a go I think you should Just to really freak people Yeah He's nuts He just doesn't

49:58Do you know that guy Todd Rundgren No He's in like a 70s music producer. Right. And I went to his show. He did that rap song in the 90s that's so horrendous. It's so bad. It's like nine minutes long. He just goes for it. Nine minutes long? Yes, it's unbelievable. I saw him, he did it live.

50:17Romesh Ranganathan:I was like, maybe that's what I should do next. Yeah, I think you should. Yeah. Okay, I look forward to hearing that. Okay, here's your next one. We started the band because we decided to hell with these hospital dramas. I mean, the sentiment's right, but I don't think I'd say the hell with these hospital dramas. Independent 2022. Okay. Damn. 2022? Yeah. I had a real attitude that day. The real? The hell with it. The hell with it. This interview's over. Yeah. Yeah, because me and Jermaine were living in a flat, auditioning for the New Zealand. Does Britain have a hospital sort of casualty? Casualty.

51:00Romesh Ranganathan:I was in Holby City, which was like the spinoff one. Right. So we were auditioning for that as nurses and doctors, and we weren't getting cast, so we started the band. Oh, okay. I played a patient. Patient, yeah. There's only one episode deal there. You wanted to be the nurse of the doctor, so you got a regular gig. Yeah. Yeah. But then it's like you're healed. Yeah. Get out. It was a blessing. Yeah. It was in a way, yeah. I don't go out of my way to watch musical comedians. when you're the best at something, what's the point of watching something else? Yeah, well, I mean, obviously, God, I hope I didn't say that.

51:35Romesh Ranganathan:It's the old 2022. I was drunk. No, the first part, it's a hatchet job, basically. The first part of it's true. I don't go out of my way to watch musical comedians. Yeah, I see how you're building these. Did you write this? I think I did write those. Yeah, yeah, yeah. you can see can you what he thinks that's like an eagle pineapple lumps and yeah he's like what else are we going to do make him sound like an eagle maniac see how that goes yeah just really try and cancel him with a false quote but hopefully you dodge the track if you try to lure people and get them cancelled on the show basically just give him a remission yeah don't do it because you will never work again after you do it Just give him a quote that's really horrible, but he might think he said it.

52:28Romesh Ranganathan:And then if he claims it, he'll just go, yeah, you said that. Yeah, you did. When you're the best of something, what's the point of watching something else? Did you say that, bro? Yeah, I fucking said it. What are you going to do about it? Stop being shit if you don't want me to say stuff like that in 2022, probably. Okay, that was great. Can we talk about Figwit? How did that all come about? Sorry, let me explain. Okay, so Lord of the Rings. It was quite a good. Yeah, so Lord of the Rings, early 2000s, which was a big deal in New Zealand. Like, it was the first major motion picture in the country.

53:10It was like international kind of thing. And everyone in town was excited about it. And you went to the, everyone who was vaguely involved in the entertainment auditioned. And you went to the casting agency, and they had three lines on the wall, like a dead body, but on the wall, the shapes. One was tall and thin for the elves. One was short and a bit dumpy for the hobbits. And then anyone who was tall and muscular was an orc. And they literally were like, you're one of those. You go in that room. You go in that room. It's true. It was exactly the same. Because they're like, we need numbers, man.

53:51And they were like, everyone's lining up. So I got cast as an elf. Right. And it's true that really almost everyone in Wellington was in the movie. I mean, my dad was a king. My brother was another elf. So anyway, I got cast as an elf. And I was like the early 20s and then clean shaven. So handsome, by the way. Very. You still are now. Thank you. But if you see a picture of a very androgynous kind of, very elven, to be honest. Yeah, very elven. They were thrilled. I was like, I was top of the list elf. You know, there was about six lead elf. When I say lead elves, lead extra elves. Sure. Behind the lead elf.

54:36I got to sit next to Viggo Mortensen, I think it's his last name, Aragorn, who's like the kind of hero of the Lord of the Rings movies. and he had just flown. The guy who was going to play Aragon got cut. He got fired a few weeks before they started filming. I don't know who he was. And then the guy Vigo arrived and he only had a few weeks.

55:01Romesh Ranganathan:So he'd casted it and good to go and then they got rid of it. Yeah, he did something. He wasn't quite right. So he got fired. I think he came on the podcast. Just that day, that week. It was just a week before and we did the quoted game. It was an early podcast. It was like 1999. No one was doing podcasts. It was analogue. Yeah, yeah. We would actually just send out a transcript. Yeah. It was a telegram. He posted out to people. So Viggo arrived and was just trailing around the town carrying a sword because he was gone method so he could get deep into his character. He carried a sword for three weeks the whole time.

55:38No joke. That's mad. I'd love to have that level of dedication. He was good, though. He paid off. He was really good. He was awesome.

55:44Romesh Ranganathan:But I think there's an argument that he could have done it without carrying the sword around, I'd say, to that level maybe. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, anyway. Probably. Fair play. He smashed it. He's great in everything. He smashed it. And then, oh, yeah, so that's where I got to him because I'm in the scene where there's a bunch. Have you seen the movie? Yes. Well, you know the story anyway. They've got to choose someone to take the ring. Yeah. It's good to be an extra in a scene like that. You know how you're indespicable me and you're like, you want to be in the scene that has to be in the movie.

56:12Yes, sure. And you want a line that has to be there. Right. You want to say, Frodo's going to take the ring. You want to be that character because then you're like, I'm definitely going to make the cut. Yeah. Anyway, I was an extra. I was sitting next to Viggo. Again, quite good because they're going to have a shot of Viggo because he's a big character. So I'm next to him and I do a kind of like pout face, like a kind of judgmental pout. And it's like two or three seconds in the movie, but it blows up becomes a big thing when I say big there's like 12 fans across the world who are really committed to my extra my elf character yeah and they name me Figwit which stands for Frodo is great who is that what's up well you guys

57:02Romesh Ranganathan:can I get these guys can I get these guys to leave please no respect no respect over there anyway it's cool and then so then and it's early internet days so also like Lord of the Rings at this point like the internet is just sort of getting going you know this is like pre-MySpace this is and at that point the Lord of the Rings website is one of the seventh biggest websites in the world right that's how there aren't that many websites you know and they're the people that are blogging and yeah so it's a big deal that was the point when people were like what's a chat room and people didn't know what a chat room was but Lord of the Rings fans, Tolkien fans were on it.

57:42So this kicked off and then I became this, it was pretty surreal. It became this sort of odd spot story. Like it was on the corner of all the newspapers. Like the BBC called, well, you're in the movie for the next three seconds. Now you've got fans all over the world. And it was kind of like a fun, like a dog surfing type story. And then, so it was great. And then me and Jermaine came to Edinburgh and we only had like, I don't know, seven or eight people in the audience each night. Good night, we get 10 or 11 in the caves, which was in the Gilded Balloon. Anyway, you'd look down and you'd see like there'd be these couples, two people in the audience, oddly matched.

58:26Often people who come to shows, couples often look similar. They're of a type. Yeah. Maybe dress similar or something. Yeah. Not these people. Like they're really oddly visually different looking, but they'll be wearing a little ring, a lot of the rings. And so a lot of the elf fans will come and watch our show. So Jermaine was just stoking the fire, trying to drum up more Tolkien fans to build up our audience numbers. Like the elf's going to be there. Anyway, yeah, that was great. That helped us sort of get things going. And then I got to go back into the movies, and it was sort of a fun joke for Peter Jackson to like, they gave me a line and then it was like, my lady, we cannot delay is what I said to Liv Tyler.

59:13Yeah. That's pretty cool. It was really cool. Yeah. And you were in it. I'm in the Lord of the Rings, yeah. Yeah, that's pretty sick. Yeah. They also put these like plastic, not plastic, these sort of synthetic ears on us. And one thing that was quite weird, which was like, I guess like human nature study, is that you've got the elves. In that scene, there are elves, humans, dwarves, maybe. And then at lunchtime in the cafeteria type area, the catering where everyone sits, all the people from the same groups would sit together. So the elves would sit down and have lunch together. And then over that day would be the hobbits.

59:48And then it was weird how people just gravitated to the similar people, yeah.

59:55Romesh Ranganathan:Maybe we should all just, it's a lesson, isn't it? We should all just stick to our own. Now, we've got... Oh, it looks like I'm getting close to getting cancelled now. I see. I'm not going to come in on that. I see what you're doing. And you're like, we haven't got him. Oh, we've got him. We've got him. Hello. I knew the Lord of the Rings story would get him. We've actually got a question from my mum for you. Okay. She's voice noted in. I don't know. I've not heard this. So can I just... I don't know what this is going to be. It's fine. Okay. Hi Brett, I'm Ramesh's mom I am so so impressed that you have won an Oscar I love the idea of having one in the family I can only dream of my son will win one Where do you keep yours and do you let people hold it and do a speech?

1:00:52Ramesh won't win one maybe you could do a speech for me now you know who to thank

1:01:02Romesh Ranganathan:thank you love you what was the second bit of that question she wants you to do a speech and you know who to thank in your speech oh yeah you could do a speech for me now you know who to thank thank you love you she's great I like your mum she said she was making off that voice note purely yeah she said sorry it was late she was making medicine she's making medicine that's what she said afterwards i'm sorry it's heck to me i'll send them yeah she's doing she's working on this like she heard there was a new covid variant and she is pretty sure that something she does with lamb is gonna sort it out so she's she's really busy doing that um good luck i don't know what that's about.

1:01:49Romesh Ranganathan:Stop getting cough. Pardon? That's what she said. Making medicine for cold weather. She's convinced her spicy gravy, Rassum, will cure any sort of ailments like that. Really? She might be. She's probably on something. Probably. I'd love to see her on a jar just like... At the pharmacy. What was it like? You won an Oscar? I won an Oscar. It was so great. How sick is... Come on, my guy. Yeah, because I'm the fucking best, dude. got him got him

1:02:27it was it was so fun though I've got to be honest it was like so fun because you get to go to all these rad parties in Los Angeles and it was you go to this party and a friend like it's just unreal you're in a room full of so many people from the movies to be honest I thought I was like oh wow I'm probably going to be back here next year I thought I was like, I'm going to be at this thing. I'm here all the time now. I've never been back since. I thought I was in. I was like, yeah. But it was a really fun night. Unreal. Yeah, it's so cool. And I've got it. It's on my piano at home. And, yeah, people come around and, like, they don't make.

1:03:05It's funny your mum asked if they come around and make. People often say, can I take a photo with the Oscar?

1:03:09Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. And they take a little photo with it. And then people don't do a speech. It's kind of cool. That feels so incredibly self-indulgent, doesn't it? But they're thanking other people. It's sort of, I like the idea that next time someone comes around and says, can I take a photo of it, I'll go, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll do a video. You do a thank you speech. And they'll be like, what? That is quite a nice idea, actually. I like it. Were you able to, because often when you have things like that, I mean, I can't imagine winning an Oscar was on your, whatever targets you had for your. I mean, no one thought that that was going to be a thing.

1:03:47Like the whole, they didn't even like that song. Disney didn't like that song. Really? They were like, they had another song. They were like, can you do this one? We're like, well, we like this one. And they're like, well, do both. So we produced two songs for the scene. And then we're like, we think this one's really good. And they were like, all right, give it a go, you guys. And then it ended up being, I think something about the song, it was at that moment where a character has a turning point. Yeah. I think that they love a song that's really connected to the story. And Jason Segel just crushed it.

1:04:19It was one of those ones that really came together. In fact, it was funny because Jason was like, often actors are super nervous in the studio and they think they can pretend to be a singer. They think by acting a singer, they can sing. It's a really weird thing to watch. And then, yeah, he was like, he did one session, he crushed it. Like he belts that. Like he nails it. He does a great performance. And then I remember he came in on the second time and he was like, he was a bit nervous and he'd been doing a juice cleanse. And then he was like, can I just have one little vodka just to like, you know, sit on my nerves.

1:04:55And he hadn't eaten for three days. And then he just became blind drunk and started slurring like Frank Sinatra. And luckily we had on the first day's take, so we had the song anyway. But he's such a good singer. He's such a great singer. You go, this is great. Of course. Even the executive's like, he's great. Should we get him home? It's brilliant. It's really good. Sounds awesome. I'm a man. I don't know. But anyway, everyone treads very carefully around the stars. Yeah. And I remember Amy Adams came in and she sang. And they're like, oh, it's amazing. And then the next day, oh, it's brilliant, brilliant.

1:05:33And they were listening to me like, oh, yeah, we need to tune that up a little bit, actually. But you didn't notice at the time because she's such a star. It's just great charisma. And anyway, the songs were worked out brilliantly. But that one had a bit of a click. Everything just kind of clicked. The video clicked. The filming came together really well. But Disney couldn't believe it. And then you do this press for the Oscars that is out of this. I mean, I'll never do more press. You talk to everyone. You do these press junkets that are something crazy. And there's a whole lot of little awards, little kind of, there's like the spirit awards.

1:06:14There's a bunch of different dinners and stuff leading up to it, which is so fun. And so there's like a week of events. And the Disney, like, because it's a film studio, they put you up and they look after you really well. And like every night I kept on seeing Meryl Streep, right? It was like, first night was Meryl Streep. I'm singing, oh, hey, we're waiting. She's like, oh, there's that guy who did the Muppets song. And I was like, oh. By the end of the week, I was like, oh, yeah, I'm going to see Meryl Streep all the time. And again, you know, never seen her again. I thought Meryl Streep was going to be my new friend.

1:06:41Yeah.

1:06:42Romesh Ranganathan:And you were able to, I mean, it sounds like you were able to actually engage because sometimes these things pass you, or you get caught up in such a whirlwind. And then after you think, oh, that was cool. But you weren't able, but were you able to like really grasp how mad, not mad, but like what a wonderful thing was to happen? Yeah, I know what you mean. Well, I'm actually slightly, I'm not that comfortable doing public speaking. So the speech was the bit that terrified me. Right. So I don't really, I do, obviously we talk in front of an audience a lot with shows and stuff. I get anxious doing actual like public speaking.

1:07:19I don't know why, but something about it. So I don't even remember the going on, the speech. Really? I'm like, I'd been in the, you know, I'd been at home at the house that we're staying in, like practicing the little speech. I was like, okay, I better have the speech because I definitely can't riff this one. And then because I knew I'd be like, you know, and then, but yeah, I don't even remember. It's like sort of blackout type experience to get through it because I was so nervous about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you watched it? You've watched it, but obviously. I've seen a lot. Yeah, I've seen it back once.

1:07:48Yeah. It was cool. And then Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell gave me the award. That's great. And then backstage, you go into a photo and I remember Will Ferrell being like, oh, I'm sorry, man. We just like to make such a, he's like, because they're like clowning. around yeah this is a big moment for you man we're just like dropping symbols in my face

1:08:06Romesh Ranganathan:yes it was great it was super fun yeah uh well look brett it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you you've been great man thank you so much uh now what we're going to ask is what would really help us out on the podcast if you could give us like some juicy tidbit some exclusive something that could potentially go viral do you have anything that you can yeah um thank god the The big news is I'm joining Oasis for the Australian tour. When I say joining, I'm going to go watch the concert. I'll be joining them in the arena. You'll be there. I'm joining Oasis. Congratulations, man. That's so sick.

1:08:53Romesh Ranganathan:That is so sick. I just got asked I just did I filmed with Raekwon from Wu-Tang for this show that we're doing about hip hop yeah so we just met up with him and me and Rob Beckett we met up with him and he's teaching Rob and I to he's talking about how he puts verses together and then he saw that I've got this like Wu-Tang tattoo and then obviously it stayed in his and then the RZA's management got in touch with the people that made the show and went we're doing a Wu-Tang Clan European announcement would Romesh be up for narrating like the little video we do right Can I tell you, it came out a couple of days ago.

1:09:26Romesh Ranganathan:Two things. One, I really did think, oh, my God, I think I might be a member of the Wu. I started thinking about what my Wu name would be. But then the other thing I thought was, in an English accent, saying old dirty bastard when you're listing the members of the group. It was just like they sent me the script. It was like the RZA, the JZA, old dirty bastard. it sounds much more like the guy in the corner of the pub yeah creepy like what you were going for there's one we're talking about story like Reece who plays, Reece Darby plays the manager in Concords he was living in LA for a while and his kids were going to school there and he said one day that his kid came home and goes yeah Dave's dad's really good at rhymes he was talking about the parents and what they do the parents are like oh that's cool yeah and then he found out Dave's dad was in the Wu-Tang Claire.

1:10:23Yeah, he's really good. Rhymes is dead.

1:10:25Romesh Ranganathan:And he has a massive golden hawk that he wears on his left arm all the time. He didn't mention that, but that's more normal for a kid. That's just, that's a good idea. Brett McKenzie, everybody. Thanks, Ramesh. Thank you, guys. This is exclusive. If you've enjoyed this episode of the Ramesh Ranganathan Show, make sure you follow wherever you get your podcasts. Apple, Spotify, YouTube all the big ones and you can enjoy more great content like this and in fact I'll go further to say even if you didn't enjoy this episode just follow anyway for shits and giggles and on the Thursday episode we're going to be taking questions from viewers and listeners oh so that's exciting isn't it it's interesting yeah and if you've got an interesting story or a question for my mum and I or even like a family dilemma you'd like us to help you with please do get in touch via our email address podcast at rangaby.com or you can voice note or text on this number 07731 623355 i'm romesh rang and athan and this has been the romesh rang and athan show what a narcissist see you next time oh shut up romesh

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