Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement is a New Zealand comedian, actor and multi-instrumentalist, known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Bret McKenzie and the voice of Nigel the Cockatoo in the Rio film series.
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics, Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain, Writers Guild of America Award for Television: New Series, Independent Spi...
Movies
What We Do in the Shadows, The BFG, Men in Black 3, Moana, Eagle vs Shark, Rio 2, Dinner for Schmucks, Gentlemen Broncos, Rio, Don Verdean, Despicable Me, Muppets Most Wanted, Diagnosis: Death, Tongan Ninja, Predicament, Fizz
TV Shows
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Flight of the Conchords, The Drinky Crow Show, Radiradirah, The Enid Blyton Adventure Series
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Trademark
1
New Zealand accent
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Square Jaw
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Black Rimmed Glasses
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Quote
1
We were watching Larry David intently because we are big fans; we'd actually been studying Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000) a lot because it's a really great way to learn structure for a sitcom. It's a perfect structured sitcom. Curb and Seinfeld (1989) are big influences on our writing. But then Larry David got up and he really didn't care. Every single question, he obliterated the journalist until they wouldn't talk again! We thought he was hilarious, it was like a stand-up routine. So we suddenly had to rethink how we were going to be able to survive. It wasn't going to be by being irreverent.
2
The way [Bret McKenzie] and I work and the way [Taika Waititi] and I work are different. Bret and I, we don't like the same movies. We like the same music but we don't like the same comedy stuff often. He would rather watch Sex and the City (1998), whereas I could not sit through that. He loves Knocked Up (2007) and things about groups of friends having babies and stuff, whereas I look around at the audience in total confusion. But he walked out of Step Brothers (2008). At the time, I thought it was one of the funniest movies I'd seen in years. So we have to work on a subset of what we both find funny. I think sometimes that raises the quality because you get rid of all this crap. Me and Taika, we're more similar in sense of humor.
3
As a pale-skinned Maori person, I felt like a spy as a kid. I could tell what pakeha [New Zealanders of European origin] people actually say, which sometimes would be quite shocking. And also, I heard what Maori people say and it's essentially the same thing. Each group thinks the other one are thieves.
4
I feel like I need to think of myself as an outsider. I hate it when I can tell when people see me and my friends as part of this establishment...It feels more creative to be small, to be creating something from very little.
5
I can only think of one wacky best friend who I thought was awesome: Rhys Ifans in 'Notting Hill.' He really nailed the wacky best friend.
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I'm part Maori. My mum's Maori, and she raised me. And my grandma, she's Maori.
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In real life I'm very low-key. A wallflower. One of the reasons I went into comedy and acting was that I was sick of being shy.
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Well, I grew up in the '80s, which was a really massive time for sci-fi.
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What do I think of L.A.? It's boring, with some amazing nuggets. Like there are some parts of it that are great, but by and large I think it's quite boring.
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[on how he ranks in musical skills in Flight of the Conchords (2007)] Bret's a little better than me and I'm a little worse than Bret.
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Fact
1
He was raised by his mother and grandmother, his father was never involved in his life.
2
When with The Flight of the Conchords, he variously plays guitar, bass and keyboards.
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He moved to Wellington where he studied drama and film at Victoria University of Wellington.
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He met Taika Cohen (a.k.a. Taika Waititi) at Victoria University and they went on to form the Humourbeasts.