Listen to This! Bret McKenzie


As it turns out, I am somewhat of a rare bird. Apparently not many people listen to NPR podcasts while working out. Not too many runners are pumping Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me or getting pumped jamming to Marketplace while doing squats. Must be the lack a driving beat... Either way, podcasts are my jam. If you ever interrupt me mid-run and listen closely you'll hear my headphones spilling out the soothing sounds of someone giving their two cents in a podcast. Could be Sklar Bro Country, Filmspotting, PTI or one of many others. The point being, rock n roll is lame, give me the AM dial.

To that end I've decided to start something new here on the ole blog, "Listen to This." These posts are basically meant to share some of the cool podcasts and interviews I've listened to. Most will be new, some will old. For the first edition I'm going with a Fresh Air interview that plays nicely with my recent review of The Muppets.



Bret McKenzie, half of the great novelty music act Flight of the Conchords and composer of the music in The Muppets, sat down for an awesome extended interview on Fresh Air with host Terry Gross. He talks Muppets, Conchords, his musical roots in New Zealand and he sings a short rendition of his favorite Beck song "Debra." This morning I gave this two month old podcast a listen on my drive to work. I was completely engaged, to the point that I can't really remember anything about the drive. Bret is just such a cool guy and down to Earth. Possibly the most exciting part of the interview is when he alludes to the possibility of a Flight of the Conchords movie... that would be too awesome. So while I didn't give the Muppets an A+, I greatly enjoyed learning about Bret's process to composing the film. If you've got 27 minutes to spare you need to listen to this.

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