Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Jemaine Clement

Jemaine Clement at the album preview party for the Troy Kingi album Black Sea, Golden Ladder, on 14 May 2021, By Government House, Wikipedia

Top  10 Astonishing Facts about Jemaine Clement

Jemaine  Clement is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker, who was born on 10th January 1974. He has released several albums with Bret McKenzie as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords and created a comedy series of the same name for both the BBC and HBO, for which he received six Primetime Emmy nominations.

Clement’s mother and grandmother were strong influences on him as a child, inspiring his sense of humor. He reconnected with his father while he was an adult and now enjoys a “strong and loving” relationship with him. He met with Bret McKenzie and Taika Waititi at Victoria University of Wellington where he studied drama and film.

1. He is best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Bret McKenzie

Clement has released several albums with Bret McKenzie as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords and created a comedy series of the same name for both the BBC and HBO, for which he received six Primetime Emmy nominations. Brent McKenzie is a New Zealand musician, comedian, music supervisor, and former actor. In the 2000s, the duo’s comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an oft-lauded American television series, which aired for two seasons on HBO. Active since 1998, the duo released their most recent comedy special, Live in London, in 2018.

2. He was involved in the award-winning radio work

 In 1999, Clement was a Radio Awards Winner as a writer for Trashed, for Channel Z, Wellington. In 2000, he was given a Special Radio Awards Commendation for The Sunglass Store.

3. He was featured as one of the 100 sexiest people

Jemaine Clement at the album preview party for the Troy Kingi album Black Sea, Golden Ladder, on 14 May 2021, By Government House, Wikipedia

In a special edition of the Australian magazine Who Clement was featured as one of 2008’s “100 Sexiest People. The magazine Who is celebrity news and entertainment weekly magazine published in Australia by Are Media. Fellow Conchord member McKenzie also appeared on the same list.

4. He co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in a vampire mockumentary’  What We Do in the Shadow’

 The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 19 January 2014. What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary horror comedy film. It was directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and is the first installment in the What We Do in the Shadows franchise. The film also stars Clement and Waititi, along with Jonathan Brugh, Ben Fransham, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie van Beek. It was released theatrically on 18 August 2014 by Madman Entertainment and received critical acclaim. 

5. He starred in television commercials internationally

Clement has starred in television commercials internationally. On 5 February 2006, Outback Steakhouse began running a series of television commercials starring Clement during Super Bowl XL in which Clement pretends to be Australian and feigns an Australian accent. One of the long-running gags of Flight of the Conchords is the traditional rivalry between New Zealand and Australia and the differences between their accents. 

6. He provided the voice-over for many others in New Zealand

Clement in 2010, By Kim Metso – Own work, Wikipedia

In 2010, he voiced Jerry in Despicable Me and appeared in the film Dinner for Schmucks. In 2011, he voiced Nigel in Rio. In 2015, he voiced a “mind-reading fart” on an episode of Adult Swim in an animated series of Rick and Morty, where he performed the song “Goodbye Moon men” and in 2016, Clement lent his voice to Tamatoa, which is a giant coconut crab, in the Disney animated film Moana, both in English and the Māori dub. He based the character’s voice on that of David Bowie.

7. He has appeared in several feature films

Clement’s debut was in the Kung Fu comedy Tongan Ninja, which was directed by New Zealander Jason Stutter. He has worked with Stutter on two more movies to date: the low-budget ghost comedy Diagnosis: Death and the drama Predicament, based on the book by late New Zealand novelist Ronald Hugh Morrieson. In 2012 he appeared as the primary antagonist Boris the Animal in Men in Black 3. 

8. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male

Clement at Fantastic Fest in 2009, By The Accent from USA, Wikipedia 

Independent Spirit Awards are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers, therefore Clement was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male, due to the role he played  in American comedy Gentlemen Broncos. Gentlemen Broncos was directed by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess. It  was almost universally panned by critics, some singled out Clement’s performance for praise. 

9.Clement and Taika Waitit received the Billy T Award

The Billy T Award  is New Zealand’s highest  comedy honour. It is a comedy award that recognizes up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. It has been presented annually since its inception in 1997. Clement and Taika attended the Victoria University of Wellington where he studied drama and film. They formed So you’re a Man and The Humour beasts, in which the Humour beast toured New Zealand in a stage show called The untold Tales of Maui, a reworking of the traditional Maori legend of Maui.

10. He received six Primetime Emmy nominations

Jemaine Clement at the album preview party for the Troy Kingi album Black Sea, Golden Ladder, on 14 May 2021 ,By Government House, Wikipedia

The Primetime Emmy Awards are part of a wide range of Emmy Awards that are bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , in recognition of excellence in the U.S. American primetime television programming. The award categories are divided into three classes: the regular Primetime Emmy Awards, the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards to honor technical and other similar behind-the-scenes achievements, and the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards for recognizing significant contributions to the engineering and technological aspects of television. 

However Clement has received six primetime Emmy nominations, due to the several albums that he has  with Bret McKenzie .