MySpace is one of the largest social networking websites in the world. Adding to its popularity are the numerous celebrities who have signed up for their own accounts, many of which are open to the public. However, singer-comedian
Bret McKenzie, star of HBO's
Flight of the Conchords, is not impressed with the popularity of the website, even saying in an interview that he "thinks it's evil [and] corrupt."
Despite his negative views of the website, he and co-star
Jemaine Clement have an active MySpace profile, wherein at least 18,000 people are registered in their contacts. McKenzie insists, however, that he is not a MySpace fan, and that it is actually Clement who maintains their account.
“Jemaine is the MySpace guy. I don't go on it. You can ask him about it. I feel pressure to go on it. It seems to be the way everyone's working now,” Bret McKenzie said in an interview with The A.V. Club.
The 31-year-old also had something to say about the thousands of people connected to their site.
“They're not our real friends, though. We're still quite lonely. We feel cheated by the Internet,” McKenzie said. “I wanted to have a birthday party and invite them all, but… too freaky. I would probably have to have a party somewhere big, maybe Central Park.”
Although McKenzie is dismayed with the addictive nature of MySpace, he did concede that it has, to some degree, helped his and Clement's careers. However, he was quick to say that out of all the websites available in the internet, YouTube is the one that played a significant role in launching him and Clement in the United States.
“Thanks to YouTube, people know who we are,” McKenzie said. “We haven't done much in America. We just did
One Night Stand for HBO. And we don't play live very often. So [before
Flight of the Conchords], the only reason people have heard of us is through YouTube, really. It's kind of weird. But I guess a lot of people are like that now. YouTube's made a lot of bands and weird comedy acts more popular.”
Flight of the Conchords debuted on HBO in June 17. The series stars Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement as exaggerated versions of themselves. In each episode, the comedy duo periodically breaks out into song, an act that they have been famous for since they began performing onstage in 1998.
Transitioning to the small screen has given him and Jemaine Clement little time for live performances, and McKenzie is worried that fans may catch on to their lack of practice.
“We haven't played in a really long time, so it'll be interesting getting onstage and trying to remember the songs. I'm concerned that the crowd might know us too well at this point. The YouTube people might be correcting us,” he said.
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: www.whatthefolk.net, The AV Club
(Image Courtesy of HBO)