KEY POINTS:
Kiwi comedy duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement yesterday joined an exclusive club - those who have won a Grammy before releasing a full album.
But that long-awaited album is now not far away, with a full set of quirky Flight of the Conchords songs due for release
around April 21.
In the wake of their Grammy success with The Distant Future EP, retailers are gearing up for "Business Time", but distributors are resisting the urge to bring forward the release date.
"I think it's going to be huge," said Conchords' fan Kylie Docherty, product manager of the national chain of CD&DVD Stores.
"They've had fans for years and it's just grown," she told NZPA.
They already have a couple of CDs out - a recording from a BBC radio show and their Grammy winner.
"They were really big Christmas presents, just from them having a really good New Zealand fan base."
The Grammy had not yet prompted distributors to push for an early release of their new work, she said.
"I suppose you can't get better press coverage than (they) are getting now, but you can't release something if it's not ready."
Much of the Conchords' recent pre-Grammy hype was due to the success of their self-titled comedy show on American television network HBO.
It came after they struggled to make a similar show in New Zealand.
"I was at TVNZ about five years ago and I remember seeing a tape of theirs which was fantastic but I don't know what happened after that. Nothing came of it," said Karen Bieleski, who is now Prime's channel manager.
She was responsible for snapping up the HBO show for the channel as soon as it was available.
TVNZ corporate affairs manager Megan Richards said she had heard a couple of variations on what happened to the show, but the executives responsible had since left the company.
She couldn't confirm why it was never picked up.
New Zealand Laugh Festival director Hilary Coe believed the rejection was a blessing in disguise, as Clement and McKenzie headed to America and hooked up with HBO.
"It's a show that could not have been made in New Zealand. The whole premise is that `fish out of water' show.
"And the history of the people that were working on that show...the years and years of comedy gold that the director and producer have brought to the show.
"In the States they have an industry dedicated to comedy professionals."
Most significantly the pair gained James Bobin, whose past credits include Da ALI G Show, as co-writer for all 12 episodes in the show's first season.
Bobin was also in the director's chair for six episodes.
When the show came up for auction in New Zealand, Ms Bieleski wanted it for her new network.
"It was actually quite a strategic move for us to buy it. We bid against TVNZ and TV3 as far as I'm aware, so it wasn't a case of `no one wanted it so we grabbed it'.
"It was a case where all of us did, but I think Prime wanted it more than the others.
"For a relatively small channel like us, we thought we can't go wrong. I'd seen the pilot, I knew it was great and we are trying to make a name for ourselves with interesting and distinctive programs. It was probably more important for Prime to get it."
It was a move which she believed paid off.
"For Prime it's been a show that's really helped put us on the map."
Ms Bieleski said in some respects it had received coverage "slightly out of proportion to the ratings... Which is great. It's had enormous cut-through."
Prime began re-running Flight of the Conchords last week as an "encore" but had not anticipated the extra attention a Grammy would bring.
"Because it did so well and we knew it was building steam we decided to do the encore performance which in a very nice bit of timing began last week.
"If (only) I could claim I knew the Grammys were coming and we thought we'd win one and I whacked it in.
"What I'm hoping is that after all this publicity with our second time screening people will see what all the fuss is about and give it a try because it is just so good."
Ms Bieleski was not sure when the next season was due as the writers' strike in Hollywood had delayed production on so many shows.
- NZPA
