ABSTRACT

In the mainstream of New Zealand popular music, one can often identify a dry sense of humor that is closely connected with ideals of New Zealand masculinity. This chapter surveys the manifestations of this humor in a variety of popular songs, before concluding with an extended discussion of Flight of the Conchords, “the almost award-winning fourth-most-popular folk duo in New Zealand,” and arguably the country’s most successful export in the area of comedy music. I argue that a number of acts create humor in their music through the portrayal of character stereotypes (namely, the “Kiwi bloke”); in the case of Flight of the Conchords, they actively explore comedy through the realm of style pastiche, which potentially renders their humor more accessible to an international audience.