My friend and colleague J. J. Murphy recently alerted me to the fact that the HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords is currently airing an episode that parodies The Lord of the Rings. I’m not an HBO subscriber, but with the help of another friend and colleague, Jeff Smith, I was able to see the program.

LOTR parodies abound, of course, but this one carries an extra little frisson for fans who are aware that Bret McKenzie, half of the comic musical duo “Flight of the Conchords,” played “Figwit” in Jackson’s film trilogy. (The other half of “Flight of the Conchords” is Jemaine Clement, who also starred in the recent Kiwi film Eagle vs. Shark.)

“Figwit,” at the far right, reacts to Frodo’s offer to take the Ring to Mordor

Figwit (short for “Frodo Is Great … Who Is That?!?”) was the name given by two fans to one of the silent elves in the Council of Elrond scene of The Fellowship of the Ring. I talk about the Figwit phenomenon in The Frodo Franchise, and many of you no doubt know about it already. So I’ll just say for those who don’t that these fans started a website and made the elf so famous that the filmmakers brought him back for a brief role in The Return of the King. For more information, visit the site that started it all, Figwit Lives!

“Figwit,” aka “Elf Escort” in the credits

Flight of the Conchords, the series, is about “Flight of the Conchords,” the band, coming to New York and trying to launch their careers. McKenzie and Clement play themselves. Their inept agent’s real job is at the New Zealand Consulate. In this episode, the agent mistakenly thinks that Sony has offered the duo a contract and decides to film a music video. The video is based on LOTR, with the singers in costume as Frodo and Sam and their friends playing other roles.

The series had a lot of publicity when it debuted earlier this summer, with mostly favorable reviews. Entertainment Weekly gave it an A- and noted, “Conchords is a weird, low-high-concept series. It’s comedy that’s actually pleasant, which is a blessed change of pace.”

None of the descriptions or reviews I have read mentioned Figwit, which makes sense. It’s not exactly easy to explain in a short article just why McKenzie had his unexpected burst of international attention. He also presumably wanted to succeed on his own rather than exploit the fan attention, devoted though it was. The HBO bio on the series’ website simply mentions, “Like most New Zealanders, he appeared in the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, but Bret is most well-known for wearing his stripy sweater.”

This episode, “The Actor,” is the only one I’ve seen from the series. Watching it, I recognized a strange brand of humor that seems to be distinctively Kiwi. It’s basically quiet, offbeat, and self-deprecating. A similar sort of humor pervades Eagle vs. Shark, where the gags are often such a blend of pathos and comedy that one isn’t always quite sure whether we’re supposed to laugh. As the EW reviewer said, it’s a “weird, low-high-concept” approach. Having quickly come to love New Zealand, as most visitors do, I find this sort of comedy charming. It seems so typical of the country. I can see where some people would dismiss it as quite unfunny and others would quickly become fans.

Part of the humor comes from jokes about New Zealanders’ perceptions of themselves and about foreigners’ lack of knowledge about them. Traditionally Kiwis have seen themselves as lacking in ambition and entrepreneurial spirit. (A travel poster on the consulate’s office wall bears the slogan, “New Zealand – Why Not?”) We see Bret and Jermaine playing a gig in a restaurant to a miniscule audience and expressing pleasure over the fact that the benefits include a bowl of soup apiece.

To a considerable degree LOTR has changed that self-perception and inspired in many Kiwis an enthusiasm and a sense of the country’s creativity. One by-product of that change, however, it that for many outsiders, LOTR is all they know about New Zealand.

In the episode, after the act is over, an aspiring actor comes over to praise the duo’s performance—a sure sign that, as is later confirmed, he is completely batty. When he learns the pair are from New Zealand, he declares enthusiastically, “Lord of the Rings … Frodo … the Ring! Anyway, don’t let me bore you with my knowledge of New Zealand.” This is only a slight exaggeration of the sort of thing that Kiwis traveling abroad often hear.

“The Actor” is episode 11 in the 12-episode first season, with the finale coming on Sunday night at 10:30 pm ET. No word yet on the series’ webpage as to whether there will be another.