Conchords star flies at Comedy Festival

Flight of the Conchords’ Kristin Schaal has tied for the top prize at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2008.

Schall’s absurdist comedy tied with British ventriloquist Nina Conti.

Schall, who plays a stalking fan of the Conchords in the HBO comedy, was surprised at her win over 300 acts.

“Out of all of them?” Schaal wondered. “I was actually surprised by how many people really did embrace it. It’s absurdist and weird and if some people didn’t get it, that’s exactly what I wanted to do.”

She said she did not expect to please everyone with the show, performed with comedy partner Kurt Braunohler. The oddball material did polarise some audiences, with furious responses on The Age’s comedy blog after it was recommended as among the festival’s best shows.

Shooting for “something extreme” meant audiences would not be entirely won, she said. “If we were doing comedy that would appeal to everyone, it would bore us.”

Flight of the Conchords will screen on TEN later this year.

Source: The Age.