The New Season: The Conchords, file-sharing stars

Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, the uncombed, droll, nerdy/hip/comic musicians of HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords,” credited their lightning-speed fame to YouTube on Thursday to TV critics at the TCA gathering in Beverly Hills.

After their first HBO special was downloaded 500,000 times, they said they became instant celebrities.  “A lot more people want photos of us now,” Clement said. “It used to be families and birthday parties. Now it’s strangers,” McKenzie, looking depressed, added.

HBO executives said that while the show has drawn 1.8 million viewers on premium cable, it had 1.2 million on their website.

Part of the reason, they said, is that the show is designed so that each scene can stand alone, and the musical numbers can be used as short music videos.

Besides fame, Clement and McKenzie said they’re also getting used to living in Los Angeles.

When they first arrived two years ago, they were staying on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland and decided to go to the Viper Room.  “We walked for hours until we realized people don’t do that here,” Clement said.

-- Lynn Smith

(Photo courtesy HBO)