One half of comedy duo Flight Of The Conchords, Bret McKenzie has won an Oscar for his original song ‘Man Or Muppet’ from the recent reboot of The Muppets franchise. McKenzie was musical supervisor on The Muppets, a role that involved overseeing the songs on the film and writing three himself.
McKenzie wrote two songs for the movie ‘Life’s A Happy Song’ and ‘Man or Muppet’, the later of which he received the nomination. Interestingly he was up against only one other track for the Oscar, ‘Real In Rio’ from the film Rio, due to new rules from the Academy stipulating that the song must feature in the actual film – knocking out the other 37 contenders.
“I grew up in New Zealand watching the Muppets on TV. I never dreamed I’d get to work with them,” said McKenzie when accepting his award. “I was genuinely starstruck when I finally met Kermit the Frog,” he continued
“Once you get to know him, he’s just a normal frog. And like many stars here tonight, he’s a lot shorter in real life.” McKenzie went on to thank his two children and wife who was also in attendance and gave props to Disney “for making movies with songs in them.”
He also praised Jim Henson “for creating the magical world of the Muppets. It’s a true honor to work in the shadow of such legends,” he said. His parents also managed to score a mention for “never telling me to get a real job”.
Previously in interviews McKenzie has explained the process he went through to record the track saying, “I really wanted it to be hilarious and beautiful, and I feel like we got that combination. It’s sincere but ridiculous. The idea of children singing the song at school cracks me up.”
You can watch a video of the song below.
