Bret Gives Up the Dream
Encyclopedia
"Bret Gives Up the Dream" is the second episode of the HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords
. This episode first aired in the United States
on Sunday, June 24, 2007.
A song in this episode, "Inner City Pressure", received a Emmy Award
nomination in 2008 for "Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics".
s. Only Bret gets the job however, which causes problems when the band finally gets a gig at a travel expo. Murray and Jemaine confront Bret at his new job, and this leads to a debate on the chicken/egg causality dilemma. Unable to attend because of his job, Bret records his part onto a cassette tape
for Jemaine to play along with. Murray decides the tape is as good as the real thing and fires Bret. At the travel fair, Murray and Jemaine's efforts to promote New Zealand are ridiculed by a smug Australian official, Maxwell (James Smith), and his contingent of bikini girls. Meanwhile, Bret develops a crush on Coco, a new arrival to the sign holding team.
Dave (Arj Barker) is not credited in this episode, even though he is seen in a shot in the song "Inner City Pressure."
" by the Pet Shop Boys
.
/dancehall
style similar to that of Jamaica
n artist Shaggy. The lyrics centre around his attraction to Coco but are distinguished by the fact that nearly all noun
s are replaced by the word "boom". The accompanying video features Bret and Coco dancing in front of an animated background and has strong similarities to the Black Eyed Peas' "Hey Mama
" video. Also featured prominently during this sequence is a 1980s Casio
DG20 digital guitar.
. It is one of a number of other novelty fence tourist attractions that can be found in New Zealand, such as the Cardrona Bra Fence
.
Flight of the Conchords (TV series)
Flight of the Conchords is an American television comedy series that debuted on HBO on June 17, 2007. The show follows the adventures of Flight of the Conchords, a two-man band from New Zealand, as its members seek fame and success in New York City. The show stars the real-life duo, Jemaine Clement...
. This episode first aired in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on Sunday, June 24, 2007.
A song in this episode, "Inner City Pressure", received a Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nomination in 2008 for "Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics".
Plot synopsis
Starved for cash, Bret and Jemaine apply for jobs as human billboardHuman billboard
A human billboard is someone who applies an advertisement on his or her person. Most commonly, this means holding or wearing a sign of some sort, but also may include wearing advertising as clothing or in extreme cases, having advertising tattooed on the body...
s. Only Bret gets the job however, which causes problems when the band finally gets a gig at a travel expo. Murray and Jemaine confront Bret at his new job, and this leads to a debate on the chicken/egg causality dilemma. Unable to attend because of his job, Bret records his part onto a cassette tape
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
for Jemaine to play along with. Murray decides the tape is as good as the real thing and fires Bret. At the travel fair, Murray and Jemaine's efforts to promote New Zealand are ridiculed by a smug Australian official, Maxwell (James Smith), and his contingent of bikini girls. Meanwhile, Bret develops a crush on Coco, a new arrival to the sign holding team.
Dave (Arj Barker) is not credited in this episode, even though he is seen in a shot in the song "Inner City Pressure."
"Inner City Pressure"
"Inner City Pressure" begins near the start of the episode, after Bret and Jemaine lament their poor financial state upon having to resort to eating food Bret has found in the street. The song and video are performed in the style of "West End GirlsWest End Girls
"West End Girls" is a song by British pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. It is a synthpop song, influenced by hip hop music. The lyrics focus on class, and inner-city pressure, and were inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land...
" by the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
.
"Boom"
"Boom" is an inner monologue sung by Bret while conversing with Coco, the attractive new sign holder. The song is performed in an electronicElectronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
/dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
style similar to that of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n artist Shaggy. The lyrics centre around his attraction to Coco but are distinguished by the fact that nearly all noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s are replaced by the word "boom". The accompanying video features Bret and Coco dancing in front of an animated background and has strong similarities to the Black Eyed Peas' "Hey Mama
Hey Mama (Black Eyed Peas song)
"Hey Mama" is a song by the American hip hop band The Black Eyed Peas. It reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The 2004 single is the third one taken from their 2003 album Elephunk.- Song information :...
" video. Also featured prominently during this sequence is a 1980s Casio
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
DG20 digital guitar.
Other songs
The end of "Rock the Party" is seen being performed by Jemaine at the Travel Expo. Bret is not present, but he provides musical accompaniment and back-up vocals via a pre-recorded cassette tape. This song, whose lyrics consist mostly of the words "rock the party", makes an appearance in several future episodes.Cultural references
The Toothbrush Fence that Murray refers to is an existing attraction. It can be found near Te Pahu, a small town 30 km southwest of the city of Hamilton, New ZealandHamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
. It is one of a number of other novelty fence tourist attractions that can be found in New Zealand, such as the Cardrona Bra Fence
Cardrona Bra Fence
The Cardrona Bra Fence was a controversial tourist attraction in Central Otago, New Zealand, where passers-by started to add bras to a rural fence, with the fence eventually growing into a famous tourists attraction with hundreds of individual bras...
.