Jemaine clement
The Flight Of The Conchords star reveals his sci- fi and fantasy favourites
FAVOURITE SF/ FANTASY COMIC
i liked Tharg’s Future Shocks in 2000 AD. They’re still an influence on this anthology show we’re writing now for HBO. i haven’t read one for probably 25 years, but at the time they were mind- blowing.
FAVOURITE SF/ FANTASY tv
i loved the alien stuff in Mork & Mindy. i especially loved the episode where he accidentally joins the Ku Klux Klan and he doesn’t know what they’re about, he just thinks they get together. And then they reveal they’re racists and he doesn’t like that, because he’s an alien, and they take off their hoods and he’s done a thing where he’s changed them to all different races. i thought that was pretty triumphant – as a mixed race person, that was very satisfying to me.
FAVOURITE SF/ FANTASY BOOK
The Earthsea Trilogy, ursula le Guin. it was about this wizard, i think his name was sparrowhawk. it’s pretty nerdy. And it had an interesting thing of being responsible with their magic, because if you do something, everything had an effect, like if you create a creature here, perhaps one dies somewhere else, so you have to be careful with your magic. i like that. i remember trying to read The Lord Of The Rings. i wasn’t good at sports when i was a teenager and i was like, “i’m supposed to be playing Dungeons & Dragons and reading Lord Of The Rings, like the other guys that aren’t good at sports”, but i never really clicked with them.
FAVOURITE SF/ FANTASY guilty PLEASURE
The Tomorrow People! i’ve got one of the seasons in a box set, i can’t even remember which season it is. Yeah, i’ll still crack out that every so often.
What We Do In The Shadows is available on DVD, Blu- ray and digitally now.