"Wingmen" is the ninth episode of the second season and twenty first overall of the HBO comedy series ''

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's come ...

''. This episode first aired in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on March 15, 2009. It is the penultimate episode of the second season.

Plot synopsis

Bret enlists Jemaine and Dave to help him try to land a girlfriend. Murray regrets making Greg his scapegoat.

Plot

Bret becomes attracted to Savannah, a woman who works in a pet shop. His

shyness Shyness (also called diffidence) is the feeling of apprehension, lack of comfort, or awkwardness especially when a person is around other people. This commonly occurs in new situations or with unfamiliar people; a shy person may simply opt ...

causes him to constantly buy

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have bec ...

from her while he builds up courage to ask her out. Bret asks Jemaine to be his wingman and they borrow a headset from Dave's store so that Jemaine and Dave can feed him advice from a distance. He says it is an idea he got from a

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

. When that idea fails, Bret convinces Jemaine to pretend to

mug A mug is a type of cup typically used for drinking hot drinks, such as coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. Mugs usually have handles and hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cup. Typically, a mug holds approximately of liquid. A mug i ...

Savannah, so he can save her and be seen positively in her eyes. It is another idea he got from a

. Jemaine enlists the aid of his friend John, who mugged them in the third episode of season one. Bret meets Savannah in the street and starts to walk her home. She ends up asking him out for dinner. Then, before Bret can stop them, Jemaine and John execute the pretend mugging plan. Due to force of habit, John actually does steal Savannah's purse, which leads to both him and Jemaine getting arrested. Jemaine is later released, and Savannah soon finds out that Bret faked the mugging and breaks up with him. Meanwhile, Murray has unfairly made Greg the scapegoat for a mistake at work. He quickly regrets it and becomes convinced Greg is furious at him, despite Greg seeming perfectly calm about the situation. He spends the rest of the episode trying to patch up their friendship.

Songs

Rambling Through the Avenues of Time

As Bret walks into the apartment, he picks up a guitar and launches into song about his day and the girl that he met and romanced. Jemaine adds humorous skeptical comments between Bret's lines. At the end of the song Bret admits that "95% of the song is made up", and that he invented most of it after simply noticing a girl at the local pet store. The song is a parody of

Peter Sarstedt Peter Eardley Sarstedt (10 December 1941 – 8 January 2017) was a British singer-songwriter and instrumentalist. He was the brother of singers Eden Kane, a teenage pop idol and Clive Sarstedt, with both of whom he also recorded and performe ...

's "

Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt. Its recording was produced by Ray Singer, engineered by John Mackswith at Lansdowne Recording Studios and released in 1969. The music has been describ ...

" and also of Billy Joel's " Piano Man".

I Told You I Was Freaky

In the lyrics of this song, Bret demonstrates to Savannah how "freaky" he can be sexually. It features several surreal scenes in which the lyrics are comically stretched to include rhymes ("I flip some clips on my lips, I clip some chips to your hips"). The song features bizarre backgrounds and costumes, in an attempt to seem freaky, including Bret in a vampire cape with fangs as well as Jemaine in a haz-mat. This song is a parody of Beck's " Nicotine & Gravy" and "

Debra Debra is a feminine given name. Debra may refer to: People * Debra Adelaide (born 1958), Australian writer * Debra Allbery (born 1957), American poet * Debra R. Anderson (1949-2022), American politician * Debra Austin (born 1955), American ba ...

Filming location

The pet store where Savannah works is a real

Petland Discounts Petland Discounts was a privately owned chain of pet stores based in Brentwood, New York. The company was founded in 1965 with a store in Glen Oaks, New York Glen Oaks is a neighborhood in the easternmost part of the New York City borough of ...

store a
510 5th Avenue
in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Cultural references

The ideas Bret says he got from sitcoms are plot devices that have featured in many TV shows including '' Friends'', '' Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and '' Seinfeld''. At the start of the episode, Bret asks Jemaine if he would be his

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation. According to t ...

, "like in Top Gun". Jemaine asked Bret to be his wingman in the season one episode " Girlfriends" and Bret also referenced ''Top Gun'' at that time. Later, Murray asks Jemaine to be his wingman when he attempts to apologise to Greg. Dave references NeverNeverLand during another episode of confusion about the nationality of Bret and Jemaine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wingmen 2009 American television episodes Flight of the Conchords episodes Television episodes directed by James Bobin Television episodes written by James Bobin Television episodes written by Jemaine Clement Television episodes written by Bret McKenzie