As Mel, the psychotically besotted fan on HBO’s cult hit “Flight of the Conchords,” actress Kristen Schaal has struck a sort of geeky gold.
The show chronicles the deadpan adventures of New Zealanders Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, a musical duo taking New York not-so- much by storm.
Schaal has inspired YouTube montages and lately garnered print love from Bust magazine and McSween- ey’s The Believer. Yet thus far, hers has remained a simmering sort of celebrity.
“People seem to think they’re the only ones who have seen the show,” Schaal says. “One time I was out to dinner with one of my friends in New York, and when I got up to go to the bathroom, the guy at the table next to us leaned in and said, ‘Do you know she’s on an HBO show?’ ”
She may have reached the most eyeballs as Mel, the stalker with the wonderfully awkward bathroom encounters and gloriously dorky dance moves. But recently, Schaal also spent a month writing on “South Park” and, beginning this past spring, has logged appearances as the “Daily Show’s” new “senior women’s issues commentator.”
Next summer, she has small roles in three major studio flicks, starring the likes of Will Ferrell, Anjelica Huston and John C. Reilly.
For the moment, she’s biding her time working on a book of short stories for HarperCollins, whipping up a few movie scripts with her comedy partner Kurt Braunohler, and peddling her loopy brand of stand-up to live audiences now measured in the thousands.
Schaal’s forte is her absurdist wit, which pays off in a delicious avalanche of surprises. Her character- driven stage shows turn on plot twists, such as her and Braunohler’s rendition of a Colonial-era telephone conversation, during which Pocahontas and John Smith abruptly jump from small talk to phone sex.
“I think it’s really just finding something unexpected,” she says. “Our favorite form of comedy is the unlikeliness of things. . . . What I want to keep doing is just have the audience not be able to predict it at all.”
Schaal comes by her sincerity honestly. A Brooklyn resident, she grew up on a farm in Colorado, where she was active in 4-H and sang and danced for the family cattle.
“I’d perform for them while they ate their hay. They kind of have the same look of expectancy and dullness that an audience has, so it was perfect,” Schaal says. “I could perform for anyone after that.”
Schaal’s first “Daily Show” bit, during which she tapes a video message to our first female president in 2300, came out of her stage act, as did her winning audition tape for HBO.
“We watched her for literally 15 seconds” before deciding to give her the job, says “Conchords” co-star/ co-creator McKenzie. “She was just hilarious, and that’s what we were looking for. She’s a brilliant improviser.”
Now Schaal’s setting her sights beyond the world of comedy.
“Acting-wise, I’d love to do it all.”
