Oscars Trending: New Zealand's second most popular folk singer makes it big

Two things that we've never met anyone who dislikes – The Muppets and the Flight of the Conchords. As such, it was almost inevitable that Conchord Bret McKenzie's writing of songs for the recent Muppets movie was guaranteed to bring a smile to the faces of most right-thinking fans of puppets and well-pitched parody songs.

You might not think that the centre of that particular pop-culture venn diagram would include Academy members but indeed it does. On Sunday, McKenzie won an Oscar for the Jason Segel-sung Man or Muppet, joining legends such as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Bacharach/David and, erm, Phil Collins as recipient of the Best Original Song statuette.

We're not only glad that he won because we love the Conchords, it also helps that McKenzie danced his way down the red carpet and came up with the funniest response to a question from the press pack all night. When asked how difficult he found writing the Muppets songs without fellow Conchord Jemaine Clement, McKenzie nodded towards his Oscar and responding drily: "It seems to have gone very well." A Conchords movie has been mooted – hopefully we'll see both Bret and Jemaine present at another Oscars in the not-too-distant future.

Five guilty Oscars pleasures

By Nina Dempsey

1. The length-related quips of the cast of Bridesmaids 2. Caught on camera, P Diddy being primped by a stylist 3. Elton John's son Zachary in a monogrammed blazer (aged one) 4. Charisma-laden Christopher Plummer at 82 5. And not at the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel's mega-spoof Movie: The Movie tiny.cc/01fog

#Five guilty Oscars pleasuresBy Nina Dempsey

1. The length-related quips of the cast of Bridesmaids 2. Caught on camera, P Diddy being primped by a stylist 3. Elton John's son Zachary in a monogrammed blazer (aged one) 4. Charisma-laden Christopher Plummer at 82 5. And not at the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel's mega-spoof Movie: The Movie tiny.cc/01fog