'Flight of the Conchords' duo to tour Australia in 2012

Bret McKenzie has revealed that Flight of the Conchords will tour Australia and New Zealand this year.

The New Zealand star, who makes up the folk comedy duo with Jermaine Clement, said that they are looking forward to getting back in touch with their Aussie fans after a three-year break.

The Flight of the Conchords TV series ended in 2009, but Clement and McKenzie have been touring the US and taking on their own projects ever since. McKenzie has a role in the upcoming Hobbit movie, while Clement recently finished filming Men in Black III.

McKenzie told Billboard: "We're about to tour Australia and New Zealand. We haven't toured there in years. Whereas we've been in America recently and I don't want to tour America until we've got some new material."

He denied rumours that he and Clement are working on new material for the Aussie and New Zealand tour, saying: "We haven't been in the same place in months. Jemaine's been working with aliens and I've been working with frogs."

However, McKenzie said that they hope to write more songs while on tour together, explaining that the songwriting process is easy because he can "know from the very beginning" if it will be funny or not.

"I guess I know, because I'm usually laughing as I try to sing it," the Oscar nominee said.

McKenzie also revealed that he "didn't really care" about the reaction of Flight of the Conchords fans when they ended the show, saying: "I love all the support we have but it was absolutely the right decision not to make any more shows. I think we would have killed ourselves [if we continued] making that show.

"Killing ourselves is a little too harsh, we would have gone mental."

> Bret McKenzie reveals Flight of the Conchords movie plans
> 'The Hobbit': Bret McKenzie plotted musical with Ian McKellen

Watch McKenzie and Clement perform 'Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros' live below (video contains strong language):