A decade ago with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was making an impact in popular culture, few would have looked at the cast and extras and picked out New Zealand native Bret McKenize as the guy likely to win an Oscar.

But, at tonight’s Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles the fan favorite and one half of New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk parody duo (Flight of the Conchords) did just that for his song Man or Muppet which is really a question we all must answer for ourselves about ourselves.

McKenzie had a little fun at the microphone making a couple of jokes. He said he was excited to work with Muppets and was intimidated to meet Kermit The Frog.

“But he’s just a normal frog, and like many stars here, he’s a lot shorter in real life.” (Catch video after the break)

McKenzie was introduced by comedians Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis. The latter pointed out that the winner which turned out to be McKenzie’s song would join the ranks of songs such as When You Wish Upon a Star, Moon River, The Way We Were and It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.

McKenzie is also part of the cast of two forthcoming films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit where he plays the musical elf Lindir.

Here at TheOneRing.net we have announced that we will hold an Oscar Party in 2013. Read here to see the details and give your input about the event.